I had been making excuses all week but I knew the time had come to make up my mind. The Philippines Ambassador, the former anti-Marcos journalist J.V. Cruz, had warned me about the impending arrival of the Philippines’ first daughter for some time. Imee Marcos, my old nemesis from Manila, was going to be in … Continue reading IMEE MARCOS IN LONDON
Memoir Blog # 24 Ninoy Aquino – The Boy Wonder of Tarlac
Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. was born on 27 November 1932, thirty-eight years to the day before the Bolivian artist Benjamin Mendoza tried to assassinate the Pope at Manila International Airport. But it was not Pope Paul VI who was destined to die while disembarking from his plane in the Philippines. On 21 August 1983, Ninoy would perish, … Continue reading Memoir Blog # 24 Ninoy Aquino – The Boy Wonder of Tarlac
A Date with the Pope
My second visit to Bilibid Prison was under very different circumstances. In fact the day following my second visit one of the Manila papers referred to it under a typical tabloid headline: “Balloons and Bibingka for Benjamin’s Birthday.” My friendship with the Bolivian surreal artist, Benjamin Mendoza, began in 1969. By that time I considered … Continue reading A Date with the Pope
Memoir Blog #20 Early Days in Manila
I arrived in Manila in late June 1968. My initial impression was of a sprawling, bustling and filthy city, its downtown roads continually jammed with impatient, honking traffic. Dilapidated, overloaded buses belching diesel fumes, vied for space with garishly painted and ingeniously adapted World War II jeeps, known as jeepneys. A motley assortment of decrepid … Continue reading Memoir Blog #20 Early Days in Manila
Memoir Blog # 12 A Hard Days Night
“Come on, little one, pack your bags, we’re off!” Joe stood over the bed, gently shaking me awake. “Off? Where to?” I grunted, turning over to see what the heavy lump was at the end of the bed. It was Joe’s battered old suitcase, already packed, and waiting to be locked. “The Caribbean!” he replied … Continue reading Memoir Blog # 12 A Hard Days Night
Memoir Blog # 6, Life With Joe
Chapter 6 Life with Joe, I found out very swiftly, was anything but boring. The phone never stopped ringing, the invitations never stopped arriving and people would drop in on any excuse just for a chat. For a few weeks I had the definite feeling that many were passing by simply to give me … Continue reading Memoir Blog # 6, Life With Joe
New Neighbours
In less than a week I had been convinced to move out of 59th Street and into Joe’s studio above Carnegie Hall. The address was 881 Seventh Avenue. Joe’s neighbours in some of the other studios included the jazz pianist and cabaret singer Bobby Short, the Italian impresario Gian Carlo Menotti, the famous NY street … Continue reading New Neighbours
A Blind Date
Caterine embraced Olivier when we arrived at his sumptuous East 54th Street apartment. It seemed to me very much the perfect bachelor pad. Very masculine in taste, it boasted comfy black leather Chesterfields, modern furniture and huge picture windows overlooking the New York skyline. Olivier, as it turns out, was one of those natural cosmopolitans … Continue reading A Blind Date
My first job.
I don’t know what stroke of good fortune directed me to Joe Dever. I still strongly believe, even after all these years that a guardian angel has been sitting on my shoulder during my solitary travels. The night I met Joseph X. Dever that certainly must have been the case. Up until I met Joe … Continue reading My first job.
First Blog
Where have I been in my life? What did I do in the countries I visited? And how did I end up in Costa Rica? These questions and more I have been asked hundreds of times. The answer is simple really. All my life I have had this wanderlust. Many of you will recognize the … Continue reading First Blog
Caroline Kennedy: My Travels 