PANCHA'S REUNION
On May of this year a group of us had the wonderful opportunity to meet
again with Francesca (Pancha) Swain in Tucson, Arizona. Pancha was on her
way to Baltimore to attend a conference and on her way took the opportunity
to stop in Tucson. I, personally, had not seen Pancha since 1960 when she
left Chuqui to attend Dunalastair. Once in 1989 we passed like ships in the
night when she came through Tucson and tried connecting with me but I was
out of town. She called me from San Francisco and we were able to talk on
the phone.
We gathered at Pamela Price's and had a wonderful time reminiscing. Present
were: Pamela Price, Bernie and Helen Fahm, Barbara and Connie Moore, Billie
Nelson, Lyn Whitcomb, Carlos Juan Olsen, Gaston and Leah (Doughterty) Pasut,
Kenny and Jennie Brown with son, Ian, Len Miller, and Leslie and Gladys
Brown.
As Tito Pasut said "It was sure nice to have seen all you guys again after
so many years and the beauty of it all is that even though we had not been
in touch the confianza was there". We had a pot luck for her, courtesy of
Pam and her lovely town house's pool and recreation suite, drank lots of
Chilean vino and reminisced "a lo lindo".
Foto #1 Carlos Juan Olsen and Billie Nelson Foto #2 Carlos Juan Olsen and Francesca Swain Foto #3 Connie Moore, Leslie Brown and Gladys Brown Foto #4 Pancha and Me (Frances Swain and Grace Osterberg) Foto #5 Gaston (Tito) Pasut and Carlos Juan Olsen DON MCARTHUR RETURNS
Spent the night in San Pedro de Atacama, arriving there just as night fell so Claudia didn't see anything. Left at 8 am. sharp, in order to get to the Argentine customs before their siesta. I'll send pictures later on - not that I took allot. Happy New Years and yes, I got your digital postcard. If you look closely at the image, you should see a dust trail from my camioneta as I drove at 120km/hr on calamina dirt roads trying to beat the Argentine siesta. DON | |||||||||||||
In 1999 when we crossed into Chile we went via Catamarca thru the San
Francisco pass which leads to Copiapo and Caldera - which is where we were
headed. Our two daughters joined us there - flew in from Phoenix - as well
as my brother Bob, down from Michigan. We spent a good two weeks getting a
tan, eating congrio, albacora, machas, locos, ostiones, etc., etc., until we
couldn't stand it any more and ordered steak instead. All of this washed
down with the mandatory liters of wine and pisco sours.
After our daughters returned, I convinced Claudia to head back through the
Jama pass, which you get to through San Pedro de Atacama. We spent the first
night at the Hotel Antofagasta (remodeled recently), where I tried to
contact ANYBOY! I couldn't find a number of Ivy Cunliffe and I didn't know
anyone else to call. You wouldn't believe how big Anto has gotten! Just goes
to show you what a galloping economy and sufficient potable water will do.
We drove to Calama and Chuqui the next day, and drove as far as the Pulperia
#1. There's a guard gate there which you cannot pass without authorization,
nor are you allowed to take pictures! Industrial secrets
perhaps. At any rate, your old house Is still there used as a office), as is
the whole row of houses up to an including the house where the Swains used
to live (1201???). That was slated for destruction Next month. The Pala
Mundial still stands in front the general manager's office, but all that
will probably not survive past 1999. They built a new Club Chilex (yes, it's
actually called The Chilex), and moved three of the original houses as a
recuerdo of the good old days...the Gerencia (Casa 2000) now used as a
guest house with transplanted palm tree and everything. The new camp,
however, looks just like it used to.
