River taste

Five minutes before departure, I position myself at the stern of the “Buquebus” anxious to reach my new destination: Montevideo, Uruguay. I gaze at the streets of Buenos Aires, as we leave Puerto Madero, and I find myself humming a very famous tango, that up to this moment, had no intrinsic meaning to me: “ las callecitas de Buenos Aires tienen ese, que se yo, viste?” (The streets of Buenos Aires have that, I don’t know, got it?”. Suddenly, I understand the gravity of Tango, its seductive power and sense of melancholy.
I seat at the shadow of the sun, accompanied by a rich and complex Cabernet Sauvignon and savoring a quite strong -for my taste- cigarette “Particular”. The “Rio de la Plata” (River Plate) presents its flowing and ever changing self, that gathers and elucidates one of the most recognizable characteristics of the Rioplatenses: they are bittersweet. Just like their music, –nothing more passionate and distant than a milonga-, just as their drinks, -nothing sourer than a "mate", but nothing sweeter than the sense of community it creates- just as their literature – the grave faces of Benedetti, Quiroja, Cortazar, Sabato yet their detailed, accurate and loving writing-. This estuary, symbolizes the freshness and pungency of the people that live close to it.
I spill my wine, and a few burgundy drops amalgam with the once called Mar Dulce (Sweet Sea), as it tells me about the great battles fought in its waters, such as the Battle of Punta del Este, and between nostalgic and anecdotic it speaks to me about the hundreds that have lost their mortal bodies to blend in the eternal back and forth of its waves. As I listen and imagine, I see reflected in my new friend each and every of the kind and haughty faces that I met, and as I finish my wine I keep with me -forever- this bittersweet taste in my mouth.