After a bit, we went to the daughter's house, Paulina, with the nanny
and Manuel, and met her, and she is very pretty and slim and
long hair, everyone has long dark hair... And it is nice, when you
meet strangers, they all kiss you, they don't shake your hand, it is
like you have known them forever... very nice.  Her husband came home,
and he is a doll and speaks English, and is in the food industry...
A very handsome guy...  their house also, has a gate, with two huge
mastiffs who are very gentle just inside the gate and of course they
bark when someone comes, and a huge yard, and a swimming pool, and lovely
flowers and foliage all around...  The living room is nice with a fire
place, but then again other than having 4 bathrooms, the house is
nothing special in the other rooms..  Paulina had been one of Alba's students
at school, she is young.  After a bit, we left, and Maria
Angelica invited us to have dinner with her, but Alba wanted us to
go out, so we went to the mall....

Can you think of the largest mall you have ever seen, well this
one is maybe 4 times larger than the largest one you have ever
seen... and the supermarket as you enter, has 72 aisles, it is massive...
As we left I wanted to take a picture of the size, and a
policeman came up to me and wanted to stop me...
I don't know what he thought I was going to do with a
picture,,, I explained to him that I wanted to show the size,,, grande,,,
and he said was I taking only one and I said yes, why on
earth would I want to take more, so he watched me and let
me take the one.. funny....  well the mall was filled with people,
there are so many people here, it is amazing... we went up to
a place in the middle of the mall, not a restaurant, just like
the food court, but one place only, called Cafe Mokka, mokka is the
coffee bean, and even the chairs have a hole in them to signify
a coffee bean,, and they had waiters, for this little spot, weird,,,
and it was incredible..  I had a milk shake and a tuna and egg sandwich,
and it was great... The milk shake was like a frappe but
in a very long glass tapered like I was having a drink,,,
it was something,,, lots of people to watch coming there, one woman just
sitting there and putting on makeup, some young girls with their mother
relaxing and smoking after shopping up a storm,, about 4 little girls
playing a game and I took their picture,,, and Maria Angelica and
Alba were talking all around me, and I didn't mind looking at the
people... Finally I left them for a few minutes and browsed around the
stores and returned at quarter to ten, the place was getting ready to
close...  we took M.A. home, and took ourselves home, and this ended this day...

I know it sounds like boring I just rattled on, but it was
a nice day, and now to bed, tomorrow we leave for the beach...

Saturday 16 October, 2004
Beach day weekend has arrived.. Taking Alba at her word that we
leave early, I was up early and all ready, and Alba still in
bed,,, so as she is on vacation, as she informs me, we play
all by ear, and take out time... So by 11 we are thru
with breakfast, and packing and off to go.. But as we take the
car out of the downstairs area, the doorman tells Alba that a light
is out in back, so we once again stop by the garage
and he puts in a new bulb and we are off again.

Like Boston, going to New Hampshire, we have to go thru the heart
of town, and it is eons long and traffic is wicked, and it
is many times longer and busier than our little heart of town,
so almost an hour passes before we are on the highway and the
mountains are surrounding us, and we are headed for Vina del Mar....
Vina by the sea... Vina is about the same distance as when we
go to Cold Spring, and about as long to get there, and the
travel is kilometers so not sure the correct difference... And the mileage
is also in kilometers, and the 100 or so allowed is maybe
65-70 or so... Alba's car does not show the difference, so just guessing.
The mountains are all around us, and I mean around, to the front,
to the sides and just lovely lovely... and on reaching Vina, we need
to go thru winding roads, down down in the valley, while around us
and besides us, are houses and narrow roads leading up to the hills
and every single house has a garden, and incredible flowers and the beauty
and colors just delight the eye... Small stores with people shopping, wandering,
and going somewhere, cars everywhere, darting in and out, it is amazing that there
are no accidents,,, people drive always in a hurry, and Alba is a
relatively slow driver, middle of the road, and the horns are honking and
people throwing dirty looks as they pass us, and Alba just goes her
merry way and doesn't care a bit...

We are having difficulty trying to find the street with the apartment
building we are using, so after asking several people, we finally find
2 Norte, and, with gorgeous old old trees with knobby fingers reaching to
the sky, like an old person with arthritis in the hands, but with
lovely green leaves, we arrive at our home at the beach...

Please Click The Photos For A full-Sized image A 12 story building about a mile or so from the beach,
in a beautiful street, and as usual, all the buildings have a basement
to park in, all the buildings have doormen who sit like in an
office building and let you in or ask who you want, or are
there to help, whatever, and after Alba telling this man who we are
and that we have keys for a special apartment, he tells us where to
park and helps us unpack and into the elevator, and up we go
to the 8th floor,, #82....  inside, oh, oh, what a wonderful apartment...
Windows all around, the balcony has been enclosed with glass, with wicker
furniture, a huge living room with a dining area, a long hall, master
bedroom is very big, and elegant, for Alba, and I have a smaller
room, with huge windows that open to the air, and the roofs of
the other houses around the area....  My bathroom is not in my room,
it is across the hall and is furnished in dark green toilet,
bidet,,,, yes they have bidets,,, sink and tub with shower...
The kitchen is a fairly good size, but is a working kitchen, and off
the kitchen is the work area and off that a tiny little room,
for the NANNY of course, so small just a bed, and a small
cabinet for her clothes, but a TV, and a bathroom...
it would not be KOSHER for her to use anyone else's bathroom...
So every room in the house has its own bathroom.

Here I made a big mistake... I told Alba I thought it was AWFUL
that the nanny is off the kitchen, in the work area, in a
tiny room with no window like put in her place in the closet....
Boy oh boy, I put my foot in my mouth this time...
And she wouldn't let it go... She thought the room was sweet and
nice and befitting the nanny and that she herself would sleep in this
room if there was no nanny and a big crowd and be very
happy...  For two days she was a little I think annoyed at me
for not understanding that it was wonderful and a very adequate room,
and the nanny is perfectly happy in a room like that with her
own private bathroom, and TV...  oh well,,, I don't really understand.

The people who originally owned this apartment are Jewish... all over are
chanakuh candelabra, Jewish memorabilia,,, on the walls all over the house, and
incredible prints in black and white, by some famous artist Bernstein I think
the name was, of Jerusalem, and the wailing wall, and other Jewish scenes...
The bedroom I am in, has wonderful family pictures in black and white of
children, family, bar mitzvahs, special parties,,, it is lovely... a whole story of
a family... In the record cabinet are Jewish tapes and records,,
and the story goes this way...

The people it seems fell on bad times, and lost some money, or
perhaps bankrupt and the bank took back the apartment and then sold it
to Alba's friend, who probably got it for a song... and she has
not used it as yet, because she has asked the former owners to
please come and remove whatever they want from the place so she can
redecorate...  And for some reason they haven't done so as yet...
Don't know why... and besides, she has a couple other homes, this one
is the north, she has another in the south --- just regular Chilean people,,,
not rich mind you,,, just normal......... SURE!!!!!!

The plants in the living room and around the house, have all dried
up, but we cleaned up as we could, and Alba watered the ones
out on the exposed part of the balcony, and by time we left
they were thriving, and maybe would lived for another little time until someone
came to take care of them....  we did discover that alas, we had
no water, so needed to call the water emergency, and Alba called them
several times, and by time we were back from our wanderings, it was
turned on, otherwise we would have had to go elsewhere.

Finally all was in readiness for us to go out, and off we
went walking... Around the corner was a long street that seemed to go for
miles, and lots and lots of stores, everything imaginable, and people wall to
wall, it was Saturday after all,,, and so we shopped and looked, and went
into a sort of mall/store that had lots of little booths, and
we shopped there for souvenirs, and had lots of fun... meanwhile, I
found that I didn't have my sweater that I had just bought, you must
take a sweater with, because about 4 o'clock the weather begins to get
cooler, and you need it,,, so I had it and just left it
somewhere, didn't remember where, and where was it...  well, I left Alba and
went outside, but not too far, and when she came out, we recouped
our steps, and in one store where she was looking at hairdryers,
there it was just as I left it... amazing, that no one took
it... In our country it would have been gone, just gone...
Then we had some popcorn, took lots of pictures,,, back to apartment, to
rest a bit,,, feet not happy... and then at 8:30 off we go
again, because of course, we have to have supper at about 9pm....
Sunset was obscured by tall buildings, but snuck in a few pix, and
went to dinner at an Italian restaurant, La Dolce Vita,,, nice,,,
and I had a good lasagna, Alba had just spaghetti, and we had
Pepsi, and it was real good,,,, I wanted something that I could find
American, and I really wanted the pasta for a change..
it was real good..

Across the street, after dinner, was the beach, and it was so
wonderful.... People walking hand in hand, horse drawn carriages like in Central
Park, bicycles built for two that you hire and peddle around the place,
or some with room for 6 and all six peddle...  It was great... We didn't do that... The water
was dark, and we were facing the inlet or bay, and on both sides were the hills, one
side Valparaiso, the other Vina, with the houses on the hills all
dotted with lights, and the surf pounding and spraying up against the rocks
with high light spray,, it was a picture perfect place..
Behind us were the buildings facing the ocean, the prime territory with the
balconies, and lights and gorgeous flowers on each balcony... A magic lovely place,
so memorable... Even vendors selling ice cream, and nuts, and candy,,,
It was great....

We talked a bit back in our apartment,,, and the school downstairs
next door was having a party or something, with loud music and
laughing and talking, and it just went on and on and on
and when I woke sometime in the night it was 2:15 and they
were still going on... It was after all Saturday nite, and these are
college kids...  and also next door to this apartment building is Berlitz,,,
another Berlitz to teach English language to all who want it...
But this day is over, and it was really super....

Sunday 17 October, 2004
Finally music had stopped and I slept pretty well... not too many tickles
in the throat, and after shower, exercise, breakfast, off we went for
the day.. To Valparaiso, and beyond... Valparaiso is just about 1 km,
a drop away, but also going by wonderful balconied, flowered buildings, lots of
hills with secrets up on them, and finally the broad pacific opened up
before us, with all its greens and blues and white pounding surf,
and spray on the rocks... We kept going down and down curving roads,
narrow, you could just about hold your breath as you maneuvered thru
them, and reached a pier...  here in a lovely square with lots of
shops for buying whatever, little boats, like glorified row boats, or very small
tug boats with the tires on the sides,, were available for a small
fee to take you around the harbor for a ride..... I was not
interested.... There were however, lots of visiting nuns, in white or
black outfits, that had come for a visit or meeting and they were
enjoying the use of those boats,,, all laughing and giggling and jumping
in the boats, and taking each others pix, and people taking their pictures,,,
it was wonderful...

In the near distance to go up to the hills which surround this
whole area, there are trams or lifts that go up a very steep
incline, leave you there to do what you want to then take you
back again,,, about a 90 degree angle, up and down... could be
scary, but we had done this before in another place, and there was
no fear attached to the experience...  They are very old, but still work
very well, and the mechanism at the top is wonderful, like the old
street cars with the hand worked machinery.

Please Click The Photos For A full-Sized image An entertainer was on the pier, with a dummy that he dressed with
a tiger face, and then he put on a record the the dummy
lipsynced the words, and batted his eyes, and made like a rock star...
It was so cute,,, Alba had to get into the act and danced
with the dummy.... She is a natural star and every time we saw
an entertainer, she had to get in the middle.  Bought some things from
the booths, and off we went in the car to do other things...

Alba's father and her family long ago, had come from this area and
it was very memorable for her... She showed me the house they had
lived in, her father who was from a Scottish father, and English mother,,
had his early roots here, when he joined the Chilean navy at 17....
These street were extremely narrow and winding, we walked it was really too
harrowing to drive, tho there were people who came bombing around corners...
All the houses were very old, and on the hills and down the
alleys, and some could only be accessed thru stairs going down the little
space in the street, and even down below when you looked down you
saw lovely flowers and gardens and like living in a cellar, but if
you went down those stairs, you would be on another street...
It was amazing, and the most wonderful place you could imagine,,,
You could not imagine what this place was like,,, I used 5
rolls of film in these two days, the place was magical, unusual,
medieval, modern, colorful, incredible, gorgeous, indescribable, you could stay
forever and take a picture in each house up and down the hills...

Each of these tiny places, had a gate to go into a garden,
the flowers and beauty were everywhere, just so mind boggling that you simply
can't imagine such beauty in what would be squalor in another place.

When we went up the tram to the next level, we could see
all over the city, we walked around that area,,, there was a
young man under an ancient tree that had arms to cover a vast
area... and a huge wide trunk,, it was amazing, he had spread his
wares under the tree on a blanket, and he made out of iron
all kinds of toys,, and some bikes and motor bikes,,, they were very
heavy... And very interesting... Showed him Michael´s card, and got a card from
him to show to Michael... We walked around some more and found a
house that was being refurbished with a marble landing and wonderful gold tooled
door, and as we walked by, the caretaker was going in so Alba
asked could we see the house, and he graciously let us in and
took us all over,,, from the windows and balconies we could see forever,
and the floors were old inlaid parquet floors, and the bathroom was
ancient, but so beautiful, the kitchen was amazing, he wouldn't let me take
pictures inside but I could do all I wanted from the outside..
It was great... In another spot was another entertainer, who had puppets
that he made himself and he would put music on that he had
written and the puppets would dance--- some of these people are so
enterprising, he made the puppets from old materials that he found in the
streets...  Of course Alba had to get into the act, and danced along
with the puppets, and even took a dog puppet and waltzed with him,,,
she is so funny..  we walked around some more, some houses had been
damaged from an earthquake and you could see the cracks deep into the
walls of the still standing and strong houses...  I just couldn't stop
taking pictures, it seemed that every step I took opened up another door
to something again more amazing and beautiful and interesting than the one
before.... It was such a wonderful experience, I simply cannot describe fully
to give it the honor and wonder that it was.

We finally left via the tram once more, and went off to look
for the naval club that Alba´s father used to take her to for
lunch... After asking several people we finally found it, and it was on
a street with just a door and a sign above the door, naval club,
and that is all,, but oh oh oh what was inside...

Like the clubs you see on TV, a real English hoity toity club,
that the old men would sit in stuffed chairs and smoke stogies
and no women allowed...  well of course this was different tho the
decor was the same... Alba had to give her father's name and his rank
before they even allowed us in.  We had come too late for lunch,
but they squeezed us in tho we had to wait and hurry it
was really late and they had to clean up and get ready for
dinner...  The front hall had two lovely staircases on the right, and the
poor waiters needed to go up and down these stairs all the time,
because the kitchen and dining room were on the third floor, and
private rooms all over the club----  the ceiling was with lovely tiles,
that let the light shine thruout the entire building,,, the tables and chairs
were wonderful leather and shiny wood- - it was elegant...

Nowadays the children can come dressed in dungarees, and jeans and running
all over the place, in Alba's day the girls came like little ladies.
In each room were wonderful paintings of ships and battles and commodores
and each room had a commodore named after it---  we had the regular
fare, didn't order special, and it was real lousy... a salad bar, with
some pasta, some shredded lettuce, some wilted tomatoes, deviled eggs, some
horrible pork that was just bones, like ox tail soup and had no
color, no dressing or anything like that... Then we were served a
soup, that was supposed to be chix soup with garlic, ick, and then
chix with curry rice, the curry rice was just rice with saffron to
make it yellow, the chix was really boiled chicken--- really boiled chicken,
(Al calls my roasted chix boiled, he should have had this, it was
as I repeat again, really boiled chix), probably what the soup was made
of, and it was terrible...  Then we had coffee in demitasse cups, and
of course some wine, and a baked apple.... and rolls and crackers,,
cold rolls,,, what a horrible feast for such an elegant place..
But it was not expensive because it was the club exclusively for
naval personnel and their families.  We wandered around some more, and looked
into, the card room, the reading room, the smoking room, you know the
score, so old English, it was amazing,,, the Chilean people don't realize
how English some of their ways are.

It was now after 4, and we walked a bit to another park
just across the street, where there was a puppet show, and Alba
stuck her two cents in,, the kids were sitting on the ground that
the puppeteer had spread a blanket on, and they were having fun...
There were bikes that the kids could ride for a fee I am sure and
go carts, and a big circle in the park that the kids rode
around on, there were parents there with their kids, and lovely trees and
flowers, and everyone was having a good time...  Alba said this is where
the POOR people come to give their kids a good time, when they
can't go away for the weekend,,, poor poor people.... they sure didn't
look poor to me... Again that class distinction.....  across the street
another park, with swings and games and tricks and a big boat that
swung back and forth for rides for the kids, it was a magical place...

Back in the car and off we go again---- doing the beach
circuit all along the coast.. We stopped at Renaco beach--- walked on the
sand and ocean looking for stones, and shells, and got some sand to
bring home.  People flying kites, playing in the water, sunbathing, playing
ball, dogs abound, it was a lovely place...  Alba needed to
get some energy out of her body, and went walking for a long
long trek to the other part of the beach, I sat and looked
and took pix...  The surf was banging against the beach and the rocks
and it was just lovely---- left there and drove further, beach after
beach further and further up the coast, and now there were huge rocks
in the water, and trees that bent with the wind off the water,
and gorgeous houses on the hill with flowers from each floor make a
cascade down the entire house, there is no way to describe just how
incredibly beautiful this part of this country is.. I can go on and
on with each and every house and turn of the road, and it
would not do justice to what I saw.

We waited for the sun to go down at some point in our
journey, and when it was gone, headed back to the apartment...
Stopped in a supermarket to get some cold cuts, for supper, of
course at about 9pm--- we sat in the sunparlor, the wind
was howling to beat the band, it sounded like we were about
to have a nor'easter, but I am told that this is normal
for the afternoon hours, and also being so high up in the
coast, and being off the water...

Finally at 12:30 we called it a day, and we leave to go
home tomorrow probably early afternoon..  this was a simply wonderful day...
One to live long in my memory...

Please Click The Photos For A full-Sized image Monday 18 October, 2004
The weekend is over, and we are due to go home today, but
before we go.....  a shower, breakfast, straighten up a bit, and off we go...
on a long walk to the beach,,,  for me it is a long
walk, never used to be, but with these legs, one never knows, but
truly lovely walk, took pix of the old knobby trees, with their
gnarled fingers stretching to the sky as if to straighten out the bumps,,,,
Finally reached the beach, and right on the corner of the beach is
a hotel like a castle that juts out into the sea,,,
picture, of course, on other side a huge white building, the casino,,,
wanted to go in to just see what it is like, but Alba
says, no... we are not dressed good enuf... We have on pedal
pushers and sandals, and a shirt, and what is wrong with that in
this day and age,, but Alba remembers another time, and we cannot go
in, so we will never see the inside of this lovely place,,,,...
The beach is long and the water is many colors, and where we
come in is the rock area with many rocks and people sitting on
them just resting or eating a bit, or watching the sea as it
storms against these rocks,,,, there is a promontory that the children,
and Alba likes to walk on and I said go right ahead,
I will walk along you, but she didn't want to...  So we
walked and walked some more and finally reached the place where there was
a beach and sand, and we sat in the sand, and looked for sea
glass and rocks, etc.  Here surprisingly I found many pieces of sea glass,
not big ones, but colors, green, brown, and clear... wonderful...
sat in the sun for a bit and watched the sea and people
and then another long long walk back where we had lunch in the
apartment and packed, and cleaned up a bit, and waited for 4pm when
the concierge would come and do some heavy cleaning.....  after he did
that, we left, finally, and went to a beauty parlor, where Alba had
her hair washed and teased, and I had a haircut, for 6 dollars...
and she did a wonderful job... better than I had at home and paid less.

Before heading home, we stopped at another beach area where there were lots
of booths and I again bought something... this person accepted U.S.dollars,
and that was good for I had just about run out of Chilean
money and need to go to the special exchange....  After 2 or more
hours thru the mountains and the sunset, we reached home again,
it was late, we had some supper in the house, and I check
the internet... Alba spent hours on the internet getting her presentation ready
for tomorrow´s interview, and finally bed...  the lovely lovely weekend beach
is over and a wonderful memory.....

Tuesday 19 October, 2004
Well, today is Building 19 day and I am here and cannot go...
What on earth will I do for the day, and what will Addie do
without me to take her to the famous and wonderful store that we love...
No matter, I am here and this is this days happenings.

I stayed in while Alba went off looking beautiful and very
professional for her interview with the firm she is trying to get a
job with... This is a business that she read was having trouble and
they had changed their whole staff, and she wrote a letter to them
with a proposal on how they could make a profit and a good
business..... And surprisingly they wanted to see her with her proposal,
and see if in some way she could help them, and she would
consult for them...  She doesn't want a 9 to 5 job, she
wants just a consulting position, that she can do from home, or
wherever she is, when they need some assistance...

They had called last week asking her to come in on this day
for a talk, and so we cut short the beach time and came
home and off she went...  It was a 2 and one half hour
consult... And when she left, they promised to call her by end of
the week with their decision as to whether or not they want her
to work for them...  it means a great deal and would command a
great deal of money and she is excited and thinks it went well..

So, we had lunch in, and went off to have the mechanic look at the car
again, something wrong with transmission, just doesnt work going up
a steep hill, like it is suffering with a bad cold or chest...
The mechanic wants to give this a good workout tomorrow and so she
will leave it again for a few hours and see what is what...
Meanwhile another person called on the cell fone while we were driving to
ask Alba to come in tomorrow at 4 for another job that she
can do for him, not a permanent one either, but she has to
decide if it would be worthwhile to her financially to do this,, so
she has to see her accountant and see what he says...
All these things come up now, and she had wanted to get
everything out of the way so we could do fun things.

However, we stopped again at the artisan place on the hill and I
again bought some more stuff, and the art work is incredible...
Someone makes faces out of pans,,, hammering in the features, great...
A bit more sightseeing up a mountain, and then off the supermarket
for a lot of shopping, and home and dinner, and internet and rest and
read, and this day is over also....  a real quickie....

Wednesday 20 October, 2004
Today I woke up so tired,,, I haven't been sleeping too well with
the tickle that seems to bother me most again at nite, and my
eyes were so tired.  I really didn't want to do anything, but Norfa,
Alba´s nanny was coming to clean today and Alba really didn't want me
in the way... Soooo did my internet thing, and got caught up with
the dates so I can start fresh,,, and washed a few things, and
before breakfast, Norfa showed up.. It was about 9am.. I was not
expecting her to be who she was...  I truly expected an old woman,
like the ones I see everyday in the supermarket or walking with
the old folks or watching the children around the streets, she is tall,
slim, jet black hair and scarcely 50 years old... very fashionable....
and nice looking.... wow was I surprised....  Alba says she came to
her as a 15 year old girl, and the mother said that she
was 18, so Alba has had her for many years when she had her
home and Norfa helped with the bringing up of the children...
Now she comes to Alba only on Wednesday, and calls her Señora
Alba,,, and Norfa's husband died two years ago of cirhosis of the liver---
and she has a married daughter with a small grandson, and a son
who is graduating high school this year... and she owns her own home...
Alba is the godmother of the little grandson, and Norfa brought an outline of
his feet, so Alba can buy him his first pair of shoes...
So it seems that the people who have nannys spend their lives working
to support the nannys who end up making out much better
than the bosses...strange.

Anyway, off we went for a drive to the heart of the city,
the old Santiago, where the city was founded, and walked up a lovely
old park, with stones for the road, and stones for the stairs if
you used them, and old buildings, castle turrets, and the view of the
city was spread out before us.. The birds were singing in the trees,
even tho we couldn't see them,,, the groundskeepers were all around keeping
track of the trees and area,,, it was just lovely and there
were many people wandering around, even saw two women from Canada up there,
and two young people sitting and kissing constantly while she was on
his lap,,,, lovely.  After that, we went to visit Alba's aunt,,,
the uncle was on her mothers side.. They are in their 80´s and
live nearby in a beautiful 600 family complex that is set out in
a quad with buildings in red brick each 10 stories high... each having
a balcony,,, and in the middle of the quad is a square
water pond with sprays playing in the middle... very lovely and neat and
clean... And someplace in this complex is a day school for little kids, because
we saw about a dozen kids all with yellow and blue jackets playing
around the area and throwing things into the water, while the nannys or
maybe the young mothers watched and stayed close to them...

The auntie was not home, she had gone out for a walk with
her nanny and her husband, and so we sat in this lovely spot
and waited for a bit, and finally she arrived..  Wonderful warm and lovely
people I feel so close to them even tho we can't understand
each other.  Up we went and were immediately invited to share lunch, but
Norfa was making our lunch and sharing with us, so we had to
go back... But we had ginger ale that the nanny brought to us in
the sun parlor, and I took pix and Alba and auntie talked,
and we sat for a bit and then left...  She wanted to
take my picture but couldn't find her camera, and we
are invited to share dinner with her before I leave... she is
supposed to be an excellent cook, and just came back from Italy, Milano,
where her daughter lives and she promised to make lasagna...

Then it was time for us to be home for our lunch with
Norfa at 2pm, but we stopped in the bank for a minute, Alba
needed to do an errand, and I changed a 20$ bill into singles...
The man was so nice, I offered him a quarter, and he picked
what he wanted... and was so happy. Norfa had made a lovely
fresh fish lunch, with a huge mound of mashed potatoes, and some salad,
and it was real good, then we had clementines for dessert and coffee,
and all ate together...  after lunch, Norfa had to do some more
work, she had washed Alba's clothes by hand and they were drying
in the bathtub on a rack...  I pleaded with Alba to let me
stay and nap, I was so tired,, she had to see a man
at 4pm about some business. and get the shoes for the grandson..
I rested and napped, it was great, and I really needed it and
felt much better after that... Alba came home and we were off again....
Norfa would stay until about 8pm to finish up and then leave...
From 9 to 8 that is a long day, and that is
expected with nannys....

We went off to the gallery to try to find Alan Bresner's
friend, Isobel Klotz... we found the gallery, and the owner, said she
had not heard from Isobel for a long time she is no longer
in this area she is Valparaiso, and spending time with her children...
But she had two paintings of hers in her store room and she
showed them to us, they weren't that good, and gave me her telephone
number if I wanted to contact her, and we looked at her exhibit...
The work in the exhibit about 600 of them, were magnificent all done
by the same person, and a collage exhibit, just bits of paper cut
in different shapes and colors and put together in exquisite paintings.  lovely

Off to a mall, to look at some of the things on sale there,
walked around a bit there, looked for a candy store to bring home
some chocolate for Al, no dark chocolate, bought Alba some chocolate, bought
myself a dunkin donut, and it was real good,
and then finally at 9pm home...

I made myself a tuna sandwich with the wonderful dark bread we had
bought yesterday, had the donut, some cocoa and it was good, while
Alba had left overs from lunch.  called David's house, checked internet,
wrote some letters... all done, need to go to bed..
it is 11.30 another day done...

Please Click The Photo For A full-Sized image

Thursday 21 October, 2004
Another day has past, and I think as I write this that next
week at this time I will be on the plane and on my way
home, so the vacation if two thirds gone, and it is so
comfortable that I feel that this is my home away from home...

Today, a lazy day, Alba was hoping that the business would call her
today, since she has given them until tomorrow to determine if they can
or want to use her services and they have not called as yet.
Each day gone is more disappointing to her, because she so wants
this job.  I tell her tomorrow for sure, they don't want
to be too eager...  so after a late start, breakfast, internet, exercises,
washed a few clothes and put on rack to dry in the bathtub,,,
out we went walking, a long walk it seems to me not being
familiar with the area and not knowing the destination, but we ended up
in another area at a store that sells nuts, and condiments....
I had told Alba that I am yearning for some nuts, and what
is in the store, I am not sure is absolutely fresh, and wanted
a special place that might sell them..... So here we are and
I buy some salted peanuts, and a small package of vanilla bean,
which I wanted to buy at home and keep forgetting... Now I will have it forever,
since you scrape off a bit when you want to use it, and that is all.

The Red Sox have won the pennant, and of course there is
celebrating all over Boston and the whole United States for that matter,
but here in Chile, they could care less since they do not
play baseball so have no interest in it.

Back home for lunch, and some pork pieces that Alba had bought in
a store on the way home, with the rest of the mashed potatoes
that Norfa had made yesterday, a salad, and we are done.
I finished reading the current story in my readers digest, Alba did things
on the internet and we sort of dwindled away the afternoon waiting for
a call that didn't come.  Finally she asked if we wanted to go
out, and I suggested treating to Chinese or Japanese, and we were thinking
about it, when she decided to call her nephew Marco and see what
he was doing because I had not met him, and she praises him
to the skies all the time...  He was free and told us to
come over, and as we got ready, another call came in and this
was from a very old friend------ the daughter of her mothers dear
friend whom Alba had not heard from for many years... This daughter
was trying to track down Alba for her mother who wanted so to
see her, and finally found this to be the right number...
So we will go there tomorrow..

Then now we are ready to go to Marco.  He doesn't live too
far away altho it is again another part of Santiago, another burrough,
or town, and in a different kind of atmosphere, not as elegant, older,
less trees, more run down houses, but the complex he lives in is
the same as all the others.... You need to get thru a gate
to park under the apartment building, so you need to introduce yourself
to the keeper with your name and who you are visiting...
Go in, park your car, and then go up in the elevator to
the apartment...  Marco owns this apartment, and tho small, it has two
bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a balcony, across the street from a super market that
is being built and will be ready in November... he is on
the 5th floor,,, and he has a typical bachelor apartment...
Marco is a handsome, very handsome 43 year old man who went to
military school ended up a captain in the reserves, married very young, has
a son graduating from high school, and is divorced... The son comes to visit
him very frequently, Marco's wife remarried, and has another child a girl.
He is now going with Paula (pronounced Powla) who is a lawyer and is
a lovely person, she came a bit later to join us... There is
also a big orange dog who has come to live with Marco, just
three months ago after the people who owned him in a house,
moved to an apartment and they cannot keep a dog there.

Alba was supposed to stop by and get a pizza so we would
share supper with Marco, but she forgot and the supermarket was closed and
for some foolish reason didn't want to call Domino or any of
the fresh pizza places who deliver, her way of thinking is that it
is fresher frozen in the supermarket,,, a real warped way of
thinking to me..... but,,, so what did we have, Marco had nothing
in the apartment, so we had toasted whole wheat bread, coffee, crackers,
butter and jam,,,, nice supper.  No matter I have been eating too much
too late anyway...  While Marco was setting the table in the
combination living room, dining room area, I looked out the balcony and saw a
lovely sky with the sun starting to set and it was perfect
from his balcony... grabbed my camera and barged thru the door to the
balcony, and WOW!!!!!!  Did I ever end up short...
The door was so clean I did not know that it was
closed and I banged my nose pushed my glasses into my head
and started to have a nose bleed... I was sure I had broken
my nose, and was sure I was going to fall flat on the
floor and end up in some Chilean hospital this nite...
Of course, I took the picture, then called Alba and told her what
happened, and she got me ice and I went into the bathroom
and just held the ice in a handiwipe on my nose forever...
It is not broken, the bleeding stopped, and it sometimes is wet in
the nose, and my head hurts, but I am so happy that the
glasses were not glass, or I would be in deep trouble.
I will see tomorrow if I am going to have black and blue
parts of my face... I kept putting ice on it periodically
during the nite while we were there,,,,

So anyway, the sun went down in glory and I took several pictures
from that perfect place, and then we had our snack, and talked and
saw family pictures on Marco's internet, set up like David has his
portfolio set up,,, and I gave him David's card and he looked
at it in the internet and saved the site, the same with
quill, and Michael's card... Marco loves motorcycles and has some little ones
in the computer room...  when Paula came, lo and behold she speaks
wonderful English, went to Yale as an exchange student and spent a
weekend in Boston with a friend,,, it was in February a long
time ago, and it was bitter cold so she didn't do much
except sit at the parents home and try to keep warm...
She is trying to establish her own practice and not work for
another law firm, and is doing some part time work in order
to survive..  We spoke for a long time, gave a couple souvenirs to
both her and Marco, and around 10pm finally left them to come home...
Alba wanted to give me supper,,, forget it,  at 10:30 I am
not going to have supper, so just a bit of ice cream
and cookies, and left over tea, and that was fine ...
Maybe without a full stomach, I will sleep better.

Marco is such a sweetie, it is like he is my nephew also,
and I felt so very comfortable with both of them,, Paula promised
to email me, but we shall see if she does..
I hope we can see them again before I leave next
week,and that is it for this day...

NOTE:  Just a little note while I remember.... While Alba and I
were having lunch, we were talking and she told me more about
herself... She is a very enterprising woman and very shrewd....
She owns an apartment like this one in the heart of Santiago
and she doesn't want to live downtown, so she rents this one,,,
the rent from the downtown place, pays the rent for this one,
so she is relatively home free there... She also owns two parking
spaces in large business buildings, that she bought for investment, and she rents
both of those places out, and uses that money to pay her
expenses in this apartment, heat, water, telephone, etc... She has a plot
of land in a beach area that she has a real estate
agent trying to sell, and if she does it will give her a
nice nest egg... She has her social security... and her finger in each pie...
She is selling off what is left of her paintings from the
gallery, people bring her paintings for her to sell for them, with a
commission,,, she is working on a project that is finding someone to
buy a building that is for sale downtown, and trying to get the
best price for it...... This big job that she is vieing
for is complementary to her background,,,, She listens to all
the news, follows the stock market, checks the status of the dollar,
and keeps her eye open for anything that she hears that she
may work on to her benefit... A big business was failing, and
changed its management, so she figured out a way to benefit them,
and make their business tops in that field, and she has given
them a proposal with her ideas.... and that is what she is
waiting for,,, will they hire her as a consultant...
She says if they don't, she will give the same proposals to
competitors, and let them use her ideas -----  she keeps aware of
everything around her that might benefit her, and she is right
on the ball.... a remarkable woman.