Mercedes is a nice city of the Corrientes Province in Argentina. We usually spend one or two nights as our first stop on our way from Uruguay to Salta, another Argentinian province where we have our small farm.

Apart from spending the night and rest after the long drive from Carmelo, we look for “chipas”, a local and delicious buns made with casava flour and cheese that we usually consume very fast during the next day of the journey.

It was while walking towards one of our favourite bakeries that we noted a rather discrete plaque on a wall:

This was a rather unusual find that indicated that Yuyo Figuerero (Yuyo) was related to a company called NADA or, as this Spanish word means “nothing”, not being a professional, he was taking the meek of those who are! The example below are the type of plaques that usually indicate a place where professionals live and/or work:

I could not find a company called NADA in Argentina so I became more convinced about the idea that it was a clever joke! But I needed a proof and other issues took over this story.

Recently, searching among my pending work I found the Yuyo file and decided to Google “Yuyo Figuerero” and, eventually, I found a site in Facebook named “Yo admiro a Yuyo Figuerero” (I admire Yuyo Figuerero) (1) through which I got some information and, more importantly, I found someone called Mora Figuerero that I assumed was his daughter.

I immediately contacted her and, although being busy, she took the time to answer my message and my questions. An interesting life story emerged!

Yuyo Figuerero is now 92 years old and still going strong for his age (a few days back he announced that he would only dress with country clothes!). He was the only son of a medical doctor and his mother was part of a numerous family, known to be fun-loving. A shy boy, Yuyo went to Buenos Aires to study medicine, but he got “distracted” by the nightlife there, a strong temptation during the 50´s where famous names such as the “Los Panchos” (2) and Eydie Gormé (3) who he befriended, the same as some of the vedettes from the  “Teatros de Revista (4) were at their zenith of fame.

As expected, Yuyo did not finish his medical studies (probably this was the origin of the plaque!) and returned to Mercedes to manage the family´s land. He re-connected with his old friends and relatives. It was a time of abundance and big parties and Yuyo and friends would create different funny shows to animate them.

Unfortunately, most of his friends have passed away but Yuyo continues active on Facebook (5) a great way of learning about the history of Mercedes and his life.

In 2010 as part of the celebration of the International Men´s Day, Yuyo was given a Special Mention by the Municipality of Mercedes. He was among several important personalities that “… have stood out in different spheres of society, leaving an imperishable work or trajectory, serving as examples of work, perseverance and responsibility” in the town history. A just recognition to a really special man!

I wish him well and will continue to admire his sense of humour!

Pictures courtesy of Mora Figuerero.

(1) https://www.facebook.com/groups/159880660711133

(2) See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Panchos

(3) See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eydie_Gorm%C3%A9

(4) Revista (French: revue) is a dramatic sub-genre of comedy that combines music, dance and short theatrical scenes or humorous or satirical sketches. The revue combines elements of burlesque, vaudeville, extravaganza, and musical comedy, but is distinguished from all of these by its erotic charge and dramatic simplicity. See: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revista_(g%C3%A9nero)#:~:text=Revista%20(en%20franc%C3%A9s%3A%20revue),o%20sketches%20humor%C3%ADsticos%20o%20sat%C3%ADricos.

(5) See: https://www.facebook.com/yuyo.figuerero

https://fb.watch/mOK9gOY8rA/