My Roller Skates

When I was little I used to like playing with my friends, like everybody else. However, my favorite time of the day was, indeed, when we all got together, and put on our roller skates!

What a blessing back then, when children could just go outside and enjoy a good time roller skating. My mom used to say-“Silvana, you would sleep with your roller skates, if I let you, ugh?-“And I agreed! She never let me do that, but I would put my pair under my bed, or close enough to see them, first thing in the morning!

My mom knew how much I liked roller skates that she sent me to take classes. I was seven years old. I did not enjoy the class very much. It was more learning about figure skating and how to jump in the air, type of class. Anyhow, my favorite part of my “patín” day, was when I came back from it and we went with my friends skating across our neighborhood.

Every Christmas, for five years, Santa would bring me a pair of roller skates.  I never got the once I really liked but, I was super happy, JUST by receiving any kind of skates! My dream of owning a pair of white leather with red wheels roller skates became a reality much later; when I became a mother and started playing with my children. One day, as I was driving my kids to school, and by accident, I saw them. There they were in a garage sale! They were sitting on a table,   they were shining like a star and, I could hear them calling me-“come and get me-“And that was, exactly, what I did. I couldn’t believe that I was holding in my hand my dream roller skates, after so many years.

I still have my roller skates. They look so old, but I love them. They bring me good memories. Once in a while I put on my roller skates and they make me feel, like a child all over again!

There was a land…

…the land was what we, now know, as the South part of Argentina, Patagonia, to be precise. This desolate part of the world was occupied by only a small group of humans, they were nomad. Nomadic are a group of people who move from one place to another. Patagonia was also occupied by big animals who were hunted by these nomadic communities. Among other animals there were Mylodons , Hyppidions, guanacos, llamas and ñandúes everywhere!

These animals were hunted by the nomads to eat and to protect themselves from the cruel climate of the zone. Patagonia is the coldest part of Argentina. Mylodon lived in Patagonia, South part of Argentina. Mylodons were like big gigantic grizzly bears! They were pacific animals and they ate only plants, and tree leaves. These gigantic teddy bears were not aggressive, therefore, they had no enemies except humans who would chase and hunt them for its fur.

Hyppidions were horses and they were the first horses in Argentina, it is too bad there are no longer in existence. Every time I read stories about horses I think about my father, who was very fond of horses. He did not only owned a few horses himself, but he knows a lot about them and when you listen to him talking about horses, it is impossible for you not to love them they way he does! llamas, guanacos and ñandúes are part of Argentina’s fauna today. The history and amazing discoveries about Patagonian animals and nomads are found today in Santa Cruz, Argentina province in Patagonia; precisely in a cave called Museo de Piedra. However another historical site was found 100 kilometers north from Museo de Piedra called Los Toldos where another group of people, apparently, lived in this part of the region. The animals and the few people who lived in this part of the world were mysterious and full of life as the animals and people living today.

Knowing the past of the land I come from helps me understand better, my future and my children’s future. I understand that we are not individual people without a past, without history. Taking time to understand our history prepares to be better humans.