Dearest friends,
Two more months and it will be Christmas Time... and the time for my yearly reunion with my special "Walking man"!
We had planned to meet in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for Christmas 2002 but Jean will not have arrived there by then... so, we will meet in Santiago de Chile... Everything is set... I bought my plane tickets on September 5th; I am leaving on December 13th and will come back on January 6th, 2003... three whole weeks this time! Needless to say that I am mostly impatient to go!
As of now, Jean is walking between Coquimbo and Los Vilos in Chile. Since the last newsletter, he has been walking through the Atacama Desert... it is a very long desert and very arid but coincidence or not, Jean has witnessed something rare enough: the blooming of the desert lovely flowers... it is breathtakingly beautiful!
On July 28, there appeared an article on Jean in the Spanish magazine El Semanal. You can look at it on the www.wwwalk.org . Following that, we received numerous emails from Spain and the Canary Islands. One of those emails was from Antonio, a Spaniard from Murcia, south of Alicante, who flew to Santiago and then to Antofagasta where he met Jean and walked 4 days in the desert with him. He declared himself "enchanted" of his experience! Antonio promised to send me the photos he took during those 4 days... I will put them on the site as soon as I receive them.
In Antofagasta, Jean was welcomed by Isabel Osorio, Honorary Consul for Canada and what a welcome party that was! It started with a short ceremony at a monument situated at the Tropic of Capricorn where Jean was presented with gifts by the major of the city. Then there was a big Sunday picnic where a lot of photos were taken. Jean was offered cheques for substantial amount of money, compliments of two mining companies, Noranda Chile Ltd and Compañía Minera Zaldivar, both working around Antofagasta. He made the newspapers... regional as well as national and the same for television. He also received gifts of telephone cards so he called me a few times and that sure was nice!!! We express our gratitude to all the people of Antofagasta who took part in these celebrations, especially to Isabel Osorio and her husband, Miguel Gausachs who hosted Jean in their house for all of his stay in their city.
Jean was also received with great honour in Copiapó, a little further south. Everything was organized by Jessica Muños who had told Jean that a small group of children would meet him at the entrance of the city and lead him toward the Central Plaza... well, there was a small group of children to receive him but as they proceeded on the main street, more people were joining them, then a small fanfare and people with banners "Welcome Jean" added themselves to the lively group, with the police to escort them all. When they arrived at the Central Plaza, the group was some 150-200 people strong!!!! Jean's heart was so touched by this display of love and care that his voice was quavering with emotion when he related it to me, on the phone, a few days later.
From all his appearances on the national media, Jean is very well known in Chile... he says that 4 out of 5 cars honk their horn and wave at him when they see him on the road... He is scheduled to arrive in Santiago on November 15th where he will promote his mission and make the arrangements for our vacation together.
One last scoop!!! Jean has appeared on TV in Sweden! Imagine!
As this is probably my last newsletter before 2003 and even if it is a little early, both Jean and I want to wish you a Very Merry Christmas and a Wonderful Year 2003!
Till next time...
Luce