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Chapter 5 - Dinner at the Taj MahalAnton arrived late in the afternoon on the second Wednesday of the conference period. She marveled about the climate the moment we came out of the terminal building of the airport, about how gentle it was, and how fragrant the air. She said that Moscow had been in a snowstorm when she left, which later shut down the whole airport. Her plane was one of the last flights out. "But this is paradise," she said smiling. She marveled at the highway from the airport, which went up the steep mountainside to the three-thousand-foot level. The mountain, the highway, and the coastline in the distance, were all flooded with the warm glow of the afternoon sunshine. Everything was bright, and our mood reflected it. Welcoming Anton at the airport had been a cordial affair. It had been brief and to the point, with quick kiss on the cheek and an embrace by Heather. I would have loved to embrace her too, but I was content not to. It seemed more important to honor her autonomy, to embrace her with love rather than selfishness. The real embrace was not a physical thing anyway, but was touch of the Soul, bound up in acknowledging her wonderful nature. Even without a touch, we could still enrich each other's life with the riches of living honestly. It was grand enough that Anton had come at all. In fact I found it hard to believe that she was sitting in the bus beside me, dressed in the very same type of jump suit that she had worn the day we first met. Obviously, the heavy suit was much too warm for the southern climate. We talked about a lot of things on the way to the city, but not the things I really wanted to talk about. This wasn't the place or the time for it. She said she had come to establish contacts with the leading edge people of the world. This, she said, was her main goal. One needs these contacts when things get rough. I told her about our hotel, however, that had been bombed out, and how the committee had assigned us to a different hotel. Heather and I took great pleasure in telling her about it, to prepare her for the delightful shock she would feel, all the while watching her reaction. "The hotel is the finest I have ever stayed in," said Heather. "It is built on the crest of a steep mountain side above the city. It had been closed for some years, but was recently reopened under a new ownership and a new name, as the Hotel Losada Leon. The name was chosen partly in honor of the founder of the city, a man called Diego de Losada. In 1567 the city became known as Santiago de Leon de Caracas. The name Caracas was added in honor of the Indians of the area." I pointed out that, as the hotel's new name suggests, it is uniquely tied to the city, above which it towers like a proud sentinel. I explained that with it being accessible only by its own gondola lift, it offers a view of the city and the surrounding region that is without question one of the most spectacular views from a hotel in the world. "You are in for a treat," I promised Anton. "When you look down onto the city, nestled in its valley by the river, you find it sparkling at night like a necklace of diamonds catching the moonlight. Sometimes, also, the view is obscured by clouds that get hung up on the hillside. At other times the hotel stands above a vast sea of clouds. Then visualize the bright morning sunshine that floods the restaurant during breakfast as if one were living on the moon or some distant world in another galaxy." Naturally, Anton was delighted with the hotel. She was also delighted with the city itself, and Heather and I were all delighted to show it to her, often accompanied by everyone of our group as we were strolling through the bazaars, the shopping malls, the Simon Bolivar Center, our favorite shops, and to our favorite eating places. Of course, we also introduced Anton to our home mall, even to Alberto's pub on the second floor. Strangely she thought nothing much of the pub. Obviously, she didn't know about its connection with Tony's speech. We hadn't told her yet. || - page index - || - chapter index - || - Exit - ||
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