euskalkultura.eus

The local mayor, Claudio Raul Filippa, will unveil two artworks that commemorate Guillermo Larregui, known throughout Argentina as “The Wheelbarrow Basque,” in an event that will take place on Sunday, September 10th beginning at 11am.  The event is also part of the city’s 116th anniversary and will take place on Avenida Costanera in the city of Puerto Iguazu, 500 meters from Hito de la Triple Frontera, a meeting point between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. 

Puerto Iguazu, Argentina.   During this week, this city will be the site of a large number of activities during the celebration of the city’s anniversary.  The exact date of the commemoration is September 10th and will take place this Sunday with a group of local authorities presided by mayor Claudio Raul Filippa who will inaugurate two works of art in honor of Guillermo Larregui.  The mural, designed by local artist Marcelo Moreyra, represents four of Larregui’s routes, marked on a map of Argentina.  The sculpture, an image of the “Basque pushing his wheelbarrow, is a life-sized replica that was inaugurated last June at the local cemetery.  Even if the original work is by the sculpture, Silvana Kelm, the replica was done by students at the College of Arts in the city of Obera.

Once the two works are unveiled, the inauguration ceremony will continue with a presentation by local historian, Maria Esther Rolon, author of the book De vasco, nomás, where the author tells the story of Larregui, focusing on the routes he traveled on foot that took him, in his final days to this locality in Misiones.

Remember that the “Wheelbarrow Basque” was born in Iruña-Pamplona in 1885 and came to Bueno Aires in 1900.  After working several jobs and settling in Patagonia, he made a bet with his friends that would change his life: he said he could get from Santa Cruz to Buenos Aires, on food pushing a wheelbarrow.  Larregui didn’t lose the ben and in 1935, with 50 kilos, he started the saga of four trips.  Later after traveling the same way for more than 22,000 kilometers, his last destination was Iguazu where he lived until the time of his death at the foot of the Cataratas.  He is buried in the local “El Salvador” cemetery.