Today, Sunday, was the Day of the Amigo (El Día del Amigo) in Argentina. Who knew? It is a regional holiday dreamed up by an Argentine teacher many years ago to celebrate man's landing on the moon, a day when all mankind became amigos! It is celebrated in Argentina and parts of Uruguay, but almost nowhere else on earth.

What a wonderful idea! And also one that harks back to a time when the world looked at the U.S. very differently!

According to the cellular providers, this is the busiest day of the year in Argentina for text message traffic, exceeding even Christmas! And sure enough, I've been getting a small flood of emails and text messages all weekend, some of them quite touching. Here is a Wikipedia link about the holiday.

I was invited to a fiesta and asado for El Día del Amigo last night by my wonderful friends Rosanna and Adriana (of course).

Another example of the incredible things that surface almost every week is Teatro de los Andes in Bolivia. Nico and I met today with Carolina at Voces del sur in the city center. Carolina introduced us to Natalia Barry, a young Argentine girl who is working and living with the Teatro in Bolivia. Natalia was visiting Carolina Thursday and we had communicated by email earlier in the week about a possible meeting. Luckily, it worked out for all of us.

The theater group was founded by an Argentine fellow named César Brie, a talented actor, writer and musician who was arrested and persecuted during the period of the disappeared under the military junta. Like most military dictatorships, the junta began to harrass and intimidate prominent artists almost immediately.

Maria Eugenia and I finally figured out a time that works for Rodrigo, her partner in the El Caldero aboriginal cooking school, and for Nico, Lucas and me. We set a meeting for 10:30 a.m. this morning at the school, which is on the far edge of Buenos Aires proper.

What an amazing treat! Maria greeted us at the door with hugs and the traditional Argentine peck on the cheek, then ushered us inside to a riot of wonderful aromas emanating from the kitchen. Her business partner and philosophical kindred spirit Rodrigo is equally fascinating and graciously hospitable. He lives in the other half of the building in which the school is located.

Maria is German heritage with a long Argentine family history. Rodrigo has dual nationality in Argentina and Chile, his birth home, while his family traces their roots to Lebanon. What is America? Maria and Rodrigo give us a unique set of answers with simple biography.

Before I left Bs As to film in the Puna, my dear friend Claudia suggested that I contact a woman named Maria Eugenia, who has been studying what Claudia called "aboriginal food and cooking." Maria ran a small school that taught classes in aboriginal cooking, and Claudia thought it would be a perfect fit for Pan American Dreams. I finally got a meeting set up for today.