It was 1969, a year of a significant importance in Chile. After I received my Masters Degree at the University of Georgia in the United States, I went back to Chile and was hired at the University of Chile branch in Chillán, in the south of Chile. The political situation in Chile was deplorable. There […]

That morning early in September 1973 I was preparing to go to the University when one of my cats came to me with an urgent request. He was very talkative and was insisting on me to follow him.Since I had a bit of time, I decided to find out what he wanted. He took me […]

There I was with my hands tied to my back and a smelly black blindfold over my eyes being conducted through what obviously was a cement patio. I heard a dog barking in the distance and then a door opened and I was pushed into a room. A man, smelling like alcohol, untied my arms […]

Arturo Araya Peeters was born in January 30, 1926. He was the son of the sister of my mother, my aunt Laura, and an Army officer. His parents had met on the Island of Chiloe and married even before my grandparents moved to Santiago. My aunt and uncle lived in the port of Valparaiso. The […]

Antonio was more and more exited. Luis had opened a new world to him. He started avidly reading his Bible. He knew that he needed to become not only familiar with the Scriptures, or have head knowledge of what is in the Bible, but get so into them that he would really get the total […]

Antonio was absolutely in awe of what he was reading about the life of Marin Luther. Now he knew why he felt so strange when Filomena, his grandmother, had told him about the indulgences she had bought from that lady that needed money. Martin Luther wrote his 95 theses as a protest to these indulgences […]

Despite being known as the driest place on the planet, every Spring in Chile (September), the Atacama Desert is covered in flowers. Some years the flowers are many, some others there are fewer. It all depends on the rain, they say. At the Atacama Deser, the average rainfall is 15mm per year. Some weather stations […]

The truth was that Antonio had been really confused since he had seen those beings at the high mountain. He constantly dreamed of those creatures and fearfully realized that he wanted to see them again. So he decided to speak to Luis, the priest that took him up to see the creatures the first time. […]

Driving back to Antofagasta from Santiago was really another adventure. After seeing our movie, or movies, visiting with my parents and relatives for a bit and buying some provisions that were much more expensive in Antofagasta, especially wine and Pisco (which is really a brandy made out of grapes and completely transparent, if it is […]

At that time I was teaching at a University in the North of Chile. If I wanted to see a good movie that had just come up, I had to drive 19 hours without sleeping to go to the capital, Santiago. (It would take months for that movie to arrive at the theaters of Antofagasta.) […]