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were practically alone in restaurant, & moderately unhappy. Dessert, for Tom, was an excellent salad of fresh fruit -- pears, apples, oranges, kiwi, & for me, preserved papaya. Then he had a cafecito -- not nescafe -- & I had a creme de menthe offered on the house. Actually, Tom had a fine meal, but I was less contented w. mine. (Usually it is the other way around). Glad to see the taxi driver at 9:40 & come home.

[[underlined] ]Monday, March 25 [[/underlined]]

Slept late -- stayed in bed to 9:15 when maid knocked to clean room. She had to wait. This was our shopping day. After Monte Carlo breakfast downstairs we walked down O'Higgins to look for [[underlined]] Birds of Chile [[/underlined]] in bookstores. The bookstore Tom had seen on way south was the University Store in big yellow building on other side of O'Higgins. Big place - boarded up around front, but open for business. We found [[underlined]] Aves do Chile [[/underlined], the illustrated magazine style book w names & text in Spanish. I had decided vs that earlier, but we bought it today -- it looked useful. Then to monedo & center of town where there were immense crowds & absolutely nothing looked familiar to me. We were almost ready to come home, but found a whole series of Cambio places on one block -- not the place we used in Feb. We were particularly nervous because the clerk who found Aves do Chile for us followed Tom to the door & told him to watch his money out there very carefully. He apparently thought we needed warning. Finally, when we had 

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changed $100 of my traveler's checks and were making our way toward Cerro Sta. Lucia, we found my optical shop and my bookstore -- on Augustina St. The bookstore had Vol II of [[underlined]] Birds of Chile [[/underlined]]. Vol. 1 is out of print & Vol. 2 is hard to get, according to the clerk. I remembered why I didn't buy it before: big book to carry & costs 25000 pesos! We bought it, even tho we are leaving Chile, and considered buying the other available copy for Brian Cassie -- didn't do it. Walked back to hotel & had nice lunch -- estoufada -- a great beef stew with vegetables & a tomato & egg salad. Hit the spot. After lunch went to CEMA on Portugal St. Tom tried sweaters but none came close to fitting. We bought a bunch of little copper things & blue & white pottery & a grass handbag. Taxi to Mission area to Lapis place ^[[Ulonita Gil]] which was closed that night in Feb. Open today & full of lapis - rough & cut -- malachite - onyx, volcanic stone etc., etc. - elegant necklaces & boxes. I saw no necklace I liked better than mine. Prices in range. Bought a stunning big lapis box for ~ $100 & one smaller one for ~ $35. We asked where the mine is -- near ^[[Sennavia]] Ovalle in north. This company (of the mansion) is working it & has been for 2 years. (Nothing said about owning it). There is only one mine - at 4800 meters. The woman showed us a collection of pictures of the place & the mining of rock walls all blue. High, arid, remote and w. access by horses. Blue patch on mountain. The only lapis mine outside Afhganistan.

Transcription Notes:
estoufada a misspelling estofado