heading for the Pampas

At that very same moment, some four thousand miles away, in Austin, Texas, John Culvert Dwight was starting the dream journey of his life. He had just graduated with a Master's degree in Economics from The University of Texas at Austin, with a major in Mathematical Economics. He always liked numbers. Numbers and formulas conveyed to him a sense of certainty in life he could not find anywhere else.

His family had kept a ranch in Texas for more than five generations where it raised cattle. John was from a family of cowboys. He liked horses and cattle and was very proud of his heritage. His father Louis, at 74, was still a genuine cowboy, getting up every morning at five, mounting his horse, named Silver, and taking care of bulls and cows for the whole of the day. John's plans for life, though, were different. He wanted to be a financial controller at some big institution. He dreamed of Merryl Lynch and Goldman Sachs.

As he took his place on seat 24D of United Airlines flight 567 to Buenos Aires, with stopovers in New York and Miami, it just came to his mind this was a Boeing 757 just equal to one of those planes that hit the Twin Towers on September 11th. He simply could not hide some nervousness and sorrow. As he sat down, one of the female flight attendants starred at him for a brief moment. Women were naturally attracted to him. At the age of 27, he was a tall, blonde, blue eyed, immensely cute young man.

Air traffic at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport that Wednesday afternoon was dense. From his window, while waiting for passengers to board, he looked at planes taking off and landing at a rate of more than three each five minutes. In his mind, though, there was one single fixed idea, to set foot as soon as he could in that land of people whom he had heard his grandfather talk so much about in his childhood. From Buenos Aires, he knew it by heart, it was an easy two-hour bus ride to get there.

"Look, Johnny, there is only one kind of people in the whole World who are as great as we Texan cowboys are, just a little bit less so, I would say. Just one. It's the gaúchos!. They are tough people like us who can master horses and talk to bulls. They are real brave men and - just for the two of us, little boy - their manhood is legendary. Like ours, by the way. And listen, boy, they have there the most beautiful women in the whole World, except for our own, I mean. Ahahahahahahah!".

These words came to his mind as if grandfather Culvert was still alive. He had said that so many times to him, though always making sure his mother was not around, that he couldn't count them. Now that his plane was about to take off, he could still hear grandaddy's prolonged laugh: "Ahahahahahah". And then,

.
"They live many thousand miles to the south, Johnny, in Latin America, a country named Argentina. They inhabit a region that is so much alike our own that it could be called Latin America's Texas. It's the Pampas, Johnny, the Pampas, put that word in your mind. If one day you have a chance do go there, don't miss it Johnny. And now, just between the two of us, boy (is your mother around?), if you happen to go there, talk to the gaúchos, watch the cows, the horses and the bulls. But, I tell you Johnny, have a special look at, and take special care of women. You shall not feel sorry, boy! Ahahahahahaah".

As the plane took off at 4:53 PM, John was about to make true for himself the wildest of grandfather Culvert's dreams. He was heading for the Pampas to spend one month, one full month, in South America's Texas.