Leonor Henríquez

leer en español       It is an expression that, when faced with not so favorable news, acts as a mitigating factor, and conveys a certain relief. What I didn't know was that it was going to become my future project. I recently told my children that, if I reached the age of eighty, I was going to get a tattoo on my forearm with those words: Oh well...! They laughed, of course, and told me: yes, mom, if you want, you can also get a “piercing” in your tongue. The fact is that I have my reasons for this mid-term plan, and also for another more serious purpose. I want to work on a quality that I decided to have well trained when I arrive at the eighth floor. Flexibility. This word, similar to that other one, so fashionable nowadays, resilience, which gives me nightmares,...

leer en español      My brother Rafael (RIP) taught me how to play chess when I was just about six years old.I hadn't played in a lifetime, but someone close asked me if I could teach him, and so I did.I explained the basics, how to place the pieces on the board and the movements of each one. I emphasized to him that the game consists of ensuring that the opponent's King has no possible escape.Recently, this person told me that he was ready for a game.We sat face to face. He chose the white ones and of course, I was that confident, I had no problem with him coming out first.The battle began.In my desire to educate him, I began to offer him my comments.Let's see, remember that, in each move of the opponent, you have to evaluate which pieces he is threatening you and what the intention is.He...

leer en español     In German it is ausgang.I learned this word one day when I got lost in a train station in Frankfurt. I only know apfelstrudel in German.In English it is much easier, exit: salida in Spanish.Today I want to refer to a strange coincidence between the English word exit (from Latin exitus) and another term that, in Spanish and in every language, hangs over us all our lives as a tacit mandate, self-imposed or not.It is an elusive word, sometimes overvalued, confusing, like that verse from the Bitter Truths, "what shines has a place, even it is copper that shines for gold..."A way of living that each one interprets as they feel like it, and which exhibits as many nuances as there are people in the world.Perhaps you already guessed, I mean the word "SUCCESS" (excuse the capita...

leer en español When I was a little girl, my brother Oswaldo studied medicine and one day he brought home a human skeleton which he named Julia. Julia lived in what we called “the upstairs room”. Once in a while I took a peek with curiosity but cautiously; she scared me. I couldn't imagine at, maybe five years old, that we were like that on the inside. One day, the house dog discovered Julia and had a feast. That was the end of our friend, sad ending. RIP. This sudden interest in the subject of bones is relevant because today, for crushing reasons, I discovered that the human body has two hundred and six bones. I knew of the existence of some, femur, humerus, tibia, radius, etc., but so many? In one foot alone there are twenty-six bones and in one hand twenty-seven happy little...

leer en español      I uncovered the jar of marmalade ready to enjoy it with my breakfast toasts.Then a fleeting thought flew through my head.That mysterious dialogue between Alice and the Queen, in Lewis Carroll's classic, Alice in Wonderland.- It's a very good marmalade, said the Queen.- Well anyway I don't feel like it - Alice said.- Today you wouldn't have it, even if you wanted to - said the Queen - The rule is: marmalade yesterday, marmalade tomorrow... but not today.”Confused, I looked at my shiny jar again and an existential doubt possessed me, as if I had stumbled into the same rabbit hole where Alice fell.- Could it be that "today" I don't feel like having marmalade for breakfast?I closed the jar and decided to have my coffee with a piece of carrot cake while I undusted the compl...

leer en español      A dear friend gave me an unexpected and unusual gift. Double pleasure.A fish. Actually, part of it; the beast, a halibut, was nearly five feet.A good part of these sovereign fillets became an anthological ceviche. Others wait in my fridge to be pan-seared with butter, garlic, and herbs.I really appreciated the gesture of my fisherman friend. His gift was very inspiring because it moved me, not only to cook but also to write these lines.Thinking about fishing made a childhood memory surface in me. The only time in my life that I have caught something other than a cold, a sardine, at the Playa azul pier. I was about eight years old and when I remembered that moment, I felt the same agitation as then.Suddenly, perhaps to please my inner child, I decided to resume fishing....