i love the way you say my name, argentina.
i. they all called me “la nancy,” and i fell in love with the floating lightness of the “ah” vowel – lä nänsē. juan and carla told me that in argentina you say “la” in front of someone’s first name, as if no one is merely just another.
ii. on the day i arrived, cielo and jasmien snuck into the tree house while i was taking a shower, excitedly squealing “la nancy! la nancy!” while running all around to let me know that it was time for lunch. i spent a few weeks playing with the girls in the gardens, doing yoga in the mornings to the sounds of thunderstorms and digeridoos, and meditating in the evenings with a kalimba between my hands and the stars and moon above me. the autumn rain made the land muddy and mosquito-ridden, but the trees, flowers, and animals all looked so happy and nourished every time the clouds scattered to let in a flood of light.
iii. my spanish was shaky, but i loved that yoga was like a universal language. we all understood the syllables of our breath, the words of sanskrit, and the phrases of our sequencing. we shared maté, laughed together, and kissed each other hello and goodbye. that was all that was needed.
after wading through mud at the crack of dawn, i made it into buenos aires thanks to the combination of a combi and a slightly sketchy taxi driver. i was nervously on high alert for a few days before a sense of calm finally washed over me after hours and hours of wandering in the sun-soaked streets. everything seemed to move like one of those old, hand-cranked films – sometimes in slow motion and sometimes comically accelerated… but always full of character and charm.
my favorite thing to do was look at the balconies. it was like people watching, in the absence of people.
the sun hitting the tree-lined streets here are really what dreams are made of. whenever i see light like this, it makes me imagine all the places around the world currently drenched in the same sun and how wonderful it is that the planet is small enough for us to share moments like these from across the seas. hopefully i'll share it next to you one day.
