The weekend niece. from the book, Searching for treasures

 That was how in the Barichara farm, Dora found in her grandparents, two cold and conventionally adult persons that lacked all knowledge of what it meant to be grandparents, and without the least interest in entering into the fragile, broken world of their granddaughter. Dora was forced by the circumstances to visit them, during the weekends, and with nothing to say in the matter.

     While on the other hand, her Uncle Oscar and Aunt Carito were the saints with the honor pedestals in the altar of her devotion. Compared to his parents, Uncle Oscar’s character, her father’s older brother, was quite the opposite. He was gentle and cheery by nature, and he shared Dora’s inclination to search and enjoy all the kinds of adventures and pranks the infantile world had to offer. Consequently, when he was at home, his niece was with them all the time. For with them, time didn’t just go by; time was lived and enjoyed.

     Undoubtedly, Uncle Oscar was an important figure in Dora’s life. On certain occasions, Juanita and Lina Marcela spent their weekends in Barichara or San Gil. They arrived at the Arango’s farm invited by Aunt Carito, who enjoyed playing with them. The aunt taught them to ride horses, to climb the tall trees found at the coffee farm and to swing from the tree’s branches, all of these unquestionably were important things to be learned, as part of the little girl’s education. When her uncle and aunt returned from their trip to Patagonia, Dora found the reason for her existence, and that was to emulate her Uncle’s example and lifestyle.

     Her Uncle Oscar finished his University studies when he was twenty-three-years old. He graduated as a veterinarian, his title the formal acknowledgment of his untiring love of nature, animals, and plant-life. In other words, his love for all that grows and its environment..

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