Hide to scare away Cougarmanage by pure observation to know what day and at what time the most feared predator will come down from the mountains, herd the pines of goats and sheephelp them give birth if necessary, vaccinate them, also the horses and cows, not losing sight of the signs of the animals when they get sick or injured, roping, butchering, sowing, building a shed, cchange the oil in the truck, wiring, working hard to earn your bread, being minus twenty if they come in at eight, walking in the countryside in fog or snow. Build a team with Teresayour partner in life, to raise by example more than by word, to find a way around it and find a place in the world for your children to grow up and not miss a plate on the table, which is so difficult.
All those snapshots enter the gallery of Noemí Romero’s most beautiful memories when evoking her father here, at west of Neuquén, at the foot of the Andes Mountains, 59 kilometers north of Aluminé towards Ñorquinco on Route 11among the mountains of that valley of araucarias, ñires, lengas and melting streams that used to fill with friends in the summer, when the slopes are overflowing with green.
Here she lives now, here she remembers him every day in the Post El Nano, as the sign on the route says, the nickname of his father, who left this world on March 8 at the age of 83. “Everything he taught me is unforgettable,” says Noemí and his voice is pure emotion.
He dedicated a beautiful poem to him and his daughter Sheila also put together a collection video for the beloved grandfather when he turned 80. “A little bit of a gasman, a little bit of a bricklayer, a little bit of a doctor, capable of straightening the flowers and changing the engine of the flat, griller, historian, everything.” describes it. These are the memories of this family from Neuquén, part of a story with joys and tears.
An excursion from the Abra Ancha School 8 km from Aluminé had the worst ending when the stones that fell after the first students passed crushed them. Eliana, Noemí’s older sister, at 9 years old. It was a devastating blow for the family. “We fell into a well and it was difficult to get out,” says she, who was 7 years old at the time.
Some time later, when I was doing the secondary school in Cutral Co, his father overturned on the road with his 63 Fordcita while avoiding someone who crashed on the curve and fell on top of him: he took out his shoulder, fractured two ribs and was unable to work for several months. His mother was alone, her younger sisters, the twins Silvia and Yasmina, were girls, had to be, he turned. “I don’t regret that decision. I dedicated myself to the field with them. I learned everything from them. And I like this life,” he says. She is 43 years old.
A love story
The love story that united his mother and father was born in Cutral Co in the ’70s. Teresa was a single mother to Héctor, who was one year old. At 12, she had escaped a hard and sad life in Chile, hiding in a truck loaded with bags of flour so that she would not be detected at the border. They left her in El Bolsón, she took a job as a maid and little by little she managed to get ahead, until one day she arrived in the city of Neuquén and met Orlando: in the family house they rented small rooms and she occupied one.
He was a farmer since he was a child, he knew how to be a butcher and a merchant, as he said: he took products to the fields and bartered for leather and wool. He also worked on pioneering works such as the El Chocón dam, to carry the power lines to the interior of Neuquén, that is why they charged it if the power went out. “You put in a cable wrong, Nano,” they told him and he laughed.
He also said that he was in the construction of routes and the La Rinconada bridge, among other works. And when during the after-dinner barbecues someone would jokingly ask him if he really went through so many places, he would smile again and say: “I have the papers.” And it was like this: “A documented history. And he liked to tell it, share it,” says Noemí.
Three years ago his mother passed away and since then Orlando was not the same. If before he always invented something so that they would go see him in the countryside, later he preferred to stay in Aluminé, to become quick. Without his partner it wasn’t the same… Until a little over three months ago he left. Now Noemí is in Pampa Inda, where they were so happy. With that he stays. With the teachings. And with his smile, the one that illuminated everything.
“When your father is from the country”, the emotional poem that Noemí dedicated to him
When your father is from the country you grow up differently than the children around you.
Your dad teaches you things like changing the oil in your truck or how to link.
When your father is from the country you learn to communicate by shouting.
It teaches you that hard work will pay off.
When your father is from the country; You learn about life and you learn about death.
You learn how to treat sick animals and you learn how to butcher animals.
You learn that doing things the right way first is always better.
You learn to fix wires, make sheds, cut grass with a scythe, fix corrals, saddle a horse, gopher, work in the corrals, vaccinate…!
You hear stories from horses running across the open field about catching a bug to fill the pot.
Family vacations are picnics under a ñire eating fritters that Mom put in the suitcase and drinking some mate and then continuing with the fence to stop the cattle.
You learn to pack something for the road because you may not be back home for lunch or dinner.
You hear things like: “Get up. You are wasting God’s daylight.” When it is just 5 in the morning.
There is no time to cry.
You always have a friend.
It teaches you manners and traditions.
Your hands feel like sandpaper.
The first vehicle you drive is a cart pulled by oxen!
You find yourself more interested in the weather and livestock markets, then you find out about other news.
You learn that when he says, “Can you help me move some animals?” It really means “You help me all day.”
You learn work ethics at a very young age.
When your father is from the countryside you learn that breadcrumbs are not thrown into the fire because the chicks make more use of them.
You don’t receive a salary. They give you a pat on the back.
You have the best life!
Always proud of everything my father taught me!
That great snowfall that left his mother and father isolated and surrounded by a meter and a half of snow
In August 2019, a large snowfall fell in Pulmarí Pampa Inda. So much so that in Aluminé, Orlando and Teresa’s children worried about getting to the field quickly, since their parents were there surrounded by a meter and a half of snow.
From the route it is another two kilometers to the El Nano post in Pulmarí Pampa Inda: they arrived at noon and only part of the walls could be seen which Don Orlando built with his own hands (the dining room was made of material from five years before, the bedroom was still made of wood) and the roof (made of zinc that replaced the cardboard sheets). The bathroom was already inside the house, it was no longer a latrine 300 meters away. And the great news: the light had arrived this year and they had a refrigerator. Like now, they used the jugs for cooking and the heating was with wood.
On the first day, the children advanced as far as they could, since they could not advance and at midnight they had to return. The next morning, they did arrive. They were OK. They took Teresa to Aluminé, but Orlando preferred to stay to shovel the snow and organize the search for the animals.
