In 1962, Liliana Graciela Bassi Gay was an exchange student at Seminole High School. I found her and her stories about Argentina absolutely fascinating. And we continued to write to one another over the next ten years—thin, flimsy papers to save on airmail postage. She went to university and married a man named Milko. I married a man named Clay and became a Navy wife – going to various junior colleges along the way. Ten years later, I had survived a divorce and received a degree from the University of Houston.
As a graduation gift to myself, I bought an airline ticket on Braniff Airlines to Buenas Aires—intending to get a job once I was there and pay it off. Liliana was delighted that I was coming to visit her and arranged for me to stay with her mother. Before I left, I asked my hometown newspaper, The Seminole Sentinel, if they would be interested in my writing articles for them while I was there. They said yes.
So in October 1971, I packed my turquoise-blue typewriter, my two-piece paisley bathing suit, my green trip journal and went off to foreign parts.
The following six blogs are based on those newspaper articles (with the exception of the blog entitled Finally, Bariloche) and on notes from that green trip journal. Each one concludes with my reflections fifty years later.
First Day and First Date
An Afternoon in Rosario and Other Afternoons with Christina and Guys in White Hats
Saturday and Other Weekends