Argentine Eyes

Immaculate Conception (chapter 11)

Now you may have thought that the end of my last chapter ended on a somewhat dramatic note with Marisa moving to Uruguay. But it's not quite as dramatic as you think. Uruguay is the next door neighbour to Argentina and many tourists or people that live here go to Colonia, Uruguay for a 1 day to excursion to get a stamp on their passport. For people who are not citizens or permanent residents of Argentina, depending on what country you're from you normally get your passport stamped for a 90 day tourist visa when you enter into the country. After 90 days you must leave Argentina for at least a few hours. To me, the 90 day rule serves as a perfect excuse to go on a mini holiday to Colonia. I have made the trip to Uruguay several times and on one occasion when even further to Montevideo to visit Marisa. But I'm getting ahead of myself, for now let's stay in the present moment. Colonia Uruguay is a 1 hr ferry ride from Buenos Aires. It takes longer to go from Victoria to Vancouver, the ferry ride is 90 mins. It just sounds more dramatic that she's moving to another country but the truth is that she's a 1 hr ferry ride and a 2 hr bus ride away.

Whenever you visit Colonia, you must drop by a restaurant called "El Porton" and treat yourself to the most traditional of all uruguayan foods...a Chivito. And if you do get a change to go a little further to Montevideo, I highly recommend that you stay at the Pocitos hostel in the barrio of Pocitos.  I have fond memories of  flopping down on the couch in the living-room of the hostel and phoning Marisa immediately after checking in. I had just come from a long day of travel all the way from Buenos Aires.

"I really loved the conversation we had the other day!" I said to her.  Even though we were talking on the phone and I couldn't see the expression on her face, i could feel a sense of deep contentment as she replied "Me too"

What was this conversation in question?  Well to understand it we have to go back to January when she moved to Montevideo. I was able to catch her and chat with her on her last nite in the church cell groups, the day before she was set to leave for Uruguay with her family. 

To explain, I actually hadn't seen her all that much. When I came to Buenos Aires in October, due to the location and schedule I went to a different church branch than the one I had met her at. It was the one at Agaces on the outskirts of the main city. As much as I hated the fact that I had to separate for her after not seeing her for so long in Canada, little did we know that we would have our day and the powers that be were setting us up for the ultimate reunion.

My theory about her being my mother developed around November but I couldn't say anything until I had proof of some kind that my theory was correct. How can you walk up to someone and tell them "I think you love me as you child." Those kind of conversations don't just come out of thin air.

After she reached Montevideo, we continued to keep in communication and that is when everything began to change.  The truth is that we had much more chance at developing a relationship with any kind of intimacy now that she was in another country than when she was living in Buenos AIres. The thursday nite church groups are great but it was an environment where we couldn't even get it two words to each other without someone else jumping into our conversation and vying for attention. And there were a number of other factors that made it impossible for me to every get to know Marisa while she lived in Buenos Aires.

Another interesting point her is that she told me that after she reached Uruguay, she fit in with the culture there so much more. The reason why I am telling you this is because alot of people are under the impression that all latinos are the same. This is the further thing from the truth. Marisa is another person like me who was born an Argentine but fit better in another culture. The culture of Uruguay and Argentina have their similarities but at the end of the day are very different.  Marisa feeling more comfortable in a culture and a country that is different than the one she was born into is just proof of the diversity in latin america.