Yesterday was an atypical partly cloudy day in Neuquén. We decided to do the winery tour on bike anyway. While we passing through a small town, I saw a man walking quickly towards us motioning for us to stop. He was waving us down and calling to us. I was skeptical at first; my tourist senses on highest alert. I thought, he probably wants to sell us something. Or rob us. Or sell us something and then rob us. We slow to a stop.
Where are you from? He started. Are you doing the tour of the wineries? He asked.
Lots of questions, I thought.
He continued. Well, I’m just heading home and, well…
Uh oh, I thought, here it comes. Some pre-planned story about needing money for the bus or something. I’ve heard this one before. Sigh.
Well, I’m just heading home and, well, I have these tortas fritas* and they’re going to get cold by the time I get there. So, well, you have a long bike ride ahead, and I thought you could have them.
*tortas fritas are amazing. They are fried dough. They are a great mate accompaniment. They are typical of countryside and small town living. Everyone’s grandmother makes the best torta frita.
Huh?
From my heart. He says as he puts his hand on his chest. Take them. They’ll get cold before I walk home.
I didn’t understand. I stood there, bike between my legs, with a guilty disbelieving face. Really?
Really. He gave us the bag and walked off. I turned to Juanjo. What just happened? I asked. Juanjo shrugged. Small town folks are like that, he replied, grabbing a torta frita, still warm.
I stood there clutching the plastic bag, still in awe, not believing that I had had so little faith in human kind. I felt worse than terrible. I had thought this man was going to rob us and instead he ran out to the road to catch us before we pedaled off only to give us a bag of torta frita out of the pure kindness of his heart.
I love people. And life is constantly reminding me how lucky I am to be alive. This is one such reminder. There are good, really good people out there. Simple, humble, wonderful people. Today my heart was won by this stranger, whose path I was fortunate enough to cross.
Tomorrow I will go out and do something beautiful for someone else. That’s a promise.
1 comment:
Hi Alisa, what a wonderful statement of humanity and how much we have to offer each other. I know from my on life how tough it is to see the unknown as positive. Thanks for believing in humanity and thanks to the man providing the torta frita for proving that such belief and faith is justified.
Ed
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