The family moved to Los Pozos 6691, Santiago, Chile in  May 1953 due to Isabel La Catolica being sold.

Reminiscence (MJA): Mike & Dave wanted to be in on the move from Isabel La Catolica to Los Pozos,but parents insisted that we went to school. So a plot was hatched whereby we went to school and told the school that we were required at home to help with the move. We were nearly found out when asked why we had brought our sandwiches with us: "just in case we had to stay in school" was the reply which got us off the hook. So we took the bus back home and all seemed to be going well until the maid informed Mum & Dad that she had overheard us talking that morning (in Spanish of course) about our plan. At first she didn't apparently understand the significance of the early morning conversation, but once found out we spent the rest of the day in our (new) bedroom!

Los Pozos is in the same district of Santiago (Las Condes) as Avenida Isabel la Catolica but North East and further from the city centre. Mike and Dave took the same bus as to La Catolica but a few further stops along (Christobal) Colon.

There was a craze for making paper kites, made from wood for a (+) framework, paper glued to the frame  and bits of fabric tied to string to make a tail. They flew reasonably well but were not world beaters. Attemps to sell the products at school and to friends were not very successful.

Views from Los Pozos (Winter: May) with snow on the Andes 1953

Left photograph shows the "infamous" field (at the side of Los Pozos)  which had long grass in summer (November?) 1953 and which MJA and DGA  managed to set fire to accidentally while playing with matches together with our friend Carlos Silva. 

By January 1954 MJA and DGA  were in boarding school in England (cause & effect?)       

Dave's 7th Birthday Party October 1953

(Phil Cherryman holding PGA)

MJA & DGA are the scruffy ones without ties!

There was a large collection of Milo tins at home which we decided to sell, using a home made trolley to pull the tins from house to house. I think we must have walked at least a mile calling on every house with no one showing any interest. Finally someone in a tumbledown shack offered us the desultory price of 80 centavos (i.e. peanuts) for the lot (probably a dozen). We were so fed up lugging these around that we accepted the price!

"Before Shaving" GMA's comment on rear of photo. Recovering from encephalitis. 24 Nov 1953

GMA recuperating from encephalitis  at Concon, near Vina del Mar ,Chile (Dec 1953)

In January 1954 Mike and Dave came back to the UK (with MCA) to go to boarding school at:

Hazelwood School, Limpsfield,Surrey

MJA remembers: the route from London to Santiago-de-Chile depended on the airline but generally worked on the principle that it should stop at every possible "watering hole".

Typically: London, Madrid, Lisbon, Dakar (was French West Africa now Senegal) ,Recife (North East tip of Brazil), Rio de Janeiro (or Sao Paulo), Montivideo (Uruguay), Buenos Aires and finally Santiago.

Passengers had to get off the plane (on most occasions) for an hour while re-fuelling took place. Generally drinks and nibbles were supplied in a transit lounge. The longest section of the trip was from Dakar to Recife (13 hours). Total travel times depended on airlines. MJA/DGA took 2.5 days, including an overnight stop in Buenos Aires when travelling on Aerolineas Argentinas.

The longest  journey took 5 days: between Santiago & BA one (of four) propeller engines packed up & we had to wait 24 hours while a replacement was fitted. On the next leg to Montivideo the same problem arose resulting in a further 24 hour wait. On arrival in Europe we had to stay in Lisbon because thick fog had engulfed Madrid and London. Eventually Madrid was by-passed and we flew direct to London (with MCA) to go to school. We missed the start of the school term in January 1954.

GMA reminiscence: While MCA was in the UK, he contracted mumps!

On the way back from seeing the boys into school, MCA visited friends from Nassau in Buenos Aires.