More than 5 months ago, brothers Nahuel and Nazareno Vargas left their home in San Jaime de la Frontera, on the northeastern edge of Entre Ríos, to fulfill a shared dream. For some time, they both agreed that they wanted to discover the province completely. “I had no idea that it was going to be real until about a year ago, when Nazareno told me that he was going to go to Mexico on a motorcycle,” Nahuel recalled.
“The only way for me not to go to Mexico is for us to take this trip together that we talked about for so many years,” he told me. I had my life established in Buenos Aires and it was like ‘I’m fine, but what’s better than fulfilling a dream rather than just being fine, right?’” she said.
It was then when they decided to get to know Entre Ríos, but in a very particular way: one on a motorcycle and another riding a bicycle; Both explore even the most remote corner of the province, they go into all the towns, places and villages, to meet those who live there and to experience everything in first person with a single objective: to rescue the idiosyncrasy of each of the communities. visited.
According to what they say, another driving force behind the trip was a family story: “My grandfather was from Larroque and went to San Jaime. Along the way he fell in love with the Entre Ríos landscape and a seed of getting to know the province was also implanted in him. Obviously, because of his family and his work, this was very utopian, but for us it was not and is not,” explained Nahuel, who also defined that “that was where the power of this trip arose, to also do it for the memory of my grandfather”.
Nahuel is 31 years old, he is a photographer and works as a community manager and content creator on social networks. Nazareno is 30, he was a music teacher and is currently dedicated to digital marketing. With these skills, the brothers are empowered to communicate their travel experiences on their Instagram account @viajeinfinito.ok. From there, they share the details of their daily life on the route and capture and reflect the essence of each corner of Entre Ríos.
“Before going to a place, we communicate with the Department of Culture, Tourism or the Municipality, and when we speak with these agencies we ask them to tell us what they would like to show about the place, because it is important that in addition to what we see as beautiful, knowing what they would like to show on our social networks. At the same time, some private individuals also ask us for content to advertise,” they explained about how to pay for the trip since thanks to the networks they often get lodging and food on this adventure undertaken. In addition, Nazareno managed to do his digital marketing work remotely, which still has an extra source of income.
“We want that, just as they receive us, we can also give them something of quality. Every time we put together the scripts for digital content we try to make it have a certain appeal, to hit the networks, but at the same time not to lose the magic of the town, not to break that, what we experience in each place, because although The idea is to try to enhance each of the places we go, we also want to show what we live, the way we travel,” they stated.
Another of the searches that the Vargas brothers pursue on their path is to find the identity of our people. “We are very patriotic to the Entre Ríos that we all dream of. What do I have to do with someone from Gualeguaychú? How can I generate a bond between what I share with this person and with this place? That also makes us weave ties a little bit everywhere,” said Nazareno.
At the moment, the common factor they identified is the simple and well-disposed character of the Entre Ríos people. “We are simpler people. Obviously, there is a diversity of people for everything, but something that is generalized here is that we are calmer people, it is not that we are going to find very upset people. Those who are more sparkling are generally doing activities of all kinds, all very nice and that add value to their town. We are also very open to receiving others with trust and hospitality. That is also a common character,” they added.
Moving on two wheels
To get around, Nazareno travels by motorcycle and Nahuel by bicycle. They do it separately and meet at the chosen destination. Since they hit the road, in mid-January, they visited almost all the towns near the Uruguay Coast. “We were in Chajarí, Santa Ana, Villa del Rosario and Federación. We continued through the Department of Concordia, we were in several places there: Ayui, La Criolla, Charrúas, Puerto Yeryá, Nova Scotia and Concordia; The only thing we were missing, that we skipped because we were distracted, was Estancia Grande. In the Colón Department we were in Liebig, Villa Elisa, Ubajay, Colón and San José. There we moved to San Salvador and we were in San Salvador and General Campos. Then we did the entire Department of Uruguay: we were in Pronunciamiento, in Villa Mantero, Herrera, Caseros, Colonia Elía, Concepción, San Justo and Santa Anita,” they listed between the two.
Along the way, the brothers have encountered stories and people that captivated their attention. “On May Day, we entered a watchmaker’s house and it was like being transported back in time. It was impressive. He would tell you everything, from the first watch he fixed to the entire history of the watches he had. It is a profession that is being lost due to digital, so getting in there and seeing all that was incredible; “He had a mini-museum in a small room, where there was no space without clocks,” they said.
Something similar happened to them in Liebig, where they found the largest butterfly collector in the country. “He was one of those obsessive collectors with museology, he read a lot, he saw how things were organized in museology.” Also in Ubajay, where the old station that functions as a museum preserves part of its history intact: “The person who was in charge of the station and who remained taking care of it until his death, had a room, the one at the ticket office, which he kept intact, locked. You go in there and it’s a time capsule,” they commented.
Destination Gualeguaychú
“On the trip we made a trap,” they both confessed. “We came from carnival to carnival. We did the one in Chajarí, Federación and Concordia. We did everything we could. When we were in Concordia, it was the last week of the Gualeguaychú Carnival. And there was no way for me to get there by bike,” said Nahuel. “So with Naza we said ‘let’s take a bus and don’t miss it.’ We came to the Gualeguaychú Carnival and we returned the other day,” he summarized, remembering that first time for both of us in the city, just a few months ago.
On this occasion, the Vargas have already been visiting several attractions in Gualeguaychú and its surroundings and plan to visit others before embarking on a trip this coming week to Larroque. The Carnival museum, the Costanera, Pueblo Belgrano, Ñandubaysal, the natural reserves and the thermal complexes are some of the things that caught his attention on his first days in the city. Until their departure, they divide their time between tourist tours and their work: editing pending material.
“When you live in a place and inhabit it all your life, sometimes the simple and beautiful things around you go unnoticed. We decided that San Jaime will be the last place on this entire trip, and when we arrive we will look at it with different eyes,” they concluded.
