The Ludmila Confessions

Bathing suit fashion show by the pool of the Hotel Tamanaco, with singer Andy Russell

This is a story of soul and body, of sin and forgiveness.

I had always thought that Maruza was interested in Horacio, but now that I saw her going out with Ilio, and them looking so romantic together, I felt much better going with Horacio on this moonlit walk, holding hands. He was from a high society family in Chile, but they were not as wealthy as they had been in past times. For these old money families in Latin America, keeping your wealth would depend on where you stood with the dictator, and if the dictator changed you could lose it all.

But luckily my story has nothing to do with politics, a subject I prefer to stay away from. Horacio was so sweet, happy and witty, and romantic to the core. Of course that is what I loved, since I am a romantic too. I loved his voice– a man’s voice is so important to me, maybe because of all the screaming and chaos I heard from my father as a child.

This tropical night evolved into a sweet sexual surrender. This was before I had ever seen any of the sex on the beach movies like “From Here to Eternity”. For me, it was very simple, as our natural attraction to each other turned into a beautiful act of lovemaking. There was nothing moral or immoral, nothing taboo or bad about it. It was simply a man and a woman desiring each other so much that their bodies drew together like magnets, a fantastic interweaving of two souls and bodies, a magical flaming desire ignited.

We were carried away by delicious kisses, turning our two bodies into one, covered in the sparkling sand and washing by the waves with each movement.  Soon our bodies were rolling together in delight, with the sounds of our pleasure probably heard for miles in the stillness of the dark, starry night.

The morning found us still and calm. Neither one of us had much to say, as we lay curled up half asleep in the sunrise. We dressed and drove back, and then a cruel reality jumped back in. Ilio told his friend  Horacio’s wife was waiting for him at the country club, so he said to me, “I will drop you first.”  Well, I pretended that I did not hear the whisper of Ilio, but my tears were only hidden by my big sun hat. I just breathed deeply, smiled, and said, “Okay, Ilio, I will see you all later at the country club, chao!”

I had no time to mourn. I had good news back at home– telegrams, invitations, and a job with Andy Russell! I just loved the way he sang with a melodic voice. I had to get ready for the Channel 2 variety show, with dancers from Rennie’s group and me of course….we had two rehearsals that afternoon.