MY STORIES, FEW EXAMPLES...
My first assignment for the National Geographic France
In 2000 I went into François Marot's office, Chief Editor of the National Geographic Magazine France, with the idea of covering the humanitarian plastic surgery mission to Rwanda in which my husband was taking part. I really wanted to do this story. I knew that we could give this story superb coverage. A few weeks later, I was on my way, accompanied by Patrick Zachmann, photographer with the famous Magnum Agency. We experienced some compellingly moving moments in Kigali hospital, going from one operating room to another from dawn to dusk. I tried to write the best report I could, telling about the outstanding work done by these surgeons who go off and operate on people in need free of charge. This does not happen very often, and I felt it was important to tell people about it. That plastic surgery is not just about cosmetic surgery but also about therapeutic repair. This was also my first contribution to a mythical magazine and collaboration with some fantastic people.
Download the article in French (pdf - 2.031 Ko): Mission humanitaire au Rwanda
National Geographic - The land of the huasos, Chilean cowboys
I always wanted to return to Rancagua one day with National Geographic to write about a place that is so dear to me. And between each of the lines I wrote, such tremendous pride, a thousand emotions that had been held back for so long, the scary and reassuring happiness experienced with reunions, the link between my past and my present.
Download the article in French (zip - 6.282 Ko): Huasos, les cow-boys du Chili
Conde Nast Traveller - Villefranche-sur-Mer
Read: Cocteau dress
Magazine Femme - Sundance
I was very impressed by Robert Redford's organization. An environmentalist but also a businessman. Sundance proves that the two can and do go together, and also that he doesn't take himself too seriously.
Tribune de San Luis Obispo - In a Turkish hammam
I was asked to write about experiences I enjoyed. So off I went to spend an afternoon in an Istanbul hammam. I loved writing these humorous dispatches. But above all, because going to Istanbul's oldest hammam is really quite an experience!
Read: Intimate Istanbul
Air France Hommes - Atacama Desert
The first time that I was able to put pen to paper about my own country. A faraway part of the world where no-one had ever been. Only a few people even knew where it was. I was so pleased to have a chance of talking about my home land at last, and of showing everyone all the fantastic and positive aspects, far removed from those clichés that I cannot stand.
Madame Figaro - Series on Hotel Stories
I suggested the topic and the stories were published as a series the following summer. The idea of writing a book naturally followed. After telling my travel tales, I started to write books that were directly inspired by the life of my family.
Senso
Il was the opportunity to write in a more literary way. A love story that starts in Valparaiso and ends in New York. I wanted to write something original for that rare magazine, that published stories of the very best French authors.
L'Âme & L'Esprit - Relais&Châteaux international magazine
Each time, I can tell a travel story in my own way. It can be a journey to Patagonia or to the French Alpes. Everything is possible. The revue is gorgeous. A great satisfaction for an author.
Air France Magazine
Every month, an egocentric chronicle of Flea Markets all over the world, with illustrations by François Avril.
Download the article (pdf : 251 Ko): The disappearance
Los Angeles Living a movie (format pdf : 1.462 Ko)
Other travels, other stories : Benin/Cambodia accompanying humanitarian missions - sharing the daily life of teams of surgeons specializing in post-conflict surgery.
Chilean Patagonia, the Carretera Austral personal research for stories and books. Chile, regular trips. Journey from Atacama to Punta Arenas. Visits and meetings for travel tales and stories. Argentina, provincia de Misiones, staying in the sub-tropical jungle, research on biodiversity and the development of eco-tourism with teams of Argentinean biologists for a book. Brazil, regular trips. Amazon, navigating the Rio Negro, living in the Amazonian forest, researching Brazilian eco-tourism and community projects. Sri Lanka, visits to compile travel information. Australia, journey through the Northern Territory and Queensland, personal research and stories about Dreamtime, research for a book. Scotland, journey through the Highlands & the Isle of Skye to look up relatives for a book / patchwork of stories and portraits. California, ten years at Carmel. USA, journey from East to West. Latonia, British Colombia, Mexico and others, research for travel tales and books.
And also: Talk about travels, photography etc, with renown French photographer and artist Jean Larivière, famous for his advertising graphics for Louis Vuitton, at the Louis Vuitton boutique, Place Saint Germain-des-Près in Paris – Signing books at the Louis Vuitton boutique, Place Saint Germain-des- Près and in the Espace Louis Vuitton book shop on avenue des Champs-Elysées, Paris – Signing books / talk at the W.H Smith Paris book shop - In New-York, at the Algonquin Hotel and the Plaza Hotel – In London, conference at the Travellers Club on Pall Mall...
AND...
To write about our planet is also to love the world around as well as the people who live there. Below are two undertakings that are particularly close to my heart :
Dear to me:
www.sorrisosnomorro.com to help the Chapeu Mangueira and Babilonia favelas of Rio.
A scheme initiated by two French Brazilian friends, Catherine and Pascal Garcia, to help the underprivileged in their district, the Leme district.
A success since 1994. They show the world as I see it. Insane and difficult. However, they have proved that things can change with a smile.
www.lesvillagesdenfants.com.
I supported MVE for the first time in 2003, when I took part in the Aicha des Gazelles Rally.
I'm also a member of the jury of MVE Literary Prize.
I continue to do as much as I can. Because I am impressed by their work: sensitive, humane, down-to-earth.
THE TELEVISION...
Rêves de comptoir in French Tv channel Voyage.
... AND MY BOOKS
In 1907, my grandfather, Don Manuel Francisco Yrarrázaval, arrived in Paris from Chile
and booked himself into the Hôtel du Louvre, opposite the Comédie Française.
He lived there for four years, until his death and, as he had not time to pay for his last year's bill,
the invoice was sent to his family who had remained in Santiago and who were quite panic-stricken upon discovering
the amount. Shortly afterwards, however, they received another letter, announcing that the hotel was
canceling the bill in memory of Don Manuel Francisco, the ideal and incredibly entertaining guest.
Over a century later, I also checked into the Hôtel du Louvre, together with my sister, my parents and
my grandparents who once again registered our quite unpronounceable name (for the French) in the hotel register.
My family were used to traveling all over the world and although this trip to Paris was not new either for my
parents nor my grandparents, it most certainly was for both my sister and myself who were discovering France
after years spent in the Chilean campo. The Louvre Hotel was the first French address my school was given,
and my grandparents lived at the hotel for quite a few years afterwards.
These books are my "nod" to those months spent running around the second floor
corridors, to those amazing beehives with their formidable teams of workers, where guests often
do far more than just pass through.
How I write my books:
I often act on impulse when choosing themes as well as places to visit. There are those destinations that just cannot be ignored, depending on the topic of course, but also all those irresistible places I simply dream of visiting one day. It is this total freedom, madness even, that makes each book truly exciting and fun to write. Without all this, it would just be a job. Each book is a marathon in itself. Unearthing good stories, selecting places to go, making contacts with people I don't know all over the world, persuading them to adhere to the project, finding the time to go there, organising journeys, traveling, meeting people, writing stories, as well as all the other work involved, not forgetting the unpredictable, forever running out of time.
However, this frenzy is also part of the excitement. Traveling from one wildly fantastic place to another, driven only by my fancy, is exhilarating. Sometimes when I actually reach the depths of the jungle, nothing goes to plan. Alternatively, a contact that took me months of relentless perseverance in France just disappears when I get there. But there are also those touching times and humorous moments, friendships that spring from email exchanges with people who lead completely different lives, the pleasure of revealing little known places, of helping people to escape by simply telling stories that show the world around us. These unexpected human exchanges, this discovery of other horizons, are what make me want to set off once again, and ultimately give meaning to life.
Buy on line: Fnac, Barnes and Noble, WHSmith, Amazon, Livraria da Travessa (South America), among others.
April 2009
American Hotel Stories
Assouline Eds.
17 March 2009
Flea Markets around the world
Fizzi Eds.
Read the summary(in French)
April 2008
100 Hôtels de Légende
Assouline Eds.
Read the summary (in French)
March 2005
Adventures: Hotel Stories
Assouline Eds.
I wanted to tell all sorts of adventure tales, and have adventures myself. I spent a year on the trail of famous adventurers, favorite writers, and legendary films. A year of non-stop madness in the Amazon, Patagonia, deserts, the North Pole... Exhausting, crazy but quite extraordinary.
Extract : Une cabane dans les arbres - Jack Kerouac - Big Sur
October 2003
Island Hotel Stories
Assouline Eds.
Who has never dreamt of going somewhere where the sun always shines, where the sea is turquoise, where only a minimum is required and where peace and quiet can be found? The best compliment anyone ever paid me about my book: "Social Security Services should prescribe it free of charge!"
April 2002
Hotel Stories: Legendary Hideaways of the World
Assouline Eds.
Read the summaryAs my life in France began in a hotel, it was natural for my first book to be a tribute to hotels. Little did my great grandfather dream, when he left Chili, that his story would inspire an international best-seller!