Connection #55

Family Rigattieri

55. Family Rigattieri

Argentina, San Rafael, 28 till 65 years old, religion: catholic
Gift received: September 08, 2008

Fernando is an architekt, who specializes in building rather useful homes instead fancy business temples. He is concerned about health and practices yoga (for 30 years), feldenkrais, and thai-chi at the same time. He loves studying books about perfect body condition and the least effort to reach a trained body state. One other hobby he practices right in the backyard of his architect office is archery. His attitude towards life is this of a man with great conciousness of nature and a natural way of life. Fernando is convinced that knowledge - if theoretical or practical such as yoga for example - should be shared free of charge since it is about helping one another.

Lillie is the wonderful female head of the family. She looks a way younger than any woman her age we have ever met. No wonder, since she is the one bringing all those healthy, mainly vegetarian, food on the table. Fruit juices and salads are daily components of Rigattieri's diet. Being responsible for the food, the kitchen of course is hers, which can be seen especially when Fernando is sent to bring something. But Lillie is not just made for the kitchen. She is a Spanish language teacher in secondary school, probably one more thing that keeps her as young and humorous as she is. Her laugh and wit are wonderfully combined with great knowledge and the abillity to say at times, "I am sorry, I do not know." Lillies great physical condition comes, as well as in Fernandos case, from practicing actively sport. The main activities giving her so much energy are pilates and thai chi.

Esteban is the youngest of Rigattieri family. He is the only one who followed his father's footsteps and became an architect. He loves it the same like his father, and shares at times projects with him. Esteban loves partying, which makes him think to move back to Mendoza, where night- and cultural life offers more variety than in his home town. No matter what we were searching for in San Rafael, Esteban took us anywhere to get what we wanted. That helped us a lot, because running through San Rafael's streets can end up getting lost, especially if it is about finding a natural apple vinegar...

Guillermo, the oldest of three children, lives in Mendoza. He is a famous artist in Argentina, producing sculptures made of metal. We visited his house one night, and honestly have to admit that it equals rather an art gallery offering an insight into his fantastic creations.

Their 34 years old daughter lives in Buenos Aires and is some kind of environmental lawyer. She is called usually to projects in the middle of the jungle all over South America, for example to check if petrol companies respect given laws and are not damaging nature.

Gift: Ancient hand made hair needle

Ancient hand made hair needle

Gift given: October 05, 2008

Space - human - existence - spirit - matter - a whole soul to what is surrounding us = all is a pattern - an act - a chain - a network - a big entity in which infinity -eternity- is present in abundance.

Until where there is an object,
we are allowed to arrive.

Until where do we allow us to get?
Which is our path?
Which message do Katja and Augustas leave us?

A path does not imply a destination,
it is only walking, being.
The destination is escaping ourselves,
walking is an encounter with our inner self.

Congratulations.

How we met Family Rigattieri

While staying in Mendoza, we got to know Guillermo Rigattieri, a good friend of our host. Guillermo heard about our idea to stay in his hometown San Rafael, thus suggested to get in touch with his family. Once in San Rafael, first Estaban, Guillermo's brother, helped us by phone with information for finding an apartment to rent. The same day, accidently, we run into his father Fernando. Since then, all members of Rigattieri family helped us in all possible ways during our 5 weeks stay in San Rafael.