Do you know Hernán?
How a cafe at a village gas station got me to stay with a family, visit a flour mill, and do an interview in Spanish.
I have less than 20 km on the clock when I enter a small gas station in the town of Berabevú in Argentina for a coffee. It is very windy and the traffic passing near my saddlebags weighs me down. Then, almost every station has a good espresso machine in Argentina.
"Do you know Hernán Tarre? One of the few regular customers there immediately asks me. No, obviously not. "Ah okay," he replies, "it's because he does the same thing as you." "
While the other customers are almost bickering over who will offer me my next coffee, they explain me more. This famous Hernán is a young man in his twenties from the village who left by bike towards the north of the continent almost a year ago. The author of the question then points me to the traveler's Instagram account. The young cyclist has a constant smile on his face and has already been to Colombia after 10 months. While carrying even more stock than me.
I subscribe to his account and, immediately after, Hernán sends me a message. He has already been told who I am and that I am at his place. After 2 or 3 sentences, he already suggests that I “go and rest with his parents”. It is not with my 20 km that I am very tired, but I accept for the story.
Two blocks away, his mother Alejandra is waiting for me in front of her concrete house and waves me a big welcome.
The Tarre family
Alejandra is married to Omar, with whom she had 3 children. Two daughters besides Hernán. I am installed in the former room of the latter then I return to the kitchen to speak to the couple.
Alejandra comes from Neuquén, an Argentinian province further south of the country. Omar is from the neighboring village. They met while the latter was traveling by car at the age of 25 to “discover his country”. Omar speaks a lot, and very quickly! It is certainly interesting but I need all my concentration not to lose track in Argentinian Spanish. I receive a few knowing looks from his wife and Micaela, his 24-year-old eldest daughter, who seem to share with me "it's our daily life!" ".
Then, as I am also invited to supper, the conversation moves into the living room.roast. Argentinian asado is more than just a barbecue on coals, it's almost a way of life. The majority of houses have a fireplace with grates on a patio adjacent to the house, or sometimes even directly inside it. Cooking takes a long time and is also an excuse for a chat.
Micaela, testing a new macaroon recipe.
Omar explains to me by replacing his logs, the sausages and the lamb he grew up on an 80 hectare farm with his parents. From the age of 12, he left school to work in the fields, until he was 18. Military service was compulsory until 1995 in Argentina. Omar therefore conscripted for a year, in 1984. He missed the Falklands War (falklands) a little.
After his service, he returned to his village. He held various agricultural jobs, like the majority of the inhabitants in rural Argentina. He has now worked at the local flour mill for a few years.
During these stories, her eldest daughter Micaela took to the stove. She explains to me that she studied mathematics at university but hated city life. At the same time, she realized that it was pastry that fascinated her the most. So she returned to Berabevú and now works in a bakery. Each evening, she also cooks pastries on her own. Either for customers who make him special orders, or to try new recipes as is the case tonight with incredible colorful macaroons.
In front of my interest, she shows me some of her creations on her phone. It is frankly incredible! There are themes of dinosaurs, first communion, video games… In any case, there are several floors and a lot of details. We are far from the McCain cake!
I go to the mill
In an interview on Berabevú's community TV, right at my hosts' kitchen table.
I had planned to stay only one day with my hosts, but the next day, Omar invited me to visit his workplace in the afternoon: the village flour mill. I don't want to miss this opportunity.
I take the opportunity to wash my clothes in the morning. I will then hang them in the back yard, on the rope near a lemon tree and an orange tree. Alejandra calls me at the same time. A journalist is waiting for me in the kitchen!
Omar had taken advantage of my second day in the village to also call the local community television! Journalist Adrian therefore arrives at the house to do an interview with me. I explain in particular about my trip and my destinations, and how I found myself in this house. Then he will come himself to take me to the mill on his scooter!
The mill opened 4 years ago and Omar has been working there ever since. It is a cooperative that brings together a hundred farmers within 50 km around. The visit is very interesting and Omar is obviously not stingy with explanations! I learn about the different machines, the neighboring farms and the delivery that leaves daily with hundreds of bags of flour.
In particular, I also meet a laboratory technician who explains to me that he must constantly test the flour to keep the product uniform. Among other things, it tests for humidity and adjusts recipes for its additives and vitamins. The type of grain, the soils of each farm, the seasons, harvest times and even the weather are all factors that must be taken into account when mixing.
With the loud ambient noise, the Argentinian accent and the technical vocabulary, I wouldn't say that I understood everything, but it was very interesting!
To enjoy life
Omar may have started working very young, he is nonetheless a philosopher. Throughout our long conversations, he gradually reveals his future plans to me. And some beautiful pearls, like when he tells me he loves learning.
“Knowledge doesn't take up space. "
-Omar Tarre
And it is moreover in the direction of enjoying the life that he wishes to go. He told me that he plans to become a temporary worker on a farm again in about a year so that he can work less. He would also like to buy a collective (a small bus) that he would arrange himself and that he could use to make short trips of 2 or 3 weeks. And thus rediscover the countryside of his country as he had done in his twenties. “I want to enjoy life,” he told me. I now have less in front than behind me. "
Have a good trip, Omar. And thank you to all your family for this welcome, these sharing and this generosity. I hope Hernán receives such beautiful invitations as the one you gave me.
Omar, Micaela and Alejandra Tarre.
Find out how flour is made from wheat grains. All explained by Omar in the heart of Argentina.