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Saved by spilled wine

When you notice a rat parading along the dining room wall
Elisabeth Villiger Toufexis

Elisabeth Villiger Toufexis

3 Min Read

In 1987, I accompanied a trip called South Americana, which started in Buenos Aires, went on to Tierra Fuego, Iguazu Falls, then on to Chile, Peru and ended in Brazil.

Those were very tiring trips, lots of flying, packing and in those days, reconfirming hotels and air tickets by phone, which is hard to imaging in today’s day and age. Even as an experienced tour guide, I was sometimes a little tense and especially at the beginning of the tour, it was very important that things went smooth and that the first impression was perfect.

After a long trip from Zurich via Madrid to Buenos Aires, we arrived at this big, famous, colonial style hotel, checked in, all the guests went to their rooms and we all met a little later to go for dinner in the dining room.

The tour group was not very big and we all sat at a long table along a wall with a very big mirror, I was sitting in the front, facing the mirror from which I could see the other side of the dining room behind me. The waiters started serving drinks and food and at some point, I looked up in this great big mirror and what do I see, at the far end, behind me?

There was a rat walking along the wall, and I knew at this very moment that I had to make sure that absolutely none of the members of my tour group would have to be able to see this rat because this would have caused me a huge amount of trouble. All I could think of was that I would have to do something drastic that would attract everybody’s attention, basically make sure that everybody would be looking at me and nowhere else. I knocked over my glass (red wine, as usual 🙂 ) and spilled its contents on the white table cloth, hoping that the commotion would chase away the rat and get all the people around my table to look in my direction.

My trick worked and after the glass maneuver, I stood up and walked over to the waiters to explain what had happened and that they would make sure that no more little rodents would be parading through the dining room.

Do I need to mention that I didn’t sleep very well that night, wondering if the rats were only in the dining room or maybe all over the place?

Author(s)

  • Elisabeth Villiger Toufexis

    Life Coach, NLP Practitioner, Author, Motivational Speaker

    I am the author of the book “The Soul Kit” and a Life Coach, NLP Practitioner and Motivational Speaker. My life purpose is to add value to people’s lives and brighten the path of those who are a little lost in the dark.  I am originally from Switzerland but live in Cyprus with my husband, and we have two grown up children. I speak 6 languages and also work as an interpreter. I found out very early in life that if we want to achieve something, we have to take action and not wait for someone else to do it for us. Life doesn't happen to us, we make it happen. I had a bit of a tough beginning, my mother was 16 years old when she gave birth to me and wanted to give me up for adoption, my grandfather insisted to take me home and I grew up with my grandparents but unfortunately when I was 10 years old, my grandfather died. I felt a lot of insecurity and shame and spent many years feeling quite lost and worth less than others but was determined to achieve something in my life. When I started understanding that we are in charge of our life and that it’s entirely up to us how we want to create it and that we must never allow our past to define our future, I started creating a wonderful life for myself. As a young woman, I worked as a tour guide in many different countries all over the world and learned about other cultures and mentalities, I learned that even though we may look different and speak different languages, we are all the same, with the same needs, wishes and dreams, and that we all have the need for safety and happiness. I have travelled to over a hundred countries, and I love to get to know people, appreciating similarities and respecting differences while bringing out the best in each other.