I’m from a small textile neighborhood in Munro, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Munro is a small city, with around 35,000 people. It’s part of a larger bureaucratic unit called Vicente López; we call them neighborhoods or partidos, which are similar to counties in the United States. The whole unit of Vicente López is close to a million people, and is situated very close to the capital of Buenos Aires. While many people think of Buenos Aires as a city, it is also a state, like New York, New York. I lived in a really wonderful neighborhood, despite being a very urban, industrial area.
I grew up in a comfortable, middle-class environment that was made possible by my parents. My father is a retired neonatologist and my mother works in family law. They both had a very strong work ethic that they passed on to my brother and I, and they always pushed us to do well in school. Even though my family lived in Munro, my parents both worked in Morón. During the school year, I remember we used to go to work altogether every morning at 5 AM. Every morning and every evening we would go back and forth to school until I got to secondary school. In the summer I spent time with my friends to go swimming and play in the streets. It was a friendly environment to grow up in. I try not to idolize my childhood, but it was really peaceful and I’m very lucky to have had that experience.