""Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, such a good land you must be, as it makes you forget your wife's love."" "Look at the busy Lizzie." "Pepe, Pepe!" "Lolita!" "Look!" "Lunch!" "Hey!" "Beauty!" "Martinha "the casserole"" "Do you remember?" "How are the family?" "Mummy, look." "—Just leave her alone." "What did I tell you this morning?" "Do you want to drive me crazy?" "—Yes, I do." "Do you?" "Ah how nice!" "—You are right, Gloria, you are right." "—So you want to drive me crazy..." "Have you seen Marta, your sister-in-law, who's there?" "Where's Marta?" "—I don't know." "How come you don't know?" "What's your name?" "—I can't remember." "Glo...?" "—Gloria." "And surname?" "—González." "Where were you born?" "—Spain." "And where do you live?" "In Villa...?" "—..." "Boche." "Marta, I got your letter which filled me with joy, as I'm so sad after Gloria's death." "She died on the 7-11-99 at 10am, as I was feeding milk to her." "I'm sorry for her." "For 12 months of suffering she never stepped onto the street." "Dear Marta," "we had her cremated." "We have her ashes at home, in an urn." "You ask me to go to Spain." "I'd love to meet your family, but they took the house where I was born away from me and I can't sleep in it." "Dearest Marta," "I'm all alone." "I went to Vigo to see Pepe off at the harbour." "It was the year of the death of bullfighter Manolete." "We read the news on the papers, there." "The bull had killed him." "And Uncle Pepe came from Buenos Aires when I was born, he was my godfather, and his wife, Aunt Matilde, who was French, was my godmother." "And then he came another time, when he said:" ""How come I left her as Matilde and now she is called Marta?"" "Mom didn't like it, but everybody started calling me 'Marta'." "And then we went to Vigo." "The ship was the Alcántara, huge, and we went inside, all the carpets..." "How wonderful, like the best of hotels." "And then, when we were already in this house, he sent me 12,000 pts., which was a lot at that time, to help with the house." "And he sent me a watch inside one of the many packets he used to send me, with magazines and so." "He was very brave, sending a gold watch by mail." "But it arrived!" "I remember sitting you in the corridor and rushing to the post office." "He was so good to me!" "I remember that when I was a little girl I was at my Aunt Sofía's." "And Uncle Félix had the newspaper, he and Dad always used to have it." "Uncle Félix had 'La Libertad' and 'El Sol', and we had 'El Faro'." "I was up there with Aunt Sofía, as I always was, well, many times." "When she died, never losing consciousness, she said: "Baby, you deserve everything, but they would go mad if I give you something instead of them."" "Well, the thing is that we read the news of the death of Carlos Gardel." "And I was very young, around 15, and I felt so sorry for him!" "Because I have always liked tangos, the music and the dance." "So..." "What a pity, that photo." "—Did you have a photo of her?" "No, I mean a picture of myself, and Daniel as a monk, and Lolita as a child, and Mom..." "And we went to Ponte-Vedra, where Eva Perón was by chance, and we were near the stage, close to her." "So elegant, wearing a broad picture hat, talking about the "shirtless"..." "—When was that?" "Well, what can I say..." "Daniel was in Poio." "—What were you doing in Ponte-Vedra?" "We were visiting Daniel, in Poio's monastery." "Dad brought it." "He brought an admirable golden case." "He brought knives, spoons, and everything you can think of from Buenos Aires." "He must have been in Buenos Aires from the age of 20 till he was nearly 40." "—Really?" "—Or maybe 35." "Or maybe he was younger when he left." "He used to tell many stories." "He was a responsible man." "And he was a rather cultured man considering he was from a village and had no education." "And Úrsula. —Who was she?" "—Dad's sister." "Dad also sent her to Buenos Aires 'cause they say she was a rebel and fought with people, with some men from Osmo, the so-called Camilos." "And once he hit her with a shoe and broke her lip, and she asked Dad to call the police, but Mum told him: "Don't go, or she'll drive you mad, you know what she's like..."" "A man from Sam Amaro used to say: "Ah, what a nice lady..."" "She was very elegant, wearing black fur coats at the time." "But... she started drinking..." "She had boyfriends, and they'd split up..." "How should I know...!" "Then she went to Buenos Aires." "Her brother Eugenio was there." "And my grandmother Rosalía, Dad's mother, came to live with us." "She used to cook for us and she was quite content there." "But... soon Úrsula came back from Buenos Aires (she didn't stay long, like Lucio)." "And then all the problems began." "Granny, the poor thing, went back to her house, and they said she used to hit her;" "but that I don't know, 'cause I didn't see it." "—Who hit whom?" "—The daughter hit the mother." "And in Osmo they said that, when Dad died (but I didn't see it), she went along the Retortela, opposite our house, playing some tins, out of happiness for the death of Dad." "That's what they said." "She was nuts." "Later Granny was found dead;" "they said she had hit her." "And then Úrsula died, but she wasn't old." "Apparently she was also found dead." "But there are many stories about Uncle Aurelio, that may not be true:" ""There was a woman where I worked" (Unlce Aurelio used to lie)" ""who always said: 'Aurelio, fasten my corset!" "'."" "And Aunt Sofia:" ""You're always making up stories."" ""It's true, she was crazy about me."" "They called him 'Don' Aurelio, because his mother was a teacher." "She was a bit dumb:" "She used to take communion twice in the morning, and the priest said: "You can't do that"." "Look at the teachers of those days!" ""Don Aurelio, how come you don't have any children?"" ""Ah!" "You wouldn't be able to feed all the children I left around the world."" "He was like that." "He had a gun to go hunting, but I don't remember him shooting down anything." "And Mom insisted on him leaving the gun unloaded." "And they asked him:" ""You never shot any animal down."" ""Yes, I did." "I shot down a white fox." But I never saw a white fox." "Uncle Eugenio stayed there." "And he remained single." "According to Dad, he used to bet on the horses but he never won." "He used to lose everything." "And later, as an old man, he married a widow from Rioboo who had children." "And he wrote to me telling me to go and fetch the wine crop for myself." "Zorrinho used to grow it." "But when I got there, they told me that the man in charge was his brother-in-law, in Rioboo, who didn't let me have it, saying that it belonged to his sister-in-law, as he had married her." "I don't know why he had to get married, being old as he was." "Once we got an anonymous letter, I remember it as if it was today," "Eugenio hadn't been married for long." "And it said: "He's a useless man." "He spends everything he earns."" "Hoe vain!" "Why did she marry him, as she knew all that beforehand?" "But there was no signature." "And Dad said: "Who the hell is this woman, who writes an anonymous letter from Buenos Aires?"" "Everybody said it had been his wife." "And that's why his brother-in-law didn't let me take the wine crop, 'cause I didn't have a power of attorney, and without one they didn't let me, they said it belonged to them." "Well." "Sra." "Teresa was very ignorant." "And her husband, Sr. José, too." "He was a street-lamp keeper." "There was only gas light in Buenos Aires at the time, so long ago!" "Buenos Aires!" "I'm glad I went there, to know what it is like." "And he used to say: "I was a 'frolero' ['farolero'] in 'Melro' City."" "Because they say there is a Merlo Street, but he pronounced 'Melro'." "She was a seamstress." "She was our everyday seamstress." "I remember she never tried the clothes on before sewing, and she put a dress on me, and Mom arrived, she was taking the leaves off the vines, and came up to see my dress, and one of the sleeves was shorter." ""But Teresa, this is not serious." "Can't you see?"" ""Ah, no, madam, look, look." And she took both ends saying:" ""Look at it: same length." But the difference was on the other end." "She was terrible." "She lied so much..." "God forgive her." "And she made some pyjamas for Daniel, but when she tried them, he started crying because they hurt him so much here." "And Sr. José took him and said:" ""I'll take the 'little cock' with me, so that Sra." "Teresa can loosen them."" "Then, we sold the wine and Dad said:" "(Dad always spoke Spanish, unlike us.)" ""Marta, come down to write down" (the gallons of wine)." ""I have to stay here, so that Sra." "Teresa doesn't fall asleep."" "And she said: "You can go, go, go."" "I was so little, but I remember so well!" ""Ok then, don't come, don't let her sleep." Just in front of her." "Aunt Sofia used to always tell the story." "She slept all the time, and she couldn't work." "And me: "I have to saty so that Sra." "Teresa doesn't sleep." Oh my God!" "She said: "I worked a lot for 'Manos de Plata'" (instead of 'Mar del Plata')." "Yeah, silver hands ['manos de plata'] she had when she had to work." "He was from Cenlhe, and she from Sam Fiz." "And he st-st-stuttered, and he told me:" ""Ma-Martinha, when Sra." "Te-Teresa dies" "I-I-I'll ma-ma-marry you."" "He was amazing." "And they were always in our house." "He used to make clogs." "And when she was about to marry him, she said, apparently, 'cause I don't remember it:" ""I am half-owner of some cows", said Sra." "Teresa to Sr. José." "When they got married he told her:" ""Let's go and see the cows."" "But she had nothing at all." ""Well..." "Not now, later", she said." ""We'll see later"." "She was a liar." "Like saying: "If I have cows, you'll love me better."" "And he later went to claim the cow from the man, I still remember him." "And he said: "What cows are you talking about?" "The only cows here are mine."" "She was terrible." "But they were good people." "And they went to Buenos Aires, without even knowing how to read!" "Going around the world being so ignorant!" "But he became a 'frolero' in 'Melro' City." "—Who was the first of your brother to go away?" "—The first one was Lucio." "Lucio was studying in Ourense, you know." "And then they wrote to Dad from the school saying he didn't attend the lessons." "God Almighty!" "Dad went to fetch him, and Mom said: "What is this man going to do?" "He doesn't work, he doesn't study..." But there was nothing they could do." "But Barroso, one of our teachers, said to Dad: "Don't let the boy leave school." "Now he has settled down." "He's very intelligent and in no time he will get the title."" "And Mom didn't want to, but Dad did." "He even wanted me to study, but in those days it wasn't common [for a girl to study]." "I wish I had studied." "But, anyway..." "Well, after they brought him from Ourense, they said:" ""What are we going to do with him?"" "'Cause he didn't want to work either." "So, they talked of sending Lucio to Buenos Aires." "And there he went." "But he was very quick in coming back." "—And who was there?" "Your Uncle Pepe?" "Uncle Pepe was the one who looked after all of them." "He must have said: "What a bunch they send me here!"" "And Lucio started working for Gatichaves, which was a department store like Continente or so, a very big one." "We still have a coat hanger with its name:" "Gath  Chaves." "I remember a winter day when he arrived." "And Mom was so upset, because what could he do after Buenos Aires?" "It was then that Barroso told them to keep him studying, 'cause it was a pity, etc." "And he brought me, I remember it perfectly well, a necklace, and another one for Peregrina." "Gloria had a brother, Jaime, who behaved so badly with her, the poor thing." "When Begoña was born, they came over." "—Who were 'they'?" "Jaime and his wife." "They came form Sam Fiz, where Mom had paid them for the inheritance." "And he told Gloria that he had been robbed at the Customs." "Gloria was desperate." "Poor thing!" "Her parents had worked so much, and now she had nothing!" "And they complained, of course." "And then (well, it's disgusting to even mention it) apparently Gloria wrote a letter to him, complaining about what he had done with the inheritance from their parents, criticizing his behaviour, and so on." "And then he answered by sending her a letter dirty with shit, insulting them." "And then they weren't on speaking terms any more." "They split up for good." "Later he went to visit Gloria, but she slammed the door in his face." "Luisa had a friend, according to Daniel." "He said: "Why is she going out with that guy?" "And he must have forbidden her to come and visit us, as she never came back to our house", that's what he said." "And then, as she never went back since she had met him, they saw the news, I think on TV, of a woman they had found dead by a river or so." "And I asked Daniel: "But you don't even find out who had done it?"" ""Justice here doesn't exist, they don't care."" "And I said: "That man was easy to catch, because everything she had was left for him."" "And she had a house, and everything." "What bad luck!" "I was so sorry for her!" "Apparently, they had a delivery service;" "they delivered bread, milk, everything..." "And Faustino complained that their business wasn't doing very well." ""I don't know why", he said." "And one day he told his partner:" ""Look, what are you doing?" 'Cause this business should do very well, but it's doing badly."" "And I suppose he must have been very insistent." "And one they, while they were delivering, "bang, bang"." "He left three children, being already a widower." "His wife had already died." "Three small children." "Orphans they became." "And then the priests took the two boys in." "Poor thing." "I didn't know him, but I was very sad when the news of his death reached us." "I, Lieutenant General Jorge Rafael Videla." "While he is missing, he can't have any special treatment." "He's unknown, missing." "He has no entity, he is not, he is not dead nor alive, just missing." "Hello, Alberte." "Is this name 'Alberto' in Spanish?" "I'm glad to hear from you." "I'm writing in a hurry and briefly 'cause I'm at work, but I wanted to answer quickly." "It's interesting, weird and exciting to start a dialogue with you." "Please tell your father that I've sent the letter to my brother Eladio." "He's the eldest of us." "As you must know, things here in Argentina are very complex, and Eladio is in very low spirits." "That may be the reason why he hasn't answered your father yet." "I'll tell you who we are:" "Eladio Faustino is the eldest." "He turned 58 on 4-09-02." "Luis Alberto is the middle one." "He'll be 57 on 16-12-02." "I, Celia Ester, am the youngest one." "I'm 51 and my birthday is on 17 January." "Our emotional and family lives are rather complex." "Eladio has one daughter and 3 sons, and one ganddaughter." "Luis has 3 children, 2 wives" "(one of them has passed away) and 6 grandchildren." "I'm not married, but share my life with Jorge, who has 2 children and a grandchild from his previous partner." "As for my job," "I'll tell you in the next chapter." "Best wishes, Celia." "Hello, cousin." "Tell your father that my brother has received his letter." "I phoned him and he confirmed he had received it." "Why is your father, who happens to be my Uncle Gonzalo, is so interested in speaking to Eladio?" "Because he is the eldest?" "It's just a philopsychological question." "If you feel like it tell your father I'm available to talk to him." "I'm also at one of my jobs." "It's Friday." "Spring is beginning here tomorrow." "Students celebrate their day, so I'm not working tomorrow." "Best wishes, Celia." "Hello, cousin." "Getting your e-mails is always a pleasure." "I like your nickname:" "Berto." "Can I call you that?" "I am in Villa Urquiza, in Buenos Aires, at the High School where I work, and this machine 'eats up' ('morfa' in Lunfardo) all the accents." "What can I do so that your father pays attention to me?" "I know it's not your problem, but I'm fed up with this affair of the blessed plots of land." "I'm rather low this late on in the year." "I hope to do things without dying in the attempt." "See you soon." "Love, Celia." "P.D.:" "I'll keep your greetings for my brothers till I see them, i.e. hardly ever." "Bye bye." "Hello, Berto." "Your father phoned just during our process of moving house." "I'll give you my new address." "I'll tell you about it later, but this move has been very good," "as my partner and me were able to cancel a mortgage we had on the other flat." "I want my new flat to have a spare room for you when you come visiting to Buenos Aires." "Greetings for everybody in this New Year's celebrations." "Thank your father for his present." "I was really surprised by it." "I haven't got the money yet, as you may guess, as I've just read your mail." "But thanks again, and tell him it comes in handy, as removals are very expensive." "I'll tell my brothers about it." "A kiss for you and best wishes for 2003, especially if one feels like building the future." "See you soon, Celia." "...in every single day of struggle..." "...during the farming strikes this is not the first step we take people are coming from La Boca, La Matanza and many places this is a very bad sign of the political will..." "Hello, Berto." "How are you dealing with the hangover of the festive season?" "Here in Buenos Aires it's too hot." "I'm writing a letter to your father, but please thank him for his Christmas present and tell him that my eldest brother, Eladio, and me have already cashed it." "I haven't sent the details to Luis yet." "Being in dialogue with you" "I've started thinking about my origins and I've found a book about 12 Galizans which I find very interesting." "I'd like to know more about your views on Galizan-ness." "I think these days it's a big challenge, confronting globalization, to recover one's roots." "And I liked your decision to change your name." "Enough for today." "Best wishes, Celia." "Hello, Berto." "Thanks for telling me about the letter." "Your comments on Galiza are very interesting." "As a daughter of Galizan parents" "I could never stand jokes about my ancestors." "Here in Argentina we are rather arrogant and authoritarian." "You know it well, because of the many compatriots of mine who have gone back to those lands looking for a job." "When you have time, keep telling me about the sociology and politics of your country." "We are very confused politically." "Elections are near and most of us don't know what to do." "One of our problems is that we say in the documents that we are a federal country but in fact we are very centralized." "The Federal Capital decides the destiny of a nation of 24 provinces, most of them very poor." "And we don't know, in this mega-harbour, whether we are Argentinian, European," "Latin American, or whether our destiny is the MercoSur." "The MercoSur seems to be reborn with Lula, though I don't know whether out of fear of our huge neighbour Brazil." "Are your holidays over?" "Today is my last day of holiday in one of the Universities for which I work." "But my future is rather uncertain, as I don't know whether they'll renew my contract." "I'll keep you informed." "But the future is not that dark." "I have many projects and want to do many things." "I'll be telling you about them." "Best wishes, Celia." "Hello, Berto." "As of today, I haven't got any news from your father." "How's life treating you?" "How are you living the possibility of war?" "What about the oil spillage [on the Galizan coast]?" "I've been in contact with some women from Spain who are visiting Argentina." "Yesterday I was talking to a woman from Vigo aboout the next Galizan elections." "I mentioned your views on the subject." "She wishes a new party wins, and she has her doubts about another victory of the PP [right wing People's Party]." "My work life is still uncertain, so I enjoy the sun, my house, and I put in order all the papers and junk collected over a long period." "I can also read and talk to friends and make plans." "Here we keep discussing the next elections, the MercoSur and Lula, the negotiations with the IMF, the ALCA [FTAA] and the EU, unemployment, 'piqueteros' [unemployed strikers], hunger, etc." "Best wishes, Celia." "Hello, Alberte." "I've just collected a new letter from your father." "If you talk to him, tell him I got it." "What is 'chapapote'?" "Are you going to [the demonstration in] Madrid too?" "I'm a bit sleepy because I'm getting up at 6 a.m." "to attend a course on human rights and education." "The topic is very interesting." "The teachers are a bit boring, but I can stand it for 5 hours a day with no problem." "I went with Jorge, my partner, to the demo against the war on Saturday." "Here in Buenos Aires some papers said that there were 10,000 people, others, 50,000; and others, 60,000." "There were many of us, feeling at home, people of all ages." "Here the leaders of the Peronistas, of the Radical Party or of any party just think of positions and not of people." "From now till April this is going to be difficult, hard, sad, and we'll have to meditate a lot before deciding who are going to govern us, or say they do, for the next four years." "As for what we thought about you and your family in the past..." "As for you, I didn't think anything, as I didn't know you or your brothers and sister existed." "As for your grandmother, bah!" "she's mine too, isn't she?" "and your father and his sister, for many years" "(and I'm talking in my name)" "I felt sadness, astonishment, pain, lack of understanding." "Today I can get to understand, though I don't share it, that they did their best." "Besides, They may not have understood anything." "But for a little child who had lost father and mother it was very difficult to understand why her granny, uncle and aunt didn't look after her." "I can understand the poverty, the fears, the distance." "But not to take care of a 7-year-old granddaughter that I can't understand." "Now, after some years of psychoanalysis and a few more of life experience" "I find it useful to discuss the subject, to ask: "Why"?" "to know what you thought about us at home." "Because you did know about us." "And then when Aunt Carmen and your father wrote to us to discuss the plots of land" "I felt there wasn't the tiniest bit of love, only words about some lumps of dust, which is all right." "But I was expecting something different." "Now it's easy to talk to you, and what you told me about your parents helped when talking to him." "I think that everybody does what they can, when they can and how they can, even if I don't like it." "I wonder why human beings are so complicated, why is it so difficult to come to an agreement, to open our hearts and to share our fears." "I'll stop bothering you." "Best wishes." "Until our next e-mail, Celia." "Hello, Berto." "Exportation of Galizan words has also reached Buenos Aires." "The thing is that I'm rather absent-minded, so I was surprised when I read it in your mail." "I haven't read the papers lately, and I haven't heard it on the audiovisual media." "While I'm writing, I remember that when I was 5 and lived with my parents in this city," "I used to chew tar, i.e. 'chapapote', pulled out from between the cobbles by my brothers," "I haven't answered your father yet." "It takes its time, as I have to talk to my brothers." "And with Eladio Faustino and Luis Alberto, my brothers and your cousins, dialogue is far from fluent." "I am organizing my work for this year." "For the moment I've been appointed for a private University in order to teach two subjects." "I've got another job at a, as we call it, third level school." "And some other things are taking shape." "I'll tell you later." "Best wishes, Celia." "Hello, Berto." "How's this new year 2004 treating you?" "I feel silly, sometimes rather blue, other times a bit better." "I suppose this is common." "But I often feel rather weird." "I start working on Monday at one of my Universities." "End of holidays, although not full time." "I'll keep you informed." "In Argentina, as in Spain, apparently, labour instability is pretty extensive." "Talking about labour:" "Did your big brother get the job?" "One of the reasons why I'm writing to you is to ask for your permission to give your e-mail address to one of my nephews, Dardo Alberto Pagán, my brother Luis' eldest son." "He asked for your personal details because he wants to leave for Spain." "As a personal rule, I don't give addresses away without an authorization." "I look forward to your comments." "Love, Celia." "to the victims of fascism to daniel vázquez, pepe vázquez, eladio faustino pagán to all the emigrants who died without ever being able to, ever wanting to, return to Galiza"