From Toronto to Santiago, the place where everything began...

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“There is no place on earth like my Santiago Querido”. I wrote that once and I write that again. You never have to forget the place where you were born, where you grew up, where you went to school, where you made your first friends and learnt how to see the world and life. You never have to forget your roots and the place where everything began.

Santiago del Estero is my beginning. I was born here one cold may morning twenty six years ago. I didn’t choose the place to be born, however, I am proud to be “Santiaguenia”.

Santiago del Estero is the beginning of Argentina, too. It was the first city founded by the Spanish conquers and from this place many exploratory expeditions started to found another cities. For that reason, Santiago got the nickname of “Mother of the Cities” (Madre de Ciudades).

Santiago del Estero was founded on July 25, 1553 by Francisco de Aguirre. He named the city “Santiago” after “Apostle Santiago”, the patron of Spain who travelled from Jerusalem to Spain to preach and convert people to Christianity, and “Del Estero” because of the enormous quantity of marsh that he found in his way during the expedition.

Santiago is the oldest city of Argentina and it will be 455 years old next July, 25.

Where is Santiago? You might wonder.

Santiago is located in the north of Argentina. It lies on the Dulce River and on National Route 9, at a distance of 1,042 km north-northwest from Buenos Aires.

Santiago is very wellknown because of the hot weather in summer, the “siesta” and the “chacarera”.

If you are planning to visit Santiago, I suggest coming in winter. Summer could be dangerous due to the temperature reach 45 celsius degrees. It is said that Santiago is so hot that you can fry eggs on the earth! Hahaha. However, winter is an special season. You will have sunny days and a lovely temperature to enjoy outside activities.

Apart from the weather, Santiago is famous because of the “siesta”. “Santiaguenios” like to take a nap in the middle of the day. Between 1pm and 5 pm all the shops are closed and the people of the city take a rest. They are not lazy as everybody think, they are just recharging their batteries for the rest of the day.

Hot Summer, Siesta and… “Chacarera”! The “Chacarera” is the traditional music of Santiago. Its melody is full of guitar, violin and “bombo” sounds and its lyrics reflects the history of the city, the costums of its citizens, and the “nostalgia” of the people who left the city and miss their place.

I came back to Santiago after staying 4 months in Toronto, Canada. What a difference! You might think… They are very different cities, no doubt about that…However, Santiago is my home, is the place where I go to find peace, simplicity and protection. Santiago is where I seek refuge from the daily problems, from the scary world and the frightening globalization.

Santiago is my umbilical cord and is what keep me grounded.

Santiago is where eveything began that is why wherever I'll go or wherever I'll live, there will never be a place on earth like my "Santiago Querido".


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