My tribute to the 70th Anniversary of the Grand Hotel Rio Cuarto
On January 17, 1953, the Grand Hotel in Rio Cuarto was inaugurated, the first high-rise building in the city, the same place where, at another time, the Cabildo de la Villa de la Concepción was located. The new cement giant would now occupy an emblematic place, in front of the main square, and also in front of the Cathedral Church, the founder of the city.
As an egregious figure, he stands as a resistant and solid symbol of something that is often overlooked in our city: tourism. It stands firm and solemn there, resisting the inclemencies of social changes, revolutions, civil strife, and pandemics. Many buildings have changed course, we know of hotels that have disappeared, that have become clinics, multi-spaces, casinos, brothels. The Grand Hotel , faithful to its stone structure, persists in its function as a hotel, like a beautiful hollow mountain, like a welcoming cavern. Even retaining many of its former employees, with almost 30 years of seniority.
In the pandemic, when the ever-present slanderous voices foreshadowed his downfall, the giant resisted unscathed, in the face of the insults of a superb and flat Goliath, who threw stones to hide his fear.
Our extreme materialism, which has given us great achievements, distances us from deeper perceptions, which wait crouched, until we are ready to observe and feel. For those of us who stop to observe, the hotel vibrates with history and symbology.
Five administrations passed, until it remained in the hands of Eduardo Rivera and Maria Juana Duca ; a brilliant business marriage, no doubt, but at the same time, inside the cavern, in the personal room, the walls are full of books, many more books than are usually seen in an ordinary library.
It is that wisdom and letters resonate in the Hotel. We know that Juan Filloy , author of more than 60 highly original books, lived there, a giant of literature who did not seek awards or vain foam. A writer who inspired Cortazar and Borges, and who maintained himself, like the Gran Hotel , as a firm figure, working tirelessly on his work, far from the distractions of gossip. Is it for this reason that Filloy chose the Grand Hotel as his residence, when he could have chosen so many other places?
The signs of the times change. Today, the administration of the Hotel is exclusively in the hands of Laura Rivera , daughter of Eduardo and Maria Juana. Psychologist and woman of letters, she has incorporated the administrative wisdom and passion for knowledge of her parents. But, in addition, the car has received a gift from the modern female point of view: Inside, it has taken on a more refined, welcoming appearance. With a clear aesthetic twist.
Many presaged, from a naive machismo, the fall of the establishment, imagining that a woman could never carry out such a company, especially in a pandemic. Many hotels and establishments closed. The ship, now commanded by a woman, is true to its spirit: Resist. Is it the hotel that makes people resistant, resilient? Or is it that resilient people, identified with the structure, seek the hotel out of sympathy? We will never know.
I can only say that many times I fantasize about entering the place, and letting myself be impregnated by the spirit present in its symbology, in its structure, in its history, by the character of the people it has received in its midst. I don't know about you, but for me, the walls speak, and wisdom indicates that everything is music when we know how to listen.
By Pablo Lujan
