Dearest friends,
First, let me wish you a wonderful year 2003, filled with good health, joy, peace and prosperity!
Already mid January... how time flies! I am just back from a wonderful holiday with my dear Jean, in Chile and Argentina, this time. When I left, on December 13th, the days were so short... going to work in darkness in the morning and coming back home in darkness again in late afternoon. Well to compensate, I have had 24 days of full sunshine... warm weather, even hot at some places. I came back rejuvenated, ready to face the cold winter.
Now, what about Jean? Let me tell you that he has never been better! Before I arrived, he had walked to Mendoza, Argentina because he could not stand waiting for me in Santiago doing nothing! He came back to Santiago to meet me at the airport by bus and brought me with him to Mendoza, again by bus. To do that, we had to cross the mighty barrier of the Andes. This is most beautiful! It is the second time that I see these magnificent mountains, last year in Ecuador and now in Chile/Argentine and I cannot help but feel very, very small in front of so much greatness! In the Los Andes Pass, where is situated the Argentina/Chile border, you have to climb the mountains and come down on the other side. On the Chile's side, they have constructed the road with 30 hairpin curves: the Caracoles. Jean climbed them walking, the first time. He then crossed them 4 more times by bus. He took very good photos of them. They will be on the site shortly, as soon as I finished scanning some 500 photos he gave me to bring back home.
In Argentina, we visited the city of Mendoza... nice, clean and quiet. In Chile, we visited Los Andes, Viña del Mar, Valparaíso and Santiago, all completely different cities each with a definite charm of their own. As with my 2 other trips to meet Jean, we could have visited a lot more... there are so many wonderful regions with particularities of their own! But, you will understand that seeing each other only once a year, we devote all of our time to ourselves and, believe me we need all the time we can get...
We had many, many addresses, phone numbers and emails of people who would have loved to host us in their home, share a meal or even only a few talks... unfortunately, we did not meet anyone. We needed all our time, selfishly for ourselves. We were in some kind of a bubble, talking day and night or simply enjoying being together...
For all of you who invited us... for a stay, a meal or a talk, you have all our gratitude. We know some will be deceived by our not responding to your invitation... but we just could not find the time! Please forgive us!
That does not mean that we have forgotten you, on the contrary. Jean has a heart as big as the universe and rest assured that everyone of you owns a very special place in his heart. For a whole evening, first while enjoying a meal of Chile's fabulous seafood and then while sitting on our balcony, facing the majestic Pacific Ocean, we talked about you. Jean went over his journey from day one... remembering many, many people and talking about you all with so much affection... I was surprised with the accuracy of his memory and I was wondering if he will remember everyone after another 10 years... and he told me that it is not a memory of the mind but a memory of the heart... so it is there to stay!
The year 2003 will have its load of evens... Jean plans to cross to South Africa sometimes in May or June... there might be a project of a documentary film in the air... and there is the possibility that we start writing the first book about Jean's journey... he made me cry relating some anecdotes he lived...
Very special thanks to our Commercial Friends for their great support:
Compañia Minera SALDIVAR
NORANDA Chile Ltda
Kodak Chilena S.A.F.
Nike de Chile S.A.
Hernan Blaset Valenzuela (for a well appreciated pair of shoes)
Again, have a wonderful year 2003
Till next time...
Luce