Don't Cry For Me…

Flying with food poisoning is not an adventure I would suggest for anyone. I managed to convince the flight attendant checking me in, that it would be best for all concerned if I sat on the aisle. The fact that I was incredibly pale may have helped.

I arrived in BA, met my arranged ride and headed to my first airbnb of this adventure. It was an apartment in the Palermo district which some folks refer to as SOHO. The home was on the 2nd floor (3rd to Americans). There was a (very tiny) elevator which was helpful since I now had a rolling bag, a duffel bag and a backpack. The duffel turned out to have a dodgy zipper but, hey, it was $20 so what did I expect?

It is hard to describe the place I was staying. I was told it's the hosts’ primary home, and they seem to live there at times as their art studios were there and lots of personal items. They've turned their grown kids' rooms into airbnb rentals. There were 4 other guests there. Luis, a university student from Brazil studying in Buenos Aires. I only saw him a couple of times. The others mentioned he has a girlfriend and spends a lot of time at her place. Then there was a couple from Switzerland. They had sold all their belongings and were embarking on an RV adventure thru South America, up thru Central America, around the US, up thru Canada then back into the US. They had been in BA for a couple of months because their RV had been stuck in Customs. From what I gathered, there were a dozen couples who were doing this together…an organized trip. The others had been staying in a hotel which was costing them quite a bit. These two chose the airbnb so they could cook. They were definitely over BA. They just wanted to get going on their adventure and I can’t blame them. Then there was Margaret from Scotland. She and I got along well and did some things together. More on that in a bit.

The hosts were artists. I’m not clear what his art form of choice was, but hers were statuettes made from fabric which she coated in water and glue. All the ones I saw were for a nativity scene. They were very lightweight but solid, if that makes any sense. She also taught classes so some of those baby Jesus statuettes maybe from her students. It wasn’t clear. I arrived on a bank holiday weekend. No one (including my cousins) seemed to be able to say what the holiday was. But it meant that our hosts and their housekeeper were gone all weekend. That’s right. They left their home, with their personal possessions with five strangers. That felt odd. My room was up a flight of very tight metal spiral stairs. Terrifying to carry my bags up. The benefit was that I was the only one up there so the bathroom, which was newly renovated, was all mine. Again helpful as I was still very sick.

Once I settled in, I was off to meet my cousins for the very first time. I won’t lie, I was nervous. It’s a little weird for grown adults to suddenly meet relatives they didn’t know about until a few months ago. I wasn’t sure how they would receive me or if we would be able to communicate. We met at El Ateneo which is a fantastic bookshop inside of an old grand theater. They thought I might like that since I’m an actor and they were right. Fanny found me first. She is the matriarch of this branch of my family. Her daughters, Marina and Erica arrived a little while later. Turns out, I was worried for no reason. They are wonderful people. They were so excited to meet me and to learn about the research I had been doing. They made me feel incredibly welcome and their English is much better than my Spanish but I tried as best I could. We had a really lovely first meeting. I had printed out some photos for them that I knew related to our family. Some were from taken in Poland. Some in the US. It turned out that one shot, which I wasn’t sure related to us, was a picture of Fanny’s grandfather, two of her aunts and one of her uncles (as young people). That was a very exciting discovery. I was still suffering from food poisoning so wasn’t up for much more than tea.