For one Argentian man, there really ain’t no mountain high enough.

After the coronavirus pandemic halted international travel, Juan Manuel Ballestero set sail on a three-month-long high seas journey to his see his 90-year-old father, proving not even a novel virus could keep him from his dad.

Ballestero set out to see his father after his home country of Argentina canceled all international passenger flights in an effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

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Misión cumplida! La fe cruza oceanos

A post shared by Juan Manuel Ballestero (@skuanavega) on Jun 20, 2020 at 11:09am PDT

According to The New York Times, Ballestero had been on the Portugal island of Porto Santo when Argentina canceled international passenger flights. Still determined to see his father, Ballestero decided to set out on an 85-day sailing voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. All on his own.

“I didn’t want to stay like a coward on an island where there were no cases,” Juan Manuel said in an interview with The New York Times. “I wanted to do everything possible to return home. The most important thing for me was to be with my family.”

Ballestero is a veteran sailor and fisherman who has been a lover of water since he was 3 years old.

Still his family expressed that they were nervous about his decision to go his journey alone.

“The uncertainty of not knowing where he was for 50-some days was very rough, but we had no doubt this was going to turn out well,” his father, Carlos Alberto Ballestero said in an interview with The New York Times.

He also documented the trip all while on Instagram.

Though Ballestero made the trip home safe and sound, he did run into a few issues along the way.

Ballestero said that on April 12 authorities in Cape Verde barred him from docking his sailboat so that he could replenish his food supply and refuel his boat. At the time, Ballestero was eating only canned tuna, fruit, and rice. Because of Cape Verde’s denial, he was forced to continue forward with less fuel and rely on winds. What’s more, towards the end of his trip, Ballestero hit choppy waters and was forced to add an additional 10 days to his trip while in Vitória, Brazil.

Despite the complications, Ballestero said he never considered giving up. “I wasn’t afraid, but I did have a lot of uncertainty,” he explained. “It was very strange to sail in the middle of a pandemic with humanity teetering around me… There was no going back.”

Ballestero arrived on June 17 in Mar del Plata.

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Haciéndole elaguante #skuanavega #lafeliz #freedolphins

A post shared by Juan Manuel Ballestero (@skuanavega) on Jun 19, 2020 at 6:44pm PDT

“Entering my port where my father had his sailboat, where he taught me so many things and where I learned how to sail and where all this originated, gave me the taste of a mission accomplished,” he shared before revealing that he had to take a test for COVID-19 before he could see his family. Fortunately, after 72 hours of waiting for his results, he found out that he was COVID-19-free and able to enter Argentina.

Despite his long trip, Ballestero said that he’s eager to hit the waters again soon.

“What I lived is a dream. But I have a strong desire to keep on sailing.”

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Like a lot of Latino dads, mine always kept a tough exterior. He was raised to be impenetrable, just as his father had been raised and so on. But that doesn’t mean he never shed a few tears.

There’s something about seeing your dad cry that simultaneously breaks your heart and freaks you out, and in some cases makes you laugh. Here are nine things that bring a tough dad to tears, without fail.

1. Mariachi music

It’s over the second the strings start on “Amor Eterno,” also known as the most beautiful and heartbreaking song ever invented. It causes immediate weeping into a bottle of Pacífico.

2. Seeing his baby or grandbaby for the first time

Nothing like a tiny angelic baby made of his own blood to reduce a grown man to tears.

3. His fútbol team losing

Yup. The second the goal-winning score went to the other team it was the 7 stages of grief. “Noooo! No puede ser!” inevitably leads to light sobbing ,and then “estos cabrones siempre te dejan decepcionados.”

4. His fútbol team winning

Tears happen in agony and ecstasy. And seeing his beloved team win a major match always brings on the happy tears. It’s pretty cute.

5. A particularly heartfelt round of saying what you’re thankful for during Thanksgiving dinner

The second the words “I’m thankful for my children and wife” come out of him, bye. Gone. Olvídalo. He loses it.

6. His daughter graduating or getting married

This. Right. Here. Seeing your dad sob almost uncontrollably just because he’s so happy for you is the greatest, most freakiest thing ever. Everyone is gonna be crying.

7. Your Mom

Whether he loves her or hates her, or even a little bit of both, the passion is there and he’ll cry angry tears, sad tears and/or happy tears when he gets started on her. Your mom has a lot of power of his tear ducts. And yeah, tequila is usually involved.

8. His mom

It doesn’t matter how old he is. Latino dads are always and forever a mama’s boy, and your abuelita, whether she is alive or passed, will always set him crying. He may be remembering her, or perhaps he’s disappointed her in some way. Whatever the case, abuelita and your mom can make a dad cry real quick.

9. That being said: tequila

Tequila brings out all the feelings. All of them. Any alcohol really. Alcohol gets all the dads weeping over something. That something can be any of the above, or something totally different. But the song “Tragos de Amargo Licor” was created for a reason, and that reason is because dads cry when they’re drunk.

Whatever the reason, seeing your dad cry is something you never forget. Latino dads catch the feels hard, and luckily you’re there to give him a hug when he needs it.

READ: 9 Ways My Dad Challenges Machismo Without Even Knowing It

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