“La Campeona del Campo ⚽” | 389 Estancias y Tradiciones

Rafaela, a woman of the countryside and a champion of life Rafaela is 55 years old, a soccer coach, and this year she won the championship with the La Funebrera team in Iglesia, San Juan province. Active and persevering, she stays active by exercising and participating in every horseback riding event organized in the area. She lives in Bella Vista, Iglesia, surrounded by poplar trees and the rugged landscape where she grew up. Her story is deeply intertwined with rural work. The daughter of ranchers, her parents farmed the land and raised sheep, pigs, and other animals. She had twelve siblings, and from a very young age, she learned that life in the countryside is built on hard work. At eight years old, after returning from school, she and her siblings would go out to gather grass to feed the rabbits. They also collected firewood for the home. Watching her mother, she learned farm and household chores. “I watched what she did, and everything I know I learned that way,” Rafaela recalls. She often accompanied her father in the cart to deliver the vegetables they harvested. But the weather wasn't always cooperative: frosts and rains ruined the crops, leaving the family with nothing to sell. With so many children, the situation was difficult, and some of her older siblings were given to other families so they could be raised and educated. Nevertheless, Rafaela cherishes happy memories of her childhood. She played ball, ran through the fields, and even dared to tame calves when her parents sent her to fetch them. That simple, free life shaped her character. Today, she maintains many of those customs. In her dirt-floored house, she sweeps with a broom made of pichana fiber, bakes homemade bread and semitas (a type of sweet roll) in the clay oven, and early in the morning prepares chicharrones (fried pork rinds) with pella (a type of pork rind). She has rabbits, chickens, guinea pigs, and a ram. Together with her daughter Quiqui, she goes out to gather firewood for the winter, while carefully watching over the chicks of the hawks that frequent the area. She gets up every day at six in the morning. She waters the plants, tidies her yard, and then sits down to share some mate. When the weather permits, she cooks over a fire and continues with her chores: she takes care of a cabin, mows the lawn, and supports herself through her work. She also preserves ancestral knowledge, such as the use of the cocho stone, where they toasted wheat or corn before grinding it. Among her skills are hand embroidery and her passion for soccer, a sport that left her with a serious injury: a ruptured Achilles tendon. But not even that could stop her. Rafaela is a woman who loves the outdoors and is a loyal viewer of the program. She was deeply moved by the visit from the Estancias y Tradiciones team, happy to be able to share her story, a story of struggle, of the countryside, and of dignity.