Coincidence or Destiny?

If someone asked you what do know about Hawaii what would you come up. If you are as old as me you might be tempted to repeat the famous phrase of the 60s "Book 'em, Danno!"
Good old Steve McGarrett him of the great Hawaii 5 O police series fame that I watched avidly with gripped knuckles every Sunday. Ok it was the same story every week but it was great always finishing with a great police chase and the flamboyantly hair styled Steve telling detective Danno to book some dodgy crooks - quite right too, bad boys. I must confess I went to Hawaii in the early 70s and what a lovely place.

Sadly I never met Steve Mc G or any of the crooks he was always chasing but what I can recall was a fabulous island with arguably the best beaches in the world- I promised myself I would go back one day . However, as I mentioned in one of my previous blogs “own an estancia and you may never need to travel again” I don’t really need to travel anymore. This week luckily for me instead of me going to Hawaii, Hawaii came to me ( mind I have a longing to go again after having meet these lovely genuine islanders on La Margarita)

We had eleven guests from this beautiful location visiting us on La Margarita - thats them in them in the header photo. They have sadly just left us and if they are representative of the people of Hawaii you should go there because without doubt they were some of the most charming people I have ever meet in my life. But that’s not the reason for this blog i.e. to tell you about how charming Myles and his group were. No, the reason is to tell you the story of how they came to visit us on La Margarita.
Just three weeks ago I had an e mail from someone called Myles Kawakami. The mail simply stated that he needed six rooms and he gave the dates and nothing more - which is a bit unusual since most people ask us for more information about La Margarita in there first e mail to us . Now you ,no doubt, like me get lots of mails from people telling me how I have been chosen to have a few million put into in my bank account as long as I help them first by sending my credit card number to pay the bank manager in some dodgy part of the world for the cash transfer ummmm. These e mails are making us all bit cautious and we have had a few emails for enquires to stay on La Margarita which were no doubt scams. I had just a suspicion that Myles's e- mail was one such scam and that on answering him I would be quickly asked for my credit card number and relieved of my cash. However, I decided just in case it wasn’t I would answer his mail. To my surprise I got a reply saying our price was fine and could we organize transport since they were in a conference in Mar de Plata and needed transport to come to us . Not only that but he asked for my bank account details to transfer the reserve. Um ok here it is I thought , no doubt I will wake up the next morning with an empty bank account and no guests from Hawaii. With fingers crossed I sent the details. The next day I woke up to find 1400US$ in my account and a firm reservation for eleven people from Hawaii. We duly organized the transport and two weeks later driving up to La Margarita house were our visitors all the way from Hawaii. So started four days of fun and delight. Myles and his group were such lovely people to be with. We rode horses together, drunk wine, talked, danced, visited the town and Pulperia and generally had a wonderful time.

Ok now it’s time for you to decide something. You see just before we had the mail from Myles I said to the staff that we needed a big group booking. It’s the quiet time of year for any estancia. It’s always that way – come November and things are staring to move but October it’s generally quiet. Of course we have our fixed costs and have to pay our wages and feed for animals. We had lots of guests but no big booking in hand . Then I got Myles's e mail and hey presto we had a big booking. I told this story to Myles and he then told me his part of the story. He said that the group had booked to go to Colonia in Uruguay but that the hotel had lost their reservation and had no place for them. That was two weeks before they were due to come to Argentina. Myles in his panic mailed 12 estancias to try to book somewhere at short notice. Of all the replies they got they happily chose La Margarita. What I didn’t mention is that this lovely group of people are evangelists. I learnt while they were here amongst many other things that in their world there are no coincidences only destinies. They said that it was no coincidence, only destiny that they had booked to stay on La Margarita - that they had been guided here. Myles said that he had been in Argentina thirteen times to various conferences. At the end of each conference the group has chose a new destination in Argentina to unwind and relax before their long journey home. As he was leaving he said that of all the places he had stayed in on these trips Estancia La Margarita was the best – he said that the group agreed with him and that they had been destined to come here to discover the delights and peace that without doubt exists in here.

What do you think - coincidence or destiny ? If I get the casting vote I am with them – for me it was no coincidence it was pure destiny we met - our visitors from Hawaii may have had a lovely time but so did we and it was a privilege to meet them .

I just want to say Aloha to our lovely group from Hawaii and thank you so much for coming and blessing La Margarita. If you ever get a panic e mail from Myles asking to book into your estancia accept it with open arms - it will be destiny and you will be charmed and delighted and very glad that you did.

Hurry back Myles, Caroline, Francis, Dennis, Rosemary, Robin, Donna, Barbara, Jeffrey, Joy and Calvin and safe travels.

As always this is David Cummings alias The English Gaucho writing from Estancia La Margarita.

Chau Richard and Thanks for the Memory

Sorry this blog has nothing to do with La Margarita but it does has everything to do with happiness the subject of one of my most talked about blogs – well at least two of you mentioned it to me! The happiness blog was about what makes people happy – clever eh. We talked about who was the most happy person in the world and the guests who were on La Margarita at the time when I wrote that blog (it’s in the files have a look) voted for Sir Keef Richards – and why not he looks happy and has every reason to be. But they didn’t know my friend Richard Polak cos if they did they may have voted for him.

I got to know Richard when I first opened my office for Tierra Estates in 2004. He was my first client. An American living in Miami he decided to buy a small apt in BA to get away from the hurricane seasons. He commissioned yours truly to find him that hideaway. I duly found him a hideaway in Recoleta, a small two room apt with a balcony. I showed it to him and he loved it. He made a decision to buy and then asked my how to go about buying it. Poor Richard he nearly had a heart attack when I told him that to buy here he had to have cash and at that time it was virtually impossible to transfer cash here. The only way was to bring a suitcase full of cash or transfer it a bank account outside Argentina and then have the money released here. It took a great leap of faith on Richards part to believe in me when I told him don’t worry I can get it sorted and that everything will be ok – trust me! Instead of running away and buying in Panama he stuck with me and two months later Richard was the proud owner of a great little apt in Recoleta which true to his word he used in the hurricane season. He never rented it he just kept it for when he came. Last year he stayed for 3 months and came to my last birthday party (that’s me talking to him with Augustine (Maria’s my new assistant sister) my ex assistant in between). He loved coming here to BA and the last time I saw him he said that he was thinking of selling his hideaway and buying a bigger one and staying for good - he never did…...

Around April I had an e mail from him to say that not to worry he had lived a long and very happy life but that he was in hospital suffering from a virus. He said that he was doing fine and that the treatment was working and that he would be down on 19th September. We had his apt cleaned and the girls in the office waited for him to come - they really liked chatting to him but we heard nothing. On the 20th Sept we had a call from his lawyer to tell us Richard Polak had fallen off this mortal coil. My first client that had turned into a friend is now gone. But one thing I do know I want to celebrate his life not mourn it because no doubt about it Richard was happy and he wouldn’t have wanted that so here’s to you Richard- thank you for keeping the faith with me and being a friend I will miss you- chau

As always David Cummings alias the English Gaucho writing from Estancia La Margarita Tapalque