Passing the picture of life

Another day done in Argentina! Hard to believe the time is passing so quickly...it was a shite weather day in camp...regular pea soup! It actually rained and was so damn cold you could see your breath. I basically froze my ass off all day. I took photos and will add them to the blog soon to show the low cloud and drizzle! I should have felt right at home as it was perfect (haha) Vancouver weather!!

Yesterday when we were driving to Jachal, we passed this old, slightly rusty, dull red, 4-door Fiat driven by an old Argentino man and beside him in the car was a small boy who looked like the man´s grandson. They were beautiful. I don´t really know why the picture of them touched me but it did. They seemed so peaceful with eachother and weren´t driving too quickly...letting the landscape pass them by fast enough to get somewhere but slow enough to enjoy the life that was unfolding before them. They were another classic example of the ´vintage´ feel Argentina has.

What hit me next was the sharp contrast between them and us. Here we go whipping by them at 120km/hr in a shiny, new, black, 4x4 Toyota truck, obviously having somewhere to go and something very important to do! (¿like develop a gold mine?) Being higher up in our vehicle made us literally ´look down´ on them. It was such a vivid instant for me. It made me feel a little sad.

Developing this mine will hopefully bring the people of this area a more enriched life as we help their local economy to grow. I feel grateful that I am helping to write the company policy on community development. Yes, we cannot stop change because it´s a constant but perhaps we can slow down how quickly the change comes?? Or perhaps that is a naive way to look at it...that maybe these people are going so slowly compared to the speed at which they will be hit by the change when it does happen that they will simply be consumed (or perish)? I hope not!

I know that I´m being philisophical but truly, have any of us ever lived in that way? Have we ever had the opportunity to experience life like driving in an old red Fiat with your grandfather down a country road? I really don´t think that many of us can say we have. All I know is that I´d like more of that life sometimes.

I think one of the best things about traveling is that is gives me an opportunity to see how other people live which in turn gives me more perspective into my own life. The things I like, the things I don´t like and sustaining these memories is of such great value to me. Traveling impresses these moments on me that fortunately I get to carry with me forever. Moments like the red Fiat will make me smile when waiting in line for the elevator or while being frustrated with being stuck in bridge traffic.

I hope the red Fiat memory is burned in my mind forever and in turn, I hope we don´t burn them when the change comes to Jachal.