Pinamar

Pinamar is the reason for these stories.

We lived there for more than two years. It was paradise: a house in a pine forest within blocks from the beach and fine surfing. The open space sure beat a cramped city apartment for growing and energetic kids. They played out on the sandy lanes and in the forest. This helped keep us parents sane.

Then the crappy global economy forced us back to fast-paced Buenos Aires.

Can we get back to our paradise? That may be difficult. My son has autism and his needs exceed the services of the beach community.

At least for now.

We still spend summers in Pinamar, a relaxed life of barbeques, walks and the beach, plus a healthy bunch of friends and occasional run-ins with stray dogs out to get whatever is on our grill.

My Very Own Reservoir Dog

I HATCHED MY plan to get even with the foreman while sitting on the unfinished patio and watching the kids and the dog run around the sandy lot of our new home. The plan won’t be easy or too salubrious. But it’ll sure do the trick in stopping him from filching again like he did [...]

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In Deep

WE LIVED FRUGALLY in our first months on the coast. We bought materials and tools and set out to finish the house on our own. We were in deep debt and we needed to stop the hemorrhage. I drove to the hardware store, and then the woodshop. I bought screws and nails, hooks and wood. [...]

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While the Rats Danced

THE MOVE TO the coast began, really, as a mistake, or more so, a financial blunder. Argentina’s economy collapsed in 2001, and the currency’s value shrank by nearly 70% compared with the dollar, a good thing for those with dollars, euros or pounds. We felt flush. So we bought land on a whim in Pinamar. [...]

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A Good Life That Was

WE ARE BACK on the coast. Winter is approaching. It’s getting colder and the leaves are falling. We put our jackets on and light the fire and turn up the radiators to warm the house. It has been empty for weeks while we live in the big city. This makes me think. Did we really [...]

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Up In Smoke

CANNABIS LIVED A short life as the name of a new sushi-bar in Pinamar. It’s opposite our favorite video rental shop in the new and trendier part of town. We saw it on the grand opening day, freshly painted and with chairs and tables set up outside and doors open for visitors. The owners, no [...]

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Alaska

DON’T GET ME wrong. There are great things about living in the city. I grew up in a leafy – and smoggy – suburb of Los Angeles. On trips downtown as a kid, I would marvel at the tall buildings and the mess of freeway on- and off-ramps, overpasses and underpasses. I’d soak up the [...]

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Shh, It’s Summer

AH, THE SOUNDS of summer. The cracking of pine trees in the midday heat. The thud of pinecones falling on the sand and its pine-needle cover. The cooing and whistling of the birds. Kids running in the garden and up in the forest, and playing football next door. The wind rushing through the tops of [...]

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How to Make Big Money in Two Months

WHEN SUMMER COMES, the money-hounds come out in swarms. Why not? The population swells to half a million in January and February from the 20,000 of us year-rounders. So sell the visitors anything you can, and if you’ve got no scruples then sell at any price, too. Jack up the prices, charge more. Make them [...]

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Nameless

MANY HOUSES HERE in the pine forest have names. Why not ours then? My grandmother named hers in the south of England after Ballynafoy, her birthplace in Belfast. Then for me it would be Brentwood, Los Angeles or Santa Monica. Maybe West L.A. Hmm, not so poetic as Ballynafoy. Anyhow, my wife shot down any [...]

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What a Lovely Life!

I DID IT. Yes. I did what friends have said they’d kill to do. I moved out of the mayhem of Buenos Aires to a beach house in a pine forest, with the wife, a three-year old daughter, a one-year old boy and a surfboard — now a quiver of boards — for the fine [...]

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