When the cold and humid weather in the South of Chile was totally impossible to handle by my grandfather because of his arthritis, they had to move to a better climate. The task for my father, who already lived in Santiago, the capital, was to find a farm in the central valley of Chile where […]

Antonio’s parents, Floro and Clarita, had felt anxiety when they allowed him to travel to France. Anxiety, they thought, each in his/her own way, is the common denominator of being parents. It is like a curse that happens once infatuation is gone. The ardor of the first encounters. The great temptation. The satisfaction of desires. […]

The Order of Saint Augustine is a mendicant order. It was founded in Rome in the 13th century. The Augustinians came to Chile in the late sixteenth century. The Mercedarians, Dominicans and Franciscans had come first. The Augustinians arrived in the port of Valparaíso in February 1595. The Order is known as the Augustinians Recollects. […]

The house had three patios. The first one had an ancient palm tree in the very middle that produced little coconuts all year round. (The city hall records showed the tree was 300 years old in the 1940’s. Palm trees are protected by law in Chile and cannot be cut without special and expensive permissions.) The […]

Like anybody coming from a farm or small town, Clarita, upon arriving in Santiago, wanted to live in a neighborhood near downtown. But Floro’s apartment was in the Mapocho neighborhood. It was a joy for Filomena to visit the nearby historic Mercado Central (Central Market). She delighted in admiring the handmade pieces of art and […]

My paternal grandfather was the son of two cousins. That was an arranged marriage and both were 14 years old when they married. My grandfather used to tell, with a smile, that it took his parents a long time to realize what marriage was about. After the wedding they were seen playing with a ball […]