Uncovering My Family’s Darkest Secret

Part I Of A True Story In Patagonia

Pichi Hue, built in 1939 in the solitude of Patagonia

There was a succulent sum of 10 pesos. 63 steps down to a pier. And a light to be lit. Enough to go through one of the most frightening challenges of my 10-year-old life.

What I didn’t expect was that this terrifying experience would somehow lead me to uncover the darkest family secret.

My great-grandfather was Dante Gaddi. Papa Dante. A man in black and white, solemn and devoted, who attended church every Sunday and studied medicine but never graduated. Instead, he detected an opportunity in a thus far unexplored market and took a gamble. He founded his towel factory, Grippa & Gaddi, on January 13th, 1913, at 13 hours and 13 minutes. The popular belief linking the number 13 with bad luck did not apply to his celestial convictions. His progeny did not make it to such extremes. He had three children. And among them, my grandfather, Pepe.

I never got to know Papa Dante. He went before I arrived. But he left us a tangible inheritance where you can feel his presence. Pichi Hue is our household in Villa La Angostura, the family epicenter for more than 80 years now.