Licia Espalato Wielenska 1933-2005

 * 16 January 1933  + 10 August 2005 

Every time I remember the period of 1969, 1970 & mostly 1971, when I longed so bad to go and live in the USA, one person looms out of it all... and this is Licia Espalato Wielenska. Licia was much more than a travel agent. She was a good-hearted lady who dealt in the  traveling business in a friendly and humane way.

I remember the first time I entered her office on the 2nd floor of a small building on the corner of rua Brigadeiro Tobias and rua Washington Luiz. It must have been April or May 1971. Her one-room office was just opposite the elevator with a door that opened to the hall and remained always open for business unless she had to go out on some errand. 

Ms Wielenska sat at her desk with her back to the window which looked onto rua Brigadeiro Tobias. One would see her as soon as one stepped out of the lift. I was told about her small travel agency by a friend of my older brother who had visited the USA in 1970 and had recently returned.

She was very meticulous in the instructions she gave her clients regarding the various steps one should take to behave like an international citizen when one had to go through imigration and customs. Since the very beginning I felt we had a partnership: she would introduce a plot and I would follow it zealously to the letter. 

Licia asked me about my job history and I told her I had been working as a clerk at Sao Paulo's Bar Association since April 1970.

It didn't take her long to come out with a fautless plan on how to secure a US entry-visa for someone in my circumstances. As I had been working at that office on Largo São Francisco for a year nothing more natural than to spend my yearly-vacation visiting the USA. I would spend 3 weeks in New York City and Washington, as there was a free-of-charge trip from NYC to Washington to those who purchased a Rio-NYC-Rio ticket. She told me I had to prepare myself psychologically for I might be  summoned by the US Consulate in São Paulo to be interviewed personally.

Even though I didn't know then, Licia was a Capricorn, born on 16 January 1933. That's why we hit it off so fast. She was a 38 year-old lady who had a 10 year-old daughter called Regina. I never knew much about Licia's private life but I knew she cared. I knew she had a brother called Lineu Espalato who worked at the Polícia Federal headquarters, just one block away, on the very same rua Brigadeiro Tobias,  

Every time Licia spoke the word 'aeroporto' (airport) she mispronounced as 'arioporto' which is not really uncommon but made it more conspicuous in Licia's case due to her business being centred mainly around airports. 

Whenever Licia explained something related to air-fare prices and she had to show how much a cruzeiro was worth in US dollars she wrote the @ symbol. For exemple: US$ 3.00 @ Cr$ 20,00 is equal to Cr$ 60,00. That was the first time I ever saw the symbol @ being used in lieu of the preposition 'at'. Forty years later @ would become a daily routine with the advent of the Internet. 

Just to point out how special Licia was, on the day for my departure to New York, on 1st October 1971, a  Friday evening, I and my family took a cab to Congonhas Aeroporto, and as soon as we got there, who did I see? Licia was already there with her 10-year old daughter Regina. This was definitely not part of a travel agent's duties. Licia wanted to make sure I'd follow all her instructions and wanted to wish me luck personally. Licia took the trouble to get her daughter and drive all the way to Congonhas to see one of her clients off. 

Licia brought a box of chocolate for me to take to Dona Eugênia, who had a news agency on 112 Ferry Street, in Newark, N.J., the place I was supposed to go in order to get myself settled in the US. Little did I know I would be in Newark in the next 12 hours.

That Friday, 1st October and Saturday, 2nd October were probably the most important point in my whole life. Nothing similar to it ever happened to me for the rest of my life. I did everything as if I were on automatic pilot. When they announced over the PA the plane to Rio de Janeiro was ready to board I just said goodbye to everyone and darted out downstairs (we were all up on the 2nd floor looking at planes arriving and taking off) with my guitar in hand, entered the tarmac, being one of the first passengers in the queue, climbed the stairs all the way up to the plane and took my seat. I had never flown in my life, but I didn't care. Anything would do. I was so enfatuated with all that was happening to me that I knew I couldn't look back. From the plane I could see my family waving goodbye to the plane.

Besides Mother, Father, Fernando, Osvaldo, Sandra and Rute there was auntie Dulce and cousin Gabriel; Licia and her daughter; Nino who had been told about my departure only the day before was there. He was crushed by the sheer novelty of the whole thing. There was no time for explanations. I only told him I kept my trip a secret for I knew it would go nowhere had I started talking about to him or everyone else. I guess he understood my point of view. I promised him I would write and kept him informed about my steps in the USA. 

The Varig flight to Rio took less than an hour. After arriving at Galeão International Airport we were soon taken to the jet that would take us straight to New York in the next hour. I took every minute as a matter of fact. An hour after taking off the plane crew served dinner to the passangers. I must have fallen asleep not long after that. There is not much to do on a night flight. One can see nothing but dark outside. Seven hours flew by without my realizing it. My first inter-continental flight was an anti-climax which was alright with me. Sooner than later the lights on the plane were on and the crew started preparing breakfast. 

Not long after breakfast instructions were given by the Captain through the PA system on how to fill in the immigration papers and what documents and passport to be ready to show the US authorities for we were about to land at the John Fitzgerald Kennedy International Airport. I wasn't nervous at all. I had some inner voice telling me everything would turn out alright in the end. 

I was one of the first passengers who exited the airplane after the first class had already disembarked. Passed through immigration swifly and went to the baggage caroussel conveyor belt where I would pick up my suitcase. I think having carried a guitar during the flight and going through immigration with it as a good omen. I was just a young man carrying a guitar.     

After coming back from my American experience in late March 1973, I kept in contact with Licia paying her a visit whenever I needed to exchange dollars into cruzeiros. Every time I tried to go back to the US, Licia was the one I headed to. Some time in the latter part of the 1970s, Licia decided to visit the USA herself. She flew 'low season' to visit Newark, New York and Washington. It must have been January or February for while Licia walked on the icy sidewalks she slipped, fell hard on the floor. She ended up breaking a leg and was in deep trouble for she had to pay top dollars to have her leg fixed and plastered. Her winter holiday was over and she flew back to Brazil as soon as she could.

Licia told me she had dinner with Tia Eugênia. They seemed to like each other and probably made business too. Licia also had a special friendship with Haroldo Cunha, who had been living in 'America' for quite some time. These are the only people I remember Licia quoting.

Colégio Estadual Carlos Maximiliano Pereira dos Santos, Vila Madalena 1963-1967

 

Aliomar Rocha, 16 December 1964; à jovem Maria Lúcia Martins, lembrança de seu estimado colega A. Rocha, Colégio Maximiliano, Vila Madalena.

Alcídio.

José Carlos front and back.

Vera Lúcia Zimbo, 4 November 1967, and Orlando were studentes at Maria Lúcia's class at Colégio Maximiliano, in Vila Madalena.

Orlando & Vera Lúcia's handwritings on back of their 3x4 photographs.

Christmas cards from a by-gone era

Leonor Lisbona, who lived on Rua Girassol corner with Rua Aspicuelta, was also a student at Colégio Estadual Carlos Maximiliano Pereira dos Santos known by all simply as Max. Circa 1964, there was a new trend among fellow Max students to give our best friends little Xmas cards wishing a Merry Christmas and at the same time hailing the New Year.  Here, Leonor was a little befuddled for she should have only hailed 1965 but ended up mistaking 1965 with 1964. Leonor wrote this message on 25 December 1964, not 1965.   

on 25 December 1965, Leonor wishes Maria Lúcia a Happy 1966. 

Here, on 25 December 1966, Leonor wishes Maria Lúcia a Merry Christmas and a Happy 1967!  1966 was the year we took Ginasium's 3rd year and looked forward to being finally graduated from Junior High in December 1967.