Note: Rick has lived in Buenos Aires for many years. He works for La Cámara de Comercio de los Estados Unidos en la Republica Argentina, which is the American Chamber of Commerce in Argentina.
Rick writes, "My adventure in South America got started in 1963 when my parents went into an AFS Exchange Student Program. You got it...Rodolfo Farina, Bolsa Grande '64, was from Buenos Aires, Argentina!, and today he's still my brother as well as the "padrino" of our second grand daughter. He invited me back down to Argentina in '64 and while spending 10 months here, I met my future wife, Dory, of 42 years. I returned to OC to finish college (Cal-State Fullerton), she followed me, we were married in Santa Ana in '67 and in '68 we returned to Pampaland. Since March 1968 we've set up shop here on the western shore of the Mar Dulce, better known as the Río de la Plata. Our son Martín was born in Nov. of that year. He belongs to your gremio, un ingeniero electrónico, ITBA '93, and has been with Verizon Latin America for about 7 years now. He got married to Adriana in '98 and they have two little girls who came along in 2000 (Florencia) and '02 (Marina)."
"By the way, Dad was the principal at Mare L. Hare, along with Gilbert and Bryant! He just turned 88. Luckily we were all able to travel up there to see him and the rest of the family in September ’06. It was a great experience for the girls...and for Dad to see his South American greats."
"As for me, despite my advertising and graphic design background, I've spent most of my life in the Direct Sales business, Avon, Amway and Shaklee, and for the last few years I've taken my bag of tools to AMCHAM, the American Chamber of Commerce. This year they celebrated their 90th anniversary. AMCHAM is a private organization completely dependent on its now 800 members. We do have strong ties with the US Ambassador, the Embassy's commerce delegation, and the US Chamber of Commerce in DC. However, we independently follow our own agenda and economically, we are completely dependent on our membership which is comprised of almost 100% of US investment in Argentina."
photo album
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