Several months ago I was having a discussion with Agustin, Ximena’s loquacious 6-year old nephew, about a barbeque he had been at the prior weekend, when he surprised me with his claim that he did not eat roast lamb “because it comes from a live animal”.
It’s curious, but I can begin to sense Chile well before I actually arrive. Equally curious is the persistent independent bent of Chileans, in full form when travelling. Assignment of specific seats on our airplane are taken by many of my fellow travelers as “suggested”,
“Teach me to Dance!” he cried to Alexis Zorba, drenched in failure but enlightened by a freed spirit. Stiff and scholarly Basil finally succumbed to Alexis Zorba’s exuberance and would now begin to pursue life in a way he never thought possible. I have watched
Once in a while a book gets written that reflects so accurately things we have done, places we have visited, and people we have known, that , rather than read it, we experience it. One for the Road, by David Mather, is for me just
January is a most colorful and productive time in the coastal area of central Chile where the two poor but proud villages of Chanco and Loanco by some stroke of fate find themselves. The long beach that runs between the poor fishing vilage of Loanco
HOME AGAIN Our annual arrival at Chile’s main international airport in Pudahuel, on the outskirts of Santiago, after all these years has become pretty routine. The efficient document revision in the immigration hall, purchase of two large bottles of single malt scotch in the duty
“We are never satisfied with a response to a disaster, because it is, after all, a disaster”.* Driving down the Pan-American highway across the Maipo Valley, as you leave the snarl and smog-producing Santiago traffic, you can’t help but feel the tension release from the
Chile and Chileans have modernized a huge amount in the past 40 years, but what persists with characteristic Chilean determination is their strong link back to a time when rural life was more the norm and rural customs prevailed. In spite of the fact that
“Viva Chile!!” has filled the air these days, punctuating with an emphatic exclamation point what that stoic country has been through during 2010. The massive earthquake in the central south coastal region, the notable election of a center-right President after 20 years of center-left governance,
When the February 2010 tsunami washed inland over much of the small fishing village of Loanco, in the Maule province of south central Chile, many homes were totally destroyed, the fishermen lost all of their boats, motors, and nets, and even their new tractor for