Laura Montemayor, Roxana Bustos and Maria Ester Boloque at a party in Esperance. Photo: Nikki Bailey.
Cold winter days and icy winds can discourage tourists from visiting Esperance in winter but this year Latina mothers have been seizing the occasion.
Two stopovers and 39 hours is what it took for Roxana Bustos to travel from Santiago, Chile to Esperance to visit her daughter, Romi Burns, and grandson, Mase.
Ms Bustos has experienced her first taste of Esperance in the past month but she is not the only one.
Esperance resident Fernanda Vidal’s mum, Maria Ester Boloque from Argentina is a first timer here too.
While Mexican Jimena Ramon Montemayor’s mum, Laura, has made her fourth appearance.
The zesty Latinas have dived headfirst into the culture, with beach trips, boozy nights at the local bars and cheeky games of Chase the Ace at the pub.
The trio met just a few weeks ago but they quickly bonded over their love for Esperance.
What were your first impressions of Esperance?
Roxana Bustos, Chile
“I imagined when I was back home that Esperance was a bigger city.
“My daughter always tells me don’t get too surprised because this is only a small town.
“I was so impressed — it is so beautiful, especially the beaches and the pine trees and the people are so relaxed.”
Maria Ester Boloque, Argentina
“My daughter chose this town to live and I understand why she is living here.
“The people are so kind and all the places are very comfortable.”
“The people are relaxed — they don’t feel like the people who live in a city who are more anxious.
“The nature — the beach, the trees, the smell is clean.”
Laura Montemayor, Mexico
“I don’t know anything else in Australia other than Esperance.
“You can imagine the love I have for this place.
“I have three beautiful reasons to come back — my daughter and my two grandsons are here and this is for me a nice place to visit because my loved ones are here.”
How do the cultures differ between Esperance and Latin America?
Roxana Bustos, Chile
“It is very safe here and I’m not so sure but it looks like there’s not much crime here compared to back home.
“It is very dangerous to live in South America.
“I think it’s very dark here. When you go out at night all the houses have the lights off and not seeing any people out on the streets when it is dark. I say, “where are the people?
“I think people have a different schedule so they get up very early and go to bed very early.”
Maria Ester Boloque, Argentina
“All is different — there is no contamination because when you live in a city you have the buses, the cars and the factories.
“In general, crime is a big problem for all of Latin America – the crime, the security but here not.”
Laura Montemayor, Mexico
“They have different traditions — I have been here three times for Christmas and they celebrate in a very different way that we do.
“They just gather for the 25th of December whereas we gather for the whole month.
“We have to celebrate first Las Posadas which is at the beginning of December and then we celebrate the 24thand we have a late supper which goes until the 25th.
“In Jimena’s family they celebrate at eight o’clock in the morning on the 25th of December so we have to wake up very early and you have to open the presents before you go to the granny’s house and that’s the different things I’ve experienced.
“Every country has their own traditions and we respect each other but it’s very different from us.”
What do you love about Esperance?
Roxana Bustos, Chile
“Of course, the most important thing is that my daughter and my grandson live here.”
Maria Ester Boloque, Argentina
“I don’t know, perhaps the people — they are so kind.
“It’s impossible to know all after one week but my impression is very good.”
Laura Montemayor, Mexico
“The most fun thing I experience is being around the relatives that Jimena has because they are all Australians.”
