The new Puig
Annalisa came to the Puig familiy in Chile during the Pacific war. She was then a two year old orphan from up north. It was very likely that she was from Iquique, and thus from Peru. But this did not really matter for her or for anybody else. She did not remember anything from before coming to Annamarias family.
By convoluted ways through the business contacts of the Puigs, Annalisa wound up in Valparaiso, where the Puigs lived, and was taken in by Annamaria's parents. Annamaria Puig was also two years old and that was perhaps why her parents found it very much in their hearts to take Annalisa in as their own.
Of course Annalisa was the name for her they came up with themselves, as Annalisa had no official papers or family or relatives to consult and as she did not remember anything herself.
The Puigs were then a middle class family. The mother, Letitia, was from a French family who had recently come to Valparaiso from Cote d'Azur.
The father, Andreu, was from an older catalan family that had lived in Valparaiso for some decades.
Andreu and Letitia owned a large grocery store in the centre of Valparaiso that Andreu had taken over from his father, the older Andreu.
Andreu - the younger - and Letitia also had an older son, Guillermo, who in time would take over the by then stores, and an older daughter, Dolores, who was already the spitting image of her mother - tall, long-legged and gracious - and who was already from a young age her mother's trusted helper everyday in the store.
The Puigs were hard workers and doing very well in the booming years after the war and the store expanded and multiplied and pushed the Puigs into gradually higher society.
The Puigs were loving parents and generous people. They did not treat their foster daughter any different from their own children. They were also very liberal for the time, instilling in all their three daugthers a sense of independence and provided them all a good education both privately, as was the custom for girls then, but also in some of the few schools available for girls.
Letitia herself provided a role model for the girls as a hard working and bright beauty who could boss around even the most lazy and entitled man in their stores with her distinct mixture of charm and perseverance.
From the beginning, the two foster sisters became very close. Like twins. And everyone ended up calling them that indeed. The two of them had some intimate connection and understood each other as well as - or even better than - had they been real sisters. They shared so many interests and thought alike on so many subjects, even though they were from the outside very different.
Annamaria had a very European look as did her parents - quite pale, freckled and blue eyed and with medium blond hair. Annalisa looked more indigenous with slightly darker skin, brown eyes and almost black hair.
Annamaria was of an almost boyish stature with quite a flat chest, straight hips and a miniature bottom. Annalisa was curvy with ample breasts and a round bottom already from early on.
Annamaria was a serious person with a sometimes almost anxious streak, where Annalisa was lightheartet, extrovert and almost carefree. Annalisa made friends - and later lovers - easily. And she had an almost amazing personal chemistry with just about everyone.
The two sisters looked up to each other. Probably the fact that they were not related by blood made it easier for two girls to be friends - first and foremost - rather than sisters.
They all had a fairly stable childhood in the Puig family and as their parents grew more prosperous the family also had the chance to travel around the country and the region and one time even to Paris as well - with the SS Rochelle across the Atlantic - to see the newly constructed Tour d'Eiffel - a hideous but fascinating metal monster.
The Help
The family bought an estate in Maipo south of Santiago when the girls had turned 18. So during summers, when the Santiago bourgeoisie descended on the Valparaiso beaches, the Puigs would all go up to the mansion in Maipo for weeks to hike, garden or explore the entire valley by horseback.
The place was beautiful, located by the river and the slopes of the mountains as well as the vineyards.
Up there, the two girls quickly became very able riders which in turn further deepened their independence. They had very good teachers in their two older siblings. To be able to ride around and meeting friends and strangers and being able to pretend to be whomever they liked, was an adventure every summer.