The story that turned El Soberbio into the "national capital of essences": Osmar ‘Osi’ Unbehaun to

The surname Unbehaun is practically inseparable from the history of the missionary town of El Soberbio, nestled on the Uruguay River, on the border with Brazil. It all starts with Franklin, a Brazilian of German descent who landed there just two years after the town was founded, in 1947, and took charge of giving it an identity when he promoted the production of citronella essential oil. Osmar grew up watching his father work tirelessly on the same 27 hectares that he manages today, in this town that has grown slightly in population but has lost some of the tradition that the Unbehaun family started decades ago. The heir still resents this today, not missing an opportunity to point out that there, in the National Capital of Essences, there are no longer essential oils like before. “What it is, is that and nothing else,” he repeats, almost like a mantra, as he walks with Bichos de Campo through the farm where he still produces “the old way,” with the knowledge and experience that ...