Mónica Salvatella - A Luscious Argentine
Friday, October 30, 2015
It should be understandable that since I was born in Buenos
Aires I would consider Argentine women as the most beautiful and sophisticated
anywhere. In recent trips to Buenos Aires from here in Vancouver I can at least
attest that those Argentines dress better.
I bring a lot of baggage from my past in that assertion in
the paragraph above. My mother said that Argentines, particularly men were courteous
to women. At the same time I knew that my mother, who had a perfect figure,
wore a girdle. She wore one as we did not own a car and she traveled in
colectivos, small city buses. She wore that girdle as protection from pinching
of her behind by those “courteous” men.
One of the most beautiful women I ever met in Buenos
Aires was my first cousin, the red haired Elizabeth Blew. I fell in love with
her when I was 21 and a conscript in the Argentine Navy. I was not too
attractive (so I thought) in my short haircut. But I did manage to have lunch
with her once at a corner boliche (restaurant-bar). Her accent, much like the
Queen’s (and you must know which one it can only be) was enhanced by an almost
identical voice to that of Joan Greenwood’s with a blend of Deborah Kerr. It
was the sudden appearance of a very tall and burly man in a army uniform (her
boy friend was of Norwegian origin and was a conscript, too) that held me at
bay. I subsequently had two Argentine girlfriends. One had freckles but both
sounded like the Queen.
Since my days in Argentina I have not had the good
fortune of taking pictures of many Argentine women – only three or four. All
are or were living in Vancouver. One of them, Mónica Salvatella, lives on the
Sunshine Coast.
Salvatella posed for me in my basement bathtub as part of
my 1989 tub series.
She was brought by a friend to our Thursday afternoon
lunches at the Railway Club. She had slightly and most endearing buck teeth and
a luscious mouth that pouted.
