Re: [Paddlewise] Friend's Day

From: Fernando López Arbarello <uktkayak_at_uol.com.ar>
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 01:55:39 -0300
Thank you everybody for the warm replies, specially for those of you in the
back-channel !

----- Original Message -----
From: Doug Lloyd <dlloyd_at_telus.net>

>... I heard you guys are going
> through an unusually cold winter with some resultant deaths....

Yes indeed, a few degrees below cero for thermal sensation, but water is not
frozen and snows never show up in Buenos Aires, so I can keep on paddling.
Unfortunatelly winter always take a few fellows .... , but this is life,
isn´t it ?

--------------------------
From: ralph diaz <rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com>

> How do you term it in Argentine Spanish "Dia de La Amistad" or is it
> "Dia del los Companeros"  One of the most famous tango songs which I am
> certain everyone has heard the tune for goes "Adios, muchachos,
> companeros de mi vida...." Farewell, boys, companions of my life...  I
> always liked how the word _companeros_ sounds in that tango, a haunting
> lingering effect.

Actually, we say "Día del Amigo" wich would be translated as "Day of the
Friend". I'm glad you like Tango, and its feeling for sure. As you
perceived, for us COMPAÑERO is more related to a very close friend,
"companion" of your life, someone you have lived deep growing maturing
experiences, someone who is walking the way of life beside you.

About Castro, well, that´s a another story, and another meaning, of course,
even when his beloved CHE GUEVARA was argeninian.

By the way, if you ever happen to wonder what this "CHE" means ..., well,
there´s some indians from PATAGONIA named MAPUCHES, from MAPU (Land) and CHE
(People), so "People from the Land". As frecuently happened in the "New
World", conquerors incorporated native words and expressions, in this case
the "CHE". Spaniards used the voice che! to call a native, in a despective
way similar to americans usig "BOY" for black people. But time heals and now
we use CHE the same you use "MAN", meaning confidence, friendship and good
animosity. In the case of Guevara, its only a surname, same as friends call
me "Pelado López" (Baldy López)

--------------------------
From: Melissa <bonnyweeboaty_at_yahoo.com>

 > ...Please do tell us all about the paddling there.  I would someday like
very much to paddle in
 > Argentina (and about a thousand other places all over this planet).

I live in Buenos Aires, and paddle most of the time in the "Rio de la Plata"
and the "Delta del Paraná" (Paraná Delta). The Delta is a wonderful
laberynth of islands and channels plenty of forest and wildlife. It joins
the "Uruguay" river to form the río de la plata, the biggest estuary of the
world. So big that it is 40 km wide in the beginning and 200 in th end, and
amazingly is about 400 km long. When the first spaniards came they named it
"The Sweet Sea", confusing it with a sea.

With good weather is like a swimming pool and takes about 8 hs. paddling to
cross it (non stop). But when the Southeastern Winds blow the story changes.
This storm usually lasts 3 days of continuous and furious winds that block
the normal flow of the river, causing the waters to rise 2 mts. or more, can
you imagine the monster ???. It also gets choppy and confuing becomming a
HELL of SUFFERING or a HELL  of FUN, depending on how you see the life !

-------------------------------------
From: ralph diaz <rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com>

> I often have thought of making that crossing, albeit I bet it would be
> quite a long one as the ferry took five or six hours to cross.  There
> are shorter trips across the Rio de la Plata to Uruguay.  Of course,
> there are nicer paddling places south in Argentina but I am an urban
> paddler.

All you have to do is come ! That's what foldables are meant to, isn´t it ?
As I said before the crossing is only 8 hs paddling, and I promise we won´t
do it under bad weather, except Doug shows up too. The badest and more
difficult part is getting the permits. You have to deal with the Coastguards
of 2 countries, and as usual both will say NO!, but after insisting for a
while ...... you get it.

Best regards to all of you and thank you for your friendhip. I'm sure some
day will find us paddling together somewhere in the world. Keep PaddleWising
!

UNIÓN DE KAYAKISTAS DE TRAVESÍA
Fernando López Arbarello
uktkayak_at_uol.com.ar

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Received on Tue Jul 25 2000 - 22:29:15 PDT

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