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My recent visit to Switzerland was very enjoyable. My holiday started nicely with some live andean music the evening before I was due to travel to London. Someone had made contact with me to request my help in finding an Andean musician willing to play at a birthday party and I wrote to four to see if they would be willing to visit Bath and play at this event. All four responded in the affirmative but as Juan Carlos - Condori - was the first to respond he was the one they decided to book.
Juan Carlos travelled by bus from London on the day of the party and Colin collected him from the station on my behalf. Then when I got home from work it was a mad dash to get ready and get to the party which took place in the village of Rode, outside Bath, because we needed to arrive before the birthday boy - a Doctor who was celebrating his 60th. His secretary and other doctors in the practice had organised Juan Carlos as a surprise part of the party because in his youth he lived and worked for many years high in the Andes mountains above Cusco, as both a doctor and a missionary, even learning the native language quechua to better communicate with his patients there. On arrival at the party we had to hang up all the Peruvian things I had lent them for the occasion - alpaca hangings, a Peruvian flag, other wall hangings, woven tapestries, several posters etc etc, plus little fluffy llamas to go on all the tables. Colin, Juan Carlos and I were hidden behind the curtain on the stage so that the doctor knew nothing until they decided to produce the music.
We were well looked after while the meal went on, served a delicious meal backstage along with red and white wine, and it was really enjoyable for me because all the while there was andean music playing in the background - a CD I had given them of Carlos Zapata’s beautiful instrumental music. I had lent Juan Carlos a poncho (purchased in Tilcara, very close to where he comes from in Salta, Northern Argentina!) and also persuaded him to wear a beaded ceremonial hat with long tassels. He looked really good in it too with his long flowing shiny black hair.
When the live music started, the doctor was amazed and delighted. His secretary introduced me to him at this point and both of us having been to Peru there was no shortage of conversation. In fact we both expressed the sentiment that we wished we had more time to chat in more detail! Everyone thoroughly enjoyed Juan Carlos’ music which began mostly acoustic with him playing charango and panpipes, sometimes the flutes, and a little later he added his sound system and he even sang now and again. I was very impressed and especially enjoyed the acoustic part of his show. Afterwards at my request his CDs were distributed and this resulted in some being sold and more contributions offered which added a further £120 to add to what he had already been paid. He was very pleased because a friend from Chile was arriving a couple of days later and he had plans to take her to Scotland and the money earned that evening would be jolly useful. Colin enjoyed the evening as much as I did and we eventually got home around midnight.
Next day I was travelling to London to spend one night there before the journey to Switzerland. At my request Juan Carlos had booked himself on the same bus departing at 12 noon from Bath to London so we had each other for company on the long trip. Departures from Bath seem to take forever to reach London because of all the stops along the way. We eventually reached London at 4 pm, later than scheduled due to delays en route, and here Juan and I parted company as I was due to meet Aquiles and Toti at Piccadilly Circus. I eventually reached them around 5 pm - they were doing last minute shopping for gifts to take to Switzerland - and then we made our way back to the flat. We spent a quiet evening there, enjoying a meal and watching a bit of television, with me urging Aquiles to pack his suitcase to save time the next morning!
South Americans are very laid back and always leave everything until the last minute whereas I am the opposite and always arrive ahead of time rather than late. I was slightly anxious that we would be late getting to the airport because of this so did everything possible next morning to get Aquiles organised. We had to await the arrival of Ivan as well - another laid back South American - so double anxiety that either he or Aquiles would make us late! As it happened Aquiles was just about ready when Ivan rang the doorbell, so I suggested we leave then rather than bring him in and he agreed.
Then it was a bus to Liverpool Street as we had agreed to get the Stansted Express train to the airport to save time. Although more expensive I felt it was well worth the extra cost to get there more quickly, with less risk of arriving late. The cost of tickets on the train is £15 each way, but with a saving if buying an open return, the total cost being £25 per person with departures every 15 minutes and a journey time of only 45 minutes compared to nearly two hours on the bus.
Consequently we arrived at the airport exactly on time, the stipulated two hours before departure, much to my relief. The whole two hours are always needed because there are such long queues at check-in. Once through we just had time to look in the duty free shops and shared the cost of a litre of Jack Daniels to take with us. Ivan was really excited and happy, this being his first visit to Europe since arriving in England 8 years previously, so was eagerly recording everything with his digital camcorder. I asked Aquiles why he called him El Chato instead of Ivan and learned El chato means ‘the dwarf’ - his nickname because he is so short! Aquiles has nicknames for everyone - mine is the whale (la ballena) because of my size!
We boarded our flight more or less on time but then there was a delay for some unknown reason so it was a late take-off - this is always my favourite part of flying and I think Ivan enjoyed it too after I told him to relax and enjoy the experience as he was extremely nervous about flying. Our luggage was a bit late arriving at the other end so we were nearly an hour late by the time we emerged where Carlos and his sister Nancy were awaiting us. Nancy had been due to arrive from Barcelona just after us but our lateness meant she arrived first. As you can image, with four of us and all our luggage there was no way Carlos could take us all in one trip. So Nancy and I agreed to wait while he took Aquiles and Ivan back to the house first. We emerged onto the Swiss side of the airport and enjoyed baguette sandwiches and a beer until Carlos returned about 45 minutes later.
We spent a very enjoyable evening thereafter. I cooked that first night - an enormous tureen of chicken and vegetable soup which is one of Aquiles’ favourites. Carlos’s friend Marco arrived and he was good fun to be with too. Later we opened the bottle of Jack Daniels and enjoyed that although I couldn’t stay up as late as they did. By 1 am I was really tired and said goodnight, but they kept going most of the night, drinking a bottle of Carlos’s special brandy once the Jack Daniels had run out!
Next day was a busy one as this was the day of Carlos’s birthday party, the reason we were in Switzerland with him at all. Breakfast was late due to them sleeping late so it was early afternoon before we drove into nearby Germany to buy loads of food and drink for the party in the evening. Where Carlos lives is right on three frontiers - France, Switzerland and Germany - his house being just on the French side in Village Neuf. It was just a matter of crossing a bridge and we were in Germany (Weil am Rhein) and of course, Basel in Switzerland was very close too. Food shopping in France and Switzerland is very expensive these days - it used to be cheaper in France but since the Euro prices have risen dramatically. However I was amazed at how inexpensive things were in German supermarkets and although Carlos spent a fair bit of money he got a lot of food and drink, sufficient to cater for 45 people.
Then back at the house Nancy and I got busy to cook dishes to take with us that evening. I made a huge saucepan full of Peruvian spicy pork and Nancy watched me make it to learn the recipe. I felt quite chuffed showing a Peruvian how to make a Peruvian dish as you can imagine as a few years ago it was the other way round with me eager to learn! Whilst we were busy there, Carlos had taken Ivan and Aquiles to the party venue as they had sound checking to do and hall decor to be organised. When they came back for us it was a rush to get to the venue, far the other side of Basel, and we arrived after most of the other guests. We still hadn’t finished cooking so the first hour we were really busy in the kitchen there getting things ready.
After that we really enjoyed the party which was also a cultural event, a bringing together of several nationalities, who brought their culture to the event and some did a little act to enhance the evening’s enjoyment. One I enjoyed immensely was also a surprise to Carlos and was organised by one of the Turkish colleagues from his work - a slide show presentation all about the history of the Incas. There was a mad scrabble to find some appropriate Peruvian music to accompany it as we had only brought dance music. We eventually had to settle for Alborada which is a fusion of south and north american indian music which accompanied it quite nicely. The other guests had brought food contributions too - Turkish, Chilean, Italian, Swiss, German, French etc, so there was plenty to eat as the evening wore on. There was even a huge grill, like an indoor barbeque, with kebabs cooking away nicely. An Italian girl gave a nice dance presentation and one of the Turkish guests gave an interesting talk in English. Marco is an artist and had a small exhibition of his paintings there and I was really really impressed at the Peruvian scenes. He had an exhibition in the centre with mostly his abstract paintings that he promised I would also see during our visit. He has an excellent style, especially his way of portraying things like llamas or the inca stonework. Ivan was the highlight of the evening - although Ecuadorian he is a Mexican mariachi musician and his lovely singing went down really well with all the guests. Another Turkish guest took charge of the music and it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening and a good time was had by all.
I was especially looking forward to the arrival of Nano (Alfredo), Aquiles’ younger brother and the only one I had not previously met. He was travelling by train from Freiburg and I was looking forward to meeting him. Aquiles said he was quite shy and not very talkative but he proved to be the opposite when he arrived a bit later and we were introduced. One of the reasons that the Justiniani family have taken me into their hearts is the fact that I remind them of their mother in Peru. We are the same build and have similar personalities and if you take away the high cheek bones and the dark eyes we even resemble each other a bit facially. When we were introduced Nano immediately could see this and gave me the biggest hug and said it was fantastic to finally meet me having heard so much about me over the past few years from every member of his family. We spent a lot of time chatting during the evening and he got me up to dance frequently, pulled me into the family circle when Carlos was dancing with his birthday cake, so that I would feature in all the family photos. I was really touched by his enthusiasm and so enjoyed getting to know him. I was also amazed at how much he resembles Aquiles - at 29 he is a younger and much slimmer edition!!! They all resemble their Mum quite a lot.
The only problem for me was that the party lasted all night until the next morning, and I always have a problem staying awake late because of being so used to getting up at 5 o clock in the mornings. Most of the guests went home around 2 am, but a contingent stayed on and we were dancing and enjoying until around 7 am, although I fell asleep on my chair long before that. I only awoke when suddenly Aquiles extinguished the music and said ‘Right now it is time to clean up!’ He soon had everyone busily sweeping and cleaning, washing up and getting rid of the rubbish and bottles, so that around an hour or so later the hall looked perfect with newly washed floors. We had so many things to take back with us that it meant two journeys and both Nancy and I were thoroughly relieved to be in the first car load going back. Carlos had had a lot to drink so was unable to drive us but luckily Nano had foreseen this possibility and abstained from drinking himself and thus was able to drive us home. I fell into bed with enormous relief when we got there!
We didn’t wake up until about tea time on Saturday which meant we had lost the opportunity whilst Carlos wasn’t working to do any sightseeing. We had our breakfast about 6 pm and I said I would cook again for us a bit later. About 9 pm they were all ready to start partying again and decided to go to a disco and I said No way could I stay up late another night and that I would be happy to stay behind, listen to andean music and enjoy my book. I said I would cook another tureen of soup for them to come back to. I knew that it would be another all nighter had I gone with them and as they all enjoy drinking spirits whenever they get together it would be expensive too. Later when Aquiles said the drinks bill had exceeded 290 euros on top of entrance fees to the disco, snacks during the evening etc, I was even more glad I had stayed behind as I would definitely have run out of money if I had had to pay a share of that!!! I quite happily listened to andean music until about 2 am until I felt tired enough for sleep.
On Sunday no one had much sleep, just a few hours as Carlos woke us all up again because his two children were coming on a visit in the early afternoon, which meant tidying up the place considerably before their arrival! I was sorry not to have had the chance to say goodbye to Nano the night before and missed seeing him in the morning too because Carlos had driven him to thetrain station before I woke up, for his journey back to Freiburg. But there is a good chance he might visit England in the next couple of months if he can successfully get a visa and he will definitely visit Bath when he does. Nancy and I had bedrooms to sleep in but Ivan and Aquiles slept downstairs, and Marco as well whenever he was with us. It was nice to meet the children who stayed a couple of hours and Nancy and I prepared lunch for us all while they were there. Overnight it had snowed and it looked a winter wonderland outside, with the lovely alpine style houses and their decorative shutters, conifer trees heavily laden with snow.
In the early evening they all decided to go for a sauna and swim at a health club in Germany but again I decided to stay behind as I hadn’t brought swimwear and even if I had I would not have felt comfortable putting on swimwear in front of them (not having succeeded on the diet I started a few weeks earlier!!!). Again, I enjoyed relaxing with my book and some andean music. Carlos came back after dropping them off and went upstairs to have a bath and do some work. It turned out he fell asleep in the bath and no work got done and when he woke up we were later than we should have been in going to fetch them back. I went with him as the plan was to go and get something to eat afterwards. When we got there Ivan and Aquiles were freezing, having waited outside for us. Nancy had had more sense and stayed inside!!! We then set off and ended up at a Turkish restaurant where we all tucked into kebabs with chips and salad and several cold drinks. Everyone had had enough of alcohol after so much drinking in the previous nights and poor Aquiles was suffering a bit with his foot which always plays up when he over indulges. Back at the house later we watched a couple of good DVD films on the television and nobody went to bed too late as we were all pretty tired and we had to get up early next morning as Nancy had to get to the airport to get back to Barcelona and Carlos had booked a taxi to get us there. Carlos had to be back at work and was out of the house even before any of us woke up.
The taxi arrived a bit early but luckily we were ready and all four of us headed to the airport to see her off. On arrival I asked the driver if he would come the following day to collect us and take us to the airport and he made a note of it. We had all dressed warmly for a whole day out in Switzerland - I had on a thermal vest and long johns as well as two skirts and lots of petticoats, warm sweater, thick cardigan and fur-lined fleecy coat plus hat scarf and gloves, knowing we would be out all day into the evening. After Nancy went through to departures we made our way outside and soon found a bus which would take us to the city centre.
It was still cold and crisp weather but very sunny with blue skies, the best weather since our arrival. In town our first priority was to look for a place to eat and as usual Aquiles wanted to look for a Chinese restaurant whereas my preference was to eat something Swiss. We eventually compromised in that I would look for something Swiss in one of the Migros supermarkets where hot food is served to take away and he and Ivan had hamburgers to keep them going while I enjoyed some creamy peppered pork and fried potatoes. Then we set off to find the city centre and hopefully a Chinese restaurant. We decided to take the tram having been told to take the number 8. Like in London one has to buy the ticket before boarding and I did so, hoping the 3 franc option was sufficient. Aquiles and Ivan decided to not buy tickets but that was the only time they did so when I pointed out the notice saying that anyone travelling without a ticket would have to pay an instant 100 franc fine!!!! We stayed on the tram until the end of the line, only then realising we had got the 8 travelling in the opposite direction to the city centre!!! We stayed on it though and a few minutes later it headed back - about 8 stops later Aquiles said ‘Let’s get off here’ and I said ‘No, not here, as it’s the very stop where we got on the tram in the first place!!!!” Half a dozen stops further on we got off right in the city centre and thence began our search for a Chinese restaurant. We enjoyed the shops and when we all got hungry again, we went into a Manor supermarket which had a fantastic buffet style restaurant, where Ivan and Aquiles enjoyed bowls of soup, still hoping to find that Chinese restaurant. I had some delicious chocolate gateau and pistachio ice-cream and followed this up with some draught local beer. We relaxed there an hour as Aquiles was limping due to his swollen foot and we knew we would be walking around Basel for hours yet. It was while sitting at the table that Aquiles realised he had left his mobile phone at home and without it did not know the number of his brother who he was supposed to ring as regards meeting up when he finished work later. We realised the only way we could get in touch with him was to make our way to Roche Pharmaceutical and speak to him. Luckily we did not have too far to travel to get there, another tram taking us all the way to the enormous Roche buildings which covered the area of a small village! Carlos has a really high powered job there and as soon as we asked for him at one of the reception areas the guy immediately knew who he was. At that point Carlos wasn’t in his office so we left a voicemail message that we were waiting for him in the reception area of the building where his office was. About 15 minutes later he came down and saw us and he lent Aquiles his mobile so that we could keep in touch with him saying he still had a few more hours work to do as he was flying to Berlin early the following morning and then to Brazil for 10 days three days later.
We made our way back and then finally, around 7 pm found the Chinese restaurant they had been searching for all day and enjoyed a really nice dinner there. Meanwhile because Carlos was so busy at work he had got in touch with Marco who came and met us about 8.30 and took us to see all the paintings in his exhibition which were really impressive - there were more Peruvian scenes in addition to the enormous abstract paintings, all beautifully framed and spotlighted, around the walls of a huge coffee lounge and bar. We had a coffee together and Marco took me round and explained all the meanings behind the abstracts. After that we all went to a games parlour and hired the balls to play Pool and we ended up playing Pool with the winner staying on and the rest of us taking turns to play singles until Carlos finally joined us about 2 o clock in the morning! I managed to win about four of the games much to my delight. Marco was the best player and won the most, which was amazing as his technique of playing pool is one handed with the pool cue at a 45 degree angle to the table surface. I was really impressed at this macho way of playing. It was a lovely way to spend our last night in Switzerland.
I thought we would head off homeward then but Aquiles said ‘It’s our last night, we don’t want to go home yet!’ So we ended up at a late drinking bar in Germany for a couple more hours as I did not want to be the one to spoil their fun and it was too far for Carlos to take me home and then come back again, especially as he had to be up so early the next day. There were several ladies of dubious reputation in the club who tried to chat up my four male companions and I found it all highly amusing watching them try to extricate themselves. They in turn were also highly amused at how much I was enjoying their predicaments!!!!
We finally got home around 4.30 am, with me feeling jolly glad I had booked afternoon departures for our flights homeward! Our taxi wasn’t coming until 1.30 which meant there was plenty of time to get packed and ready and leave Carlos’s house in a clean and tidy state before leaving. The first panic was non arrival of the taxi. In France you have to wait outside and after 15 minutes I was getting really anxious as we had no idea what name of taxi company it was. And although I had the number of another taxi firm, several anxious calls were not answered. And I had no idea how we could get to the airport if it didn’t arrive. You can imagine my relief when it did arrive 20 minutes later, although we still had an anxious time getting all our luggage in the boot. In France even hand luggage is forbidden in the taxi itself and if we had not managed to get everything in the boot he would have driven off and left us. Luckily we managed it. I was so relieved when we reached the airport, still in plenty of time, it being a smaller airport and not so crowded with check in queues. We had time to do some duty free shopping - in my case Swiss chocolate to take home for family members - and they stocked up on cigarettes and alcohol. We waited until we got on the plane before having anything to eat as everything was so expensive at the airport - I paid four and a half euros for one small bottle of coke which we all shared, three times more expensive than Easyjet prices! On board we let Ivan have the window seat as he was eager to watch the take off, and we pooled the last of our euros which yielded just enough for a sandwich and drink each during the flight which was uneventful and about 5 pm landed safely at Stansted and by 5.45 we were on the Stansted express taking us back to London. At Liverpool Street we said our goodbyes as we were headed in different directions, and I said I would see them again on 18 March when I am going to London for the day by train with Ann and then again the weekend of 25-26 March which is another London visit to celebrate Aquiles birthday. The journey by bus from Liverpool Street to Victoria was almost an hour with me not having a clue where we were and hoping I would get off the bus in the right place! I was glad I had allowed plenty of time when booking the bus ticket to Bath as I finally reached the coach station with only 15 minutes to spare before its departure. I finally reached Bath at 11.45 where Colin met me at the station, with only a few hours sleep until having to get up for work next day. It had snowed that day in England too and we had to defrost my car and change positions so that Colin wouldn’t have to wake up so early next morning. And Colin was really pleased with the four different Swiss cheeses I had brought back for him. All this took time and it was 1 o clock in the morning before I got to sleep. It was a great holiday though, with lots of laughs which is always the case with Aquiles, and I look forward to the next little trip which is a 3-night break in a sea front hotel at Weymouth with my friend Ann from 10th to 13th March. Hopefully at some point Carlos will send me copies of all the excellent photos taken on their digital cameras during the visit.
