Happy New Year – 2009 Letter to family & friends – 31.12.2009

This year, we only stayed a short while in Nevis and then left to visit former residents of that island in their splendid new digs in Western Florida. From there we flew south to Argentina to renew several contacts with friends we had not seen in half a dozen years. We were especially intrigued to see the now finished Casa del Japón, a beautiful 18th century Minka [farmhouse with thatched roof] painstakingly taken apart in the middle of Japan, piece by piece, then shipped to Buenos Aires and erected again by several Japanese craftsmen over several months, and now a fine museum of Japanese artifacts. After two weeks there, they could no longer stand the diet of beef and more beef, so the Japanese architect (also a friend of ours), had to send for his wife to come and prepare Japanese-style food every day for the carpenters!

Flying to Santiago de Chile, we only stayed one night to take an early morning flight to Punta Arenas and to be driven by a 4×4 to the fantastic El Paine National Park. We had been to a similar place on the Argentinean side some 10 years earlier, called Perito Moreno, in the midst of lakes and huge glaciers and calving icebergs. El Paine was but 80 km away, similar but ever so different. 3 fantastic towers of sandstone in the midst of massive snow-covered mountains, lakes, waterfalls, and some glaciers, too. Surrounded by huge ranches, with cowboys and horses, and sheep, we were able to see how these hard working people lived. Even puma were living in the area and survived the harsh winters. There are many hotels available now but the explora is really the one to go for, even at a price, if you want quality, excellent guides, good food and accommodation. Four days is enough but if you are a great explorer and an accomplished walker or rider, then a week’s stay would be better.  For additional information, please go to http://www.torresdelpaine.com/ingles/index.asp, or to http://www.explora.com/en/explora-patagonia/patagonia.

We had to return for another night in Santiago to take the early morning flight to Easter Island. Its size is nearly double that of Nevis but its population is only about 5000 or half of Nevis. Since 1888, it has belonged to Chile, some 3500 km away. Again we stayed at the well situated explora there. It is a long flight into the Never-Never-Land of the endless Pacific and you really only go there to see the moai, those large, stone figures wonderfully carved of local tufa which were carved over a long period from about 400 BC to 1700 AD. There are about 800 moai statues on the island, but only 50 of them were re-erected in 1958 during an expedition by Thor Heyerdahl There are many stories about where the original inhabitants came from, as the island is so far away from any other inhabited place. The reason that the island is so deforested is also not really known but there are a number of theories, the most often cited being that the rivalry between two competing clans to build ever bigger moai used up all the available palms (also for the transport to the beach side). For those interested to read up more, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Island#Mythology.

Traditionally, May is the month I make my trip to Japan to see my friends from our 28 years of living in that wonderful country and also to attend sumo, of course.  Contrary to other years, the 3 last days were absolutely stunning and well worth the price for the seats.

In June, Uschi and I did our equally customary trip to the UK which was a success in every respect – this time round we even met Nevis friends who hail from Boston Me. for the first time in their nice London flat.

August came and with it the 95th birthday of Uschi’s mother Hilde in Kempten, southern Germany. It was a quiet lunch with 8 people, in a nice little Hotel called Waldhorn; even Nic made a surprise show to honor his grandmother. From there we drove to the Lake of the 4 Cantons in the Center of Switzerland to help the daughter of a dear departed friend sort out some of his varied Japanese art collection. The off it went to the Lago Maggiore and later to the Alps high above Aosta in a rustic stone house, a former cow barn.

On October 8th, the two of us flew to Bali for a one week of wellness, and then continued on for three weeks in Chiang Mai in Thailand where we were lucky enough to enjoy good weather conditions despite the fact that it was the rainy season. We met a Swiss mother and daughter team who were constructing a small Resort in Mae Rim, some 30 km outside of Chiang Mai, quite an adventure, I’d say. Before returning home from Bangkok, we met with a number of friends in that wonderful City.

We will be leaving for Nevis on Dec. 8th; Nic, Alexandra and their 3 children Leonie, Keana and Matteo will join us for the entire Holiday Season on Dec. 18th and return home in early January 2010.

In closing, Uschi joins me in wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a most wonderful happy successful and healthy New Year of the Tiger 2010!

Willi & Uschi

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