![]() ![]() He told me about that for the first time in 1978. He’s talked about that for years, Don Mario said. He carefully pulled out the business card for the oldest from his wallet and showed it to us with reverence.ĭon Mario talked about being good friends with Manuel Araya, Neruda’s chauffeur whose assertions about the great poet being poisoned have contributed to his body being exhumed. He told us about his three boys, all in their 30s now, and living and working in Santiago. When he did, though, the information flowed quickly and freely. Mario took a little while to warm up, too. We had initially checked the menu, gone to survey other options and returned to Los Patitos when we discovered that nearby Peruvian and Italian restaurants were closed. We met on Sunday night, when Dunreith and I were the only customers under the awning outside the restaurant. His black hair is a little thin in the back and he’s carrying some extra weight, but his movements are energetic and he smiles easily. He worked at Los Patitos in 1988, the year he and Chileans across the country overcame their fear, voted with their hearts and aspirations, and voted No to the dictatorship.įive years from retirement, Mario looks younger than his 60 years. It was work, he said, just a touch of sadness entering his voice. What was it like to serve people who you knew did these terrible things, I asked?įor a minute, rather than an empty patio, it seemed as if he could see the leaders of the junta who had inflicted such massive damage on the country. People would disappear in the middle of the night and never return. ![]() The dictatorship hit Don Mario’s home community hard, he said. The larger group were “bad,” he explained, shaking his head with disgust at the memory. The smaller portion consisted of “good” generals like General Oscar Bonilla, who Don Mario said tried to restrain Pinochet’s murderous excesses of Pinochet and died in a mysterious plane crash in 1975. ![]() He took the order of Socialist President Salvador Allende.ĭon Mario served military leaders during the Pinochet dictatorship-a group that he divided in two parts. (He said the former’s personality was “special”, while the latter was “normal.”) He waited on Don Pablo Neruda and his third wife Matilde Urrutia. He first started working at Los Patitos, a seafood restaurant in sleepy oceanfront Algarrobo whose name means “the ducklings,” as a 16-year-old.ĭon Mario served thousands and thousands of customers as his three boys grew up and became men. If you work at a restaurant long enough you become part of the menu.Īt least that’s what has happened to Mario Hernandez. ![]()
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