I found my first plate while on one of my fishing trips, in the stream that borders the golf club, in Sierra de la Ventana, Buenos Aires province, about 120 km from Bahía Blanca, where I lived. I loved camping and fishing there. This piece was in the bushes, next to a tree that served as a barrier, all twisted and dirty. It probably got there during one of the stream's floods, although who got rid of it and how it ended up there will always be a mystery. The license plate in question immediately caught my attention due to the vast amount of information it contained, compared to the boring black and white plates used back then in 1978, which only had the province's letter and number. This plate was made of aluminum, had the year, the name of a city, was for a truck, belonged to a 3A category, had only three numbers, and even had traces of having been navy blue. Possibly anyone would have been interested in it and kept it like I had. Shortly after, I found a second plate, I believe in a scrap-metal dealership, (although the plate wasn't as interesting as the first one, which was from 1931). This prompted me to dedicate a little time to it and find others. I visited the chacaritas in Bahía Blanca almost weekly, and little by little, I was able to acquire good pieces, among which I was able to obtain an initial enameled plate from the nearby town of Tornquist. I also got one from Villa Mirasol, in the province of La Pampa, that said "Eva Perón Province". I was already touching the sky...

The collection did not grow much during my time at the university, while I continued my Civil Engineering degree. When I finally had my own vehicle, I began touring the towns surrounding Bahía Blanca and even staying overnight in budget hotels whenever nightfall surprised me. I often even slept in my pick-up car. Over the years, I expanded these tours to the entire province of La Pampa and part of Buenos Aires. Back then, in 1997, I decided to move to Bariloche, and from there I was able to make numerous "escapes" to the provinces of La Pampa, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Neuquén, Río Negro, Chubut, and Santa Cruz. I was very fortunate to be able to take a "plate" trip to Salta and Jujuy, passing through San Luis, La Rioja, Catamarca, Tucumán, and Córdoba. Then my children came, and a quieter period began. Nowadays, my trips are rare; I keep up with my contacts mostly by phone or email, and I add a new piece to my collection almost weekly.

On my travels, I've met wonderful people, with whom I've shared hours and hours of conversation, and even participated in barbecues with people I'd never met before. While I must admit that I've always been very well received and treated everywhere, it's in the province of La Pampa where I've met the most generous people. I've been fortunate enough to travel almost from one end of the province to the other on several occasions and always found the people of La Pampa to be very kind. I've also been almost shot in a town in La Pampa. I've fallen into ditches in El Bolsón with my pickup car, and they pulled me out with a tractor in torrential rain. I've punctured my fuel tank several times on the gravel of Patagonian roads, and they repaired it in just a few hours in Esquel and Alto Rio Senguer. I've also smashed several headlights and blown out a few new tires. I've also been dragged out of hellish mudholes on several rural roads in Buenos Aires and La Pampa by tractor. Not all stories had a happy ending: a box of 60 duplicate license plates was stolen from me in a place as small as Humahuaca, Jujuy, which I was never able to recover. I've had enough adventures, perhaps enough to write a whole book.

ON countless trips, people have "snuck" into my pick-up car and gone out of their way to scour the town and find some old license plates, so I could take home at least one as a souvenir. To all those who have met me and might be reading these lines, I want to say that I remember you fondly and hope to resume "artistic tours" when the kids grow up, and maybe they can even join me.

Bariloche, June 2007

Some of the nicest plates I can display and enjoy everyday, about 800 of them.