Good to be back home. Vicky is freezing, and after finally adjusting to summer in January I too am a little chilled. But the fire in the fireplace is starting to build so we'll spend the evening in front of it, Vicky wrapped up in a sleeping bag, and both of us sipping cocoa.
Really, some of you all watch too many movies. Husband and wife "spy teams" do not exist outside of Hollywood. This was a simply and crassly commercial trip.
I didn't think either of my girls wrote like I do, but Vicky says it is true. And that is correct, Vicky now does much of the paperwork associated with the ranch (I hate paperwork). Both the girls in turn did much of the secretarial work after their mom left us, until they left for college. Vicky has accused me of marrying her for her secretarial skills, and not her money. ;-)
Argentina is really screwed up once you get past Buenos Aires. BA is bad enough but doesn't show the problems like the outlying villages. Children and old people are literally starving to death in some areas. The corruption in these minor areas is astounding. The owner of the ranch took care of his employees, his gauchos and their families, and made what they call a "gaucha", or a gift of generosity, of beef cattle to the poor in his area. True, usually poorer cattle, but lifesavers nonetheless. He also allows the growing of truck patches in out of the way places on his lands by poor peoples. He has more real power in his area than the government. He is normally a hard man, but he feels for the poor and is unwilling to allow them to starve to death on his proverbial doorstep.
Vicky and I will have letters worked out later next week or maybe early February. There is a lot to catch up on here at home first, including kicking my elder daughter's butt the next time I see her. ;-)
Later, folks.
Don
