Torino:

    Set to wake up calls for 6:30am...down by 7 to eat breakfast and leave hotel by 8...don't

even think about it....Nicky did not sleep went to Alfredo's apartment house in Torino and

pressed all the bells and woke up the whole building...then walked back to the hotel and

woke up Pablo at 4am and called me at 6am.....he was impossible and argued with desk

clerk over $8 of laundry bill as we all wanted to check out at the same time....I received a

call at 3am from Pete Nater informing me that Lilly (Alberto's wife) called him to say his sister

had died in Puerto Rico last night...His other sister died 2 weeks ago...I decided not to tell

him until after breakfast...It seems he has 4 sisters and does not know which one died…

He will call when the we get to Munich... Finally, mounted the bus…No Bathroom...Nicky

finally fell asleep and maybe will be quiet for a few hours... Vincent , Ismael, Pete and

Junior will meet us in Bilbao on Thursday morning. We will return to Torino Sunday eve..

We left all the big bags in one room...THEN Murphy's law came to be…about 3 hours on

our journey the bus started leaking oil and the pressure went way down...we were in the

middle of farm country in northern Italy, on the highway with nothing in sight...Thank the

lord we have 4 cell phones with us... It is HOT...no air conditioning and the whole band on

the side of the highway...no help in sight, with a swarm of bees attacking us inside the bus

as well as out...what fun being on the road. I wonder if Tito Puente's band goes through this

also...I guess we are paying our dues...One hour later we will give it a try again...We will

try to make it to a gas station. About 5 kilometers was a small gas station with no other

services. Giovanni the bus driver tried to fill up the oil tank...as he started the engine it all

leaked out again.

    He immediately called for another bus from Torino...which was 3 hours away....It was an

extremely hot day and there was very little shade. We wandered in corn fields some of us

walked 4 kilometers for a soft drink..Others walked 6 k/s for some food...BORING...I was

sure we would not make it ...Nicky started drinking beer and was lost for the duration.

WE went in the bus's baggage compartment to keep cool and in the shade. Guagua is

still not feeling well...He looks BAD...The new bus showed up at 3:30pm and we started

our trek to Munich. We went to the northern part of Italy through the Alps to Austria

watching the beautiful scenery below us in the valleys. It was God's country, passing into

Austria and through the Alps...Insbrook was gorgeous...Being of Austrian ancestry and

being my first time in this country I was amazed at the beautiful mountains and valleys

and fast running rivers.

    Finally at 9pm we reached Germany and the autobahn......We arrived at Kunstpark at 10pm.

It was a huge collection of different venues with a huge parking facility…our venue was

called the Coliseum, kind of an airplane hanger inside with high ceilings and hugh

stage....there was a rock band playing when we arrived, so we had an hour to change

clothes, eat, set up and collect our fees. Of course there was NO piano or music stands...

so the search was on for a keyboard...Joe Berrios did a good job on setting up the line

check and we quickly set up our instruments.

    Finally a clavinola by Yamaha showed up…Not that great but…at least it has 88 keys.

Finding a chair to sit on was a little more difficult. The crowd approximately 1000 were to see

Ray Ruiz but, Ray Could not re-enter the USA if he left so we replaced him at the last minute.

When we were introduced the crowds were happily surprised. I was delighted to see that the

Germans dancing very well. The first 10 rows of people were standing in front of the stage

doing salsa steps in unison as if they learned them in classes. All the couples dancing were

doing great…there were a number of Cubans and South Americans and all were very

friendly and knew all of our material. I gave the DJ the legends new CD. We did two 45

min sets and finished at 2:30am. We then drove by bus 10 minutes to the Sheraton

Arabella Hotel, a new complex across from the Sheraton. Immediately crashed and

awoke at 9am for breakfast then a brief walk. Everything is closed on Sunday so I

packed to leave by 11am for Turin, Italy...back over the Alps and chill till Wed when

we were fly to Madrid, then Bilbao. Everyone overslept and we got underway at 12

noon...Eddie Guagua is really feeling Batted.

He is in tears and afraid that he will need surgery here in Italy. There is a huge blockage

in his intestines. We will take him to the hospital directly on our arrival in Turino. However,

it is a eight hour ride. He fell asleep as soon as we took off.  It was a very long ride…

either too hot or too cold...the air only had and on/off switch....We stopped 4 times

along the way...I borrowed Emo's camera and took some photos of some of the castles

in the Alps...really beautiful countryside with apricot farms and grapes for wine and of all

things sunflowers…miles of it...I was finally informed that we are not flying to Spain...We

will leave Turino Tues. afternoon and do 5-6 hours then stay in a hotel overnight and

another 5-6 hr. Wed until we reach Bilbao.