Fat Man in Argentina - Tom Vernon (1990)

Reisverhaal van een man die verschillende stukjes door Argentina fietste. Hij schijnt ook tv (kook?) programmas gemaakt te hebben en is daar redelijk bekend van in de UK, maar ik ken hem dus niet. Uitgelezen in Puerto Natales, Chile, nadat ik zelf een dagje 'meegefietst' had. Even wat citaten bewaren en dan kan ik het boek loslaten. Hij schrijft wel lekker, deze fatman. Af en toe moest ik hardop lachen. Voor de rest was het plezier van het boek voor mij vooral een feest der herkenning natuurlijk.

elma
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I passed a restaurant whose window contained a complete and gigantic camp fire - whole trunk logs , glowing red among its white ashes. Around it, crucified on stainless steel crosses were several sheep, goats and gigantic pieces of cow.
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There was great brutality and deprivation in the lives of the gauchos, but also poetry, honour and good fellowship: and if you call someone a gaucho today, it means that he s the type to do anything for anybody.
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Man on horse is always more impressive than man without horse, but some of these had an element of assertive glamour about them that made them stars. It was difficult to see where man began and horse left off. They did not ride, they joined.
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if you have never smelt a bull covered with mayonnaise you have never smelt mayonnaise at full power.
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Argentines seem to feel very warm towards the Scots.
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Patagonia is part place, part legend. It was discovered on a legendary voyage: it was given a legendary name, the land of giants: and it is legendary still - a country to which people have come seeking more than really exists on the windswept plains, or even in the fertile valleys of the rivers and mountains. They have followed some vision [...] and the drive of their fantasy, followed by the necessity of enduring its real consequences, has often made some sort of dream come true.
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I pedalled frantically, in an effort to keep up their delusion that I was some sort of sporting character,m until the were lost behind me, and I could relapse into my usual crawl.
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(over honden) They have a perky independence, too: and you will often see a small pack of them self-importantly inspecting the town, trotting across the traffic with the greatest equanmity.
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mortgages hardly exist in Argentina´s unstable economy
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El Bolson to Chubut
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As in many towns in Argentina, you could see the gap between private enterprise and public life. ( It was the same sort of gap that has developed in Britain - but at home there had been time to pave the streets first..)
(hier moest ik vaak aan denken daaro, toen ik weer struikelde over straat, of fietste op een weg dat op de kaart eruitzag als een 'echte' weg, maar in realiteit maar een stoffige en stenige zooitje was - dat hadden we in Europa ook kunnen hebben als we niet eerst zoveel eeuwen civilisatie had gehad)
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Not for him the Patagonian pace of life (which even has its own verb, patagonisar, to amble like a Patagonian, to take things slowly).
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rico = lekker
lindo = mooi
(dit zijn 2 Argentijnse woorden die ik nooit op Spaanse les heb geleerd maar die daar net zo veel gehoord zijn als hun Nederlands equivalenten)
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the vast, implacable, unforgettable Andes
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the calmest period in Patagonia is autumn
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