FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS

                                                   
AS I WAS SAYING YESTERDAY MORNING
We believed the post card Pepe had was a strong clue. If Mario
had moved somewhere else, he probably would have sent another blank card from there.  During breakfast everyone
became interested in this quest for LOST TREASURE. The 
tourists, the owners, everyone.  We let everyone have a vote.
Unanimous. We should go. Juan volunteered to fly us over in 
the helicopter  which he borrows often from a neighbor in the next ranch.  Now the neighbor got interested!!! He knew Mario years ago...what? what? 
Rosario is 190 miles NW of Buenos Aires.About 100 miles from the ranch....got to catch my breath~~! Carmine is gleeful...Beanie and I are too!!!!
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ONLY 3 HRS. LATER. Rosario is a gorgeous city!!
R
  My husband knows me well!!  Thursday night before we had even voted to go to Rosario, he reserved a 
room in a  great hotel for us. As usual prepaid.

LOS ALAMOS BED AND BREAKFAST
Their shuttle picked us up at the airport. We almost tearfully
bid Juan goodbye, suspecting we would never see him or the estancia ever again. We like our accommodations. I selfishly
grabbed the room with one bed. haha


NEXT we needed to phone our MPA.  Ben had been busy; he could not find a Mario Z Mendoza in the Rosario white pages.
"Does Carmine know what the Z stands for?" 
 She said that it is Zachariah; he never used it.  
He gave us the address of one detentia (now museum,) we might check out for information. We agreed to talk every two hours.


TWO HOURS LATER.
We caught a cab to the detentia. Even seeing the outside made us shudder. Got no information here...but just seeing it made the reality stronger.
MEANWHILE back in Memphis. MPA had been on phone with
Juan who faxed the scrapbook pictures  which favored Mario to Memphis. Ben saw no other way but to contact a Private Detective in Rosario; he had a lengthy conversation with him and faxed the pictures.  In no time Ben learned that there is a person who lives in the slums of Rosario, known only as ZEEE. He has worked in the soup kitchen and helped the poor for many years. Nobody knows much about him, but he is esteemed highly.The detective went to the soup kitchen; although Zee had changed enormously he still looked like the pictures. His assignment was over. 
MPA called the soup kitchen and talked with Zeee and asked if he was a sailor in Memphis in 1953. The silence told him YES. He told Zeee that his former sweetheart, Carmine and her two best friends are in Rosario right now and will be by to see him!!  NO ANSWER!
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I thought surely Carmine would want to get her "hair done" but no. Our cab took us into a slum area; I won't post pictures
to ridicule the city because of their slums. So many American cities also have slum areas. We were interested in finding
 the soup kitchen. The cab driver knew exactly where it was.
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It was already past the noon serving. We went in. We saw
someone who HAD TO BE MARIO...but WAS it?  The man had long white hair. He limped as he walked away from the serving
table. Carmine approached him. "Mario?" She did not seem to notice the scar on his face or the patch over one eye. She reached up and kissed him in a sisterly fashion. 
No tears from any of us.
Mario said, "Oh Carmine, you look just the same...and I'm so old..."
Looking over at Beanie and me he said, "I remember you
both. We all had some good times together back in Memphis. Annie, your boyfriend went to Korea too. Did you get 
married. " I nodded yes. 
Then..."Are you on vacation in Argentina?"
Carmine answered, "Oh, no, Mario. We have come especially to find YOU!!
More tomorrow...Beanie and I have goosebumps and Carmine
is radiant!!
Love, annie 
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