I LOVE ME A GOOD HOUSE

There really aren't words for this home. I should just stop writing now and let you just LOOK. But I can't stop writing any more than I can stop talking when I am in love with or excited about something. I had to have THIS first picture be first. I wanted PROOF! I ATE IN THIS DINING ROOM!!! On a table that belonged to the President of Chile in the 1850's. There are 3 doors in this dining room...One to the first courtyard, one to the second, and the other into the kitchen. Just look at this window Carlos is standing in front of in this dining room. How does somebody get to grow up in a house like this? This home has been in Carlos' family for 3 generations.
Okay...I had to put in a picture of the fish because I not only loved the dish that was served...I LOVED the pot. Needed a side view picture to capture all the use. Numberless meals have been made in this pot. Visually this pot just radiated love and care and "let me feed you ALOT of yummy food". Sometime in my life I need to cook something for you IN THAT POT.
Now...yes...check out this hardware ...and the DOORS...how many others went through them before me? How many stories to tell?And you WANT to know all the stories!!! Like how at the age of 7 Carlos and brothers were sent away to 'better" schools and had to live with other families...how his whole life Carlos knew his mother's soul desire was for them to be well educated, and also of her extreme faith in God...and how from the time he was 14 he lived alone in Santiago (THE CITY) during the school year so he could have the best education possible. No mom or dad to make him do his homework or to make his dinner. Or how his Dad trusted him implicitly with any request Carlos had...or investment he wanted to make with his Dad's money. So much love forged in that place. If I were a writer, I would write a book from the house's perspective on how it single handedly raised 3 generations of honorable and successful sons and daughters who have changed the world and made it such a better place. I would. I would write that book. If only I were a writer. Hey...then maybe I could write the second trip off on my income taxes!!! ??It makes me wonder WHY do WE get to know them? I would like to see a study done of people living up to their last names. GALAN means "galant"...and boy are they! When his Dad saw my love of his home he GAVE IT TO ME for my WHOLE life...and he said he meant it:) I told him I would be back to make my claim. I will invite all of you to a grand dinner in that very dining room. I hope the maids come with the house. That was pretty darn cool too. That whole maid thing. Been thinking on the possibility of it for a little bit now. And since I am thinking of Carlos' Dad now, I will put this tidbit in here because I don't want to forget it...Carlos' pet name for his Dad is "Galancito"...now if that doesn't make your heart feel fuzzy, your heart probably isn't a real one.

First you will see the FIRST courtyard...YES! THERE ARE TWO!!! See that table and chairs? I wrote in my journal there...just as the sun had risen and all were sleeping, except the dogs who just made quiet noises at me to let me know it was okay with them that I was there.
Then you will see the corridor between the two courtyards. The first courtyard has the Master, 5 bedrooms, bathrooms and an office off of it. The second courtyard has the arbor with the 140 year old...yes, the ONE HUNDRED and FORTY YEAR OLD Grapevine on it.
Call me juvenile, but I really liked the idea of taking a bath and opening the doors so you really felt like you were outside...I could do that every warm day of my life! Too bad I didn't know that everyone was going to sleep in so long or I might have tried it. The sleeping late thing...ANOTHER magnificent part of the whole trip. NO SCHEDULE, NO HURRY, NO SET PLANS. I like that life.
The bedrooms open to the bathrooms and the outside courtyards. Carlos and Don are standing in Carlos' room. The picture where Don is walking he is heading to OUR bedroom. The Master has a living suite connected to it. Somehow I got the picture of the living Suite and not the Master itself...take my word for it...fireplace...a romantic novel dream room.

You will see a picture of Carlos with his "Galancito"--Galancito has just returned from "teaching"/schooling his friends in a dice game. And before that he had taken his dogs (three German Shepperd's trained impeccably) to Alvaro's vineyard for their morning swim.

See the ARBOR? I NEED one. I tried to tell myself that since THAT one is now technically mine I really don't. But that thinking didn't work. Sometimes I am just too smart. I still need one. I am drawing plans. Think in 140 years my posterity might stand beside the vine I planted and tell my story? I NEED to have summer dinner parties under it with twinkle lights braided between the vines, and Perry Como music playing( Carlos got me hooked). I NEED to have my grandkids play board games and card games with me under there on hot summer days while we sip raspberry lemonade from frosted chilled glasses and eat Popsicles to our hearts content.Yep. That's what I NEED.
I could even have a dog "in the house" with that kind of a set up.
I got a picture of my salad served to me in "THE" Dining room--the typical Chilean salad with the tomatoes and onions and avocado--this time the cook stuffed the avocado with crab...darn-life is hard isn't it?...lets just say these people KNOW HOW TO LIVE.
Okay...I am going to stop after this one last thing. See the cook?LOVE HER!!! She taught me to soak the onions in water before dicing them so that you don't get teary eyed...how can a 47 year old woman who cooks with onions almost every day of her life NOT HAVE KNOWN THAT??? Then she showed me how to dice an onion while holding it in your HAND finer than I have ever been able to dice...and FAST!!! A sweet side note...the cook's baby is 19 years old...and she just found out that she is pregnant. How on earth she could cook us fish is beyond me...but I am SO GLAD that she did. I just hope that it didn't make her sick the way it surely would have me.
I know I said I was done. But one more time. I this house. I love these people. I love the lives they have lived and are living. I LOVE that my life brought me here. Go figure.