Still At Risk!

Pedro to me in tonite's dramedy of the gardener's daughter (la hija del jardinero), was a pathetic fellow whose weakness has been transformed into a shackle of captivity over his beloved 'daughter' L.F. This lesson I learnt from Snippet 106 and Snippet 107.

Confronted by the truth of L.F being the sole heiress to the Alcantara fortune, this, permit me to call him a life-long loser, was afraid of L.F knowing about the fortune, because in doing so, she would also know about Luis Alejandro being her biological father.

For this reason, Pedro said he did not care about the fortune, (even though, he was in dire financial needs), if that would shroud the paternity of L.A from the unfortunate girl. My prayers from this lesson is that: God save and deliver me from the selfishness of my lovers, O lord, deliver me from those who genuinely wanted to protect me, but for their selfish motives.

Pedro truly loved L.F to the point of obsession, seeing her as a baby-toy in his hands, to determine her destiny and pattern it after his own that was full of hurting secrets and hideous shames.

I was ashamed to see sister Joaquina as Pedro's hypocritical accomplice in this hideous 'crime'. It was totally unacceptable to me for a Nun to partake in these 'holy' lies. Even when L.F confronted them to ask what L.A came to do in her house, these two hypocrites slyly avoided her query and were laboring to divert her attention with other matters.

Like I always say, The gardener's daughter should have rounded up at episode 110 and not 180. Tonite's episode confirmed that the script writers just wanted to unnecessarily prolong the telenovela.

There was no reason in the world to prevent Vanessa from telling the truth to L.F when she rushed to her floral shop for that purpose. there was no reason again for Don Fernando Alcantara to fall sick again or suffer brain hemorrhage.

It has become boring and nauseating from this deliberate elongation from Episode 106. The remaining 70 or so episodes, are nothing but embellishments which could have been compressed to ten extra episodes.

Adieu, Sidney Sheldon

The master story-teller is gone! A shinning star dims irretrievably into the oblivion, the man born with a pen in his mouth bided the world farewell a few hours ago , this Tuesday night, from Los Angeles, California, to the great beyond.

At the ripe old and fulfilled age of 89, any thing could have happened, they said it was pneumonia, it could as well have been due to the traditional "brief illness". Sidney Sheldon through his incessantly flowing pen gave me courage and hope even from a tender age of ten, some 31 years ago. He sharpened my character and outlook when I was but a teenager. I doff my hat in salutation for this best-selling author and mentor. Thriving by the power of imagination, he held the entertainment world, spell-bound for over half of a century.

With an unparalleled achievement on STAGE, SCREEN, TV and even paperback novels, the world of entertainment owe him an eternal debt.

Long before the advent of Telenovelas, he paved the way for attention-grabbing and mind-gripping, 1,500-page, robust novels, that were never boring or tiresome until you get to the end. Thank you Sidney!

Some of his best-selling evergreen novels include: "Bloodline", "Rage of Angels", "The Other Side of Midnight", "Master of the Game" and "If Tomorrow Comes". He was once quoted as saying that, he liked to write about women who were "talented and capable."

Countless number of his works became the precursor of what we call telenovelas today. Telemovie mini serials were carved out of his many novels and many popular Hollywood actors today, rose to fame and stardom as a result of his good script-writing and story-lines which they acted. He was a movie producer of many works.

At a tender age 10, he had begun his budding writing career, selling his first major work- a poem for $10 and by age 17, hardworking Sidney had become a Script editor for Universal Studios, on a weekly wage of $22 and was able to still squeeze out extra time in the night seasons, to write his first novel whose rights he sold for $250 dollars cash.

His greatest possession in life was his pen and notepad. Legend was told about when fire gutted his home in California years back, he left all his prestigious awards OSCAR, EMMYS and TONYS and went for his pen and notepad, before running out of the house. A World War II hero of the American Air Force. He has sold over 300 million copies of his novels, translated in over 50 languages.

That "Swindler" is Your Daughter!

Bravo! old Rigo. This episode 105 found in Snippet 105 goes to the old maid, Rigoberto Rondon. She exposed Consuelo, wrought righteousness and obtained L.A's promises to help Luisa Fernanda! She stopped the evil joy of L.A over the troubles of L.F and Pedro. She declared to him: " ... that girl you call a 'swindler' is your daughter, she's your flesh and blood".

When L.A doubted her, saying that it was a joke in bad taste, Rigo emphatically insisted that Luisa Fernanda Perez was the daughter of Amelia, his late girlfriend, and grand daughter of Don Fernando Alcantara.

L.A was so furious by the betrayal of Consuelo, he called her a "big phony" and he swore never to forgive her for hiding the identity of his daughter from him for so long..., and he did exact his pound of flesh from Consuelo later when he seized the Will of Don Fernando and refused to release it back to Consuelo. he assured Consuelo that when he finds L.F, he would make her to come and demand what rightly belonged to her.

Pedro and L.F refused initially for ego reasons, refused both the offer of Carlos and Marissa to help them pay the mortgage of their house. Caesar was concerned about their ego, he even told his mother that " ... dignity ends where necessity begins... ". He saw no reaso why Pedro and L.F should refuse the offer of help.

Serena Sapped Their Doubts

Serena Williams is one star that sparks my inspiration over the last five years, from 2002. The 26-year old, Long Tennis player is one heroine that I have always drawn inspiration from.

Her victory today (her 8th), in the grand slam Australian Open, tennis championship, after almost two years in the injury cooler, was like a telenovela story. It is one of the career sparks heralding the rousing of the 'lioness' of the tennis courts.

It was a nostalgic reminder of the "Serena Slam" when she won all the 4 grand slam titles in 2002/2003 season. She came into the tournament with the odds stacked against her, many called her a spent force, having been World's Number 1 Female Tennis player, some few years back, and now ranked 81, in the world. Many thought that she has entered her professional twilight in tennis.

Grossing over sixteen million Dollars ($16,010,307 USD) in 8 years of professional career is something that is truly an inspiration. She did it in style beating the world's N0. 1 female tennis player, Russian, Maria Sharapova.

All through the seven games, she turned the tables and zapped the ocean of popular doubts to conquer all the seeded players she crushed to emerge champion again.

Her stunning victory may herald a new string of Serena victories in store for this year, 2007, proving that this may as well be a Serena year. I am drawing strength from her testimonies to make a definitive exploits for our telenovela blog this year with the 20 best novelas being showcased here on our site. For those looking for a spectacular testimony in their lives in this new year, I pray the Serena victory for you to shine this year too.

Congrats sister Serena!

No Ball, No Game!

The harvest season has now come for Luis Alejandro. Snippet 104 showed us that Leopoldo prefers to rather rot in prison than take the filthy lucre offered him by L.A to change and pervert his testimony in court. Leopoldo would not play game with him, he would rather puncture the 'ball' in court to terminate the strings of financial but unethical victories of L.A. over the last two decades.

On the same day, L.A suffered a catastrophic blow from Marissa as he was disgraced out of the bank's headquarters. his position as President of the bank was lost and never to be recovered. His 'matrimonial cow' where he had milked fatness for over 20 years stopped giving him 'milk' and never to regain that cow back.

His cunning game is heading for the rocks, as Marissa refused to reverse her decisions, she told him not to hurry but have patience, and give her some time to emotionally recover from her disappointment and clear her doubts.

Another drama happed in Alfredo's apartment when he was drinking himself to a sorrowful stupor because he found out that L.F did not love him but lied to him. He told Xochil that he was "... the biggest looser". He lamented on how his marriage to L.F would be sorrowful and loveless, because L.F did not love him.

For the first time in court, Pedro discovered that his well kept secret of L.F's paternity was already known by her. She testified in court that Pedro equals Father, for her, even though she did not know who her real biological father was, but Pedro effectively filled that void and that was what Pedro intended doing for Salvador too.

20 Years of Lies!

The pathetic side of the Gardener's Daughter soap opera was shown tonite when "Mrs Foollish"- Marissa Gomez, that's what I called her. Realized that she had been living in a fool's paradise, for the past 20 years with a con-artist called, her husband- Luis Alejandro Montero. The rest of the story can be found in Snippet 102/103 and also the spillover in Snippet 103.

She took three drastic steps to prevent her bank from sinking with a drowning Luis Alejandro:

1. She ordered the image of the bank to be sanitized through a public statement in the mass media, dissociating the bank's finances from the legal and personal problems of Luis Alejandro. This she believed would make the public and customers to trust that their funds were being managed well.

2. She revoked the power of attorney that gave L.A 50% of her shares and therefore, this automatically removed L.A from the board of directors and also from his Olympian heights, as President of the bank.

3. She sought immediate divorce from the 20-year delusion called marriage to Luis Alejandro Montero.

This was only part of the story because she never broke ties or friendship with Jennifer, the other cunning serpent in her life. This cost her dearly towards the end of this telenovela. So, if you want to celebrate that Marissa was 'cured' of her 'deafness and blindness', it was a partial cure, postpone your partying, as she still remained partially deaf and blind. Jennifer was able to effectively smuggle herself 'partially' back into Carlos Eduardo's life due to this emotional leakage of Marissa Gomez.

The other significant event that was not captured in the snippets was the two apprentices in the school of lies: Alfredo Anzola and Luisa Fernanda. L.F had never missed the court trial of Carlos Eduardo. Alfredo later suspected it, but L.F lied to him that she had been so busy, in the last two days shopping to buy new wedding gown with Vanessa. He knew that she was lying but also chose to 'believe' the lies.

He also overheard her telling Victor that she was indebted to marry Alfredo, though she was obviously still in love with Carlos. this cast a shadow of sorrow on Alfredo but could not challenge that statement of L.F. He choose to swallow the agony of this inconvenient but obsessed relationship.

"You Dug Your Own Grave!"

Luisa Fernanda took over and taught the bad girl (Jennifer), of the Gardener's Daughter telenovela a lesson in true love and uprightness in Snippet 102. Jenny became dumb when L.F hit her with the home truth that she dug her own grave by conniving and dinning with the worst enemy Carlos Eduardo - L.A.

Jenny had come to fight L.F and also begged her to leave Carlos Eduardo alone. L.F told told her that, if two years separation from Carlos, orchestrated by Jenny so she could live with him in Baltimore, could not make him to forget about her (Luisa Fernanda), then she could not help Jenny in her desire.

To really prove that Jenny dug her own grave, she went abegging Nana Rosario, using all the tricks in her bag. Pretending to be penitent and asking the old maid to forgive her for all the evil that she (Jenny), had done to her. She failed woefully, as the old maid refused to believe her. She was told by the old maid to go and find another man to destroy his life and never to come back into the life of Carlos Eduardo again.

Rosario told her that the reason why Luisa Fernanda would always have an edge over her was because she was sincere and simple. At that point, Jenny dropped all pretenses and bare her serpentine fangs. With blazing red eyes, she insulted the old woman again for supporting the love affairs between L.F and Carlos.

Another significant drama happened in court during the trial of Carlos, Leopoldo shocked the whole court when he removed the veil of hypocrisy that L.A had been using for 20 years to cover his true personality. He told the whole court how L.A had been scheming to have Marissa murdered, so that he could take over the ownership of the Metropolitan bank. All, including the trial judge and Marissa, were stunned by this revelation. Coming from a man who had honestly admit his crime of attempted murder as a revenge weapon on L.A for betraying his 20-year friendship.

The Real Jennifer: 2-Faced!

At last and at least, one blind man called Carlos Eduardo, could see and his 'deafness' also 'cured', as found in Snippet 101. Marissa refused to reason with her son, Carlos Eduardo. Carlos showed her that Jenny was a two-faced 'friend' of the family. He told her that jenny kept a pious and noble face with him and Marissa, but reserved her vicious snarl for Rosario and other people around them. He emphatically insisted that despite her favourable testimony in court, he won't get back to reconcile with Jenny because she remained unrepentantly phony.

Marissa was such an emotionally impressionable person, as far as she was concerned, Jennifer had 'sacrificed' so much that she should be compensated with the title of Carlos Eduardo's wife. Even in court, when Luis Alejandro Montero was weeping crocodile tears and declaring with shaky voice that he 'loved' Carlos Eduardo like his own son, Marissa was emotionally touched by this melodramatic con artist, she could not see through the falsehood.

Wow, I'm Worth $3,300 Dollars!

The net is on buzz again. After two months of recruitment labour, many Agloco activists and entrepreneurs are beginning to boast what they're worth, even before the Agloco View bar, expected to be released in February 2007, (just some two weeks time).


Using internet business model valuation method, the same used for Google, Yahoo, and eBay, it is being estimated by internet pundits that, each Agloco referral you recruit is worth about $30 Dollars, and this figure would climb up to $50, in the next two years.

With my downstream referrals now at 110 people, as at the time of this posting (see the Agloco table on the right above), that implies a sum of $ 3,300 Dollars, excluding monthly cash that Agloco would be paying me and my referrals for using the viewbar to browse the net five hours per month.

Yesterday, I read that only about 20% of Agloco have been recruiting, the bulk majority- 80%, just registered and adopted a "wait-and-see" attitude. Somebody called this the 'Pareto principle' 80/20 rule, otherwise known asThe Law of the Vital Few.

This is what my Mentor, John Chow, had to say about this 'law':

" ... 20% of the population produces 80% of the results. In almost every field you can imagine, the 80/20 rule applies. On the Internet, 80% of the website owners make next to nothing, 20% make money. If you own a manufacturing business, you’ll discover that 80% of your sales comes from 20% of the customers. If you were to break down Google’s biggest publishers, you’ll find that the top 10 accounts for nearly half of Google’s income. In a nutshell, the 80/20 rule means most of the results are produced by a minority.

The cool thing about the 80/20 rule is you can choose which side of the fence to be on. You don’t need to be born into it, marry it, inherit it, or win it (but that does help). It’s all attitude. Do you want to be part of the 20% that makes things happen or part of the 80% that wonder what happen?

However, you have to work for it to earn the big bucks is true. Most of AGLOCO (80%) will just run the tool bar and sign up nobody. And that’s fine. They’ll make $3 to $5 a month doing that, which is still in the black since it cost nothing.

Another 19% will sign up some people and make some part time income from it.

1% will be able to live off it.

When I had 10,000 members (with 100 new members per day) in All-Advantage, I got up to $5,000 in one month before the net starting caving in. Can you live off $5K a month?

The top 1% will be a moving target. Right now it don't take too many referrals to be there. However, as the network gets bigger, you'll need to sign up more people to stay in the top 1%".

A word, they say, is enough for the wise.

You can Join my Agloco Train by filling this form.

Passion and Money

The secrets of men are in their stories. I stumbled on a story written by John Chow in September, last year, 2006. Ever since then, I have been so endeared to John Chow's blog. I called it the lecture theatre for bloggers on the subject of making money.

I have learnt a ton of tips on money-making from him in the last five months. Before I met him, my site used to be the dumping ground for MFA ads campaign. Today however, with what he re-taught me, having filtered out these parasite websites that fed fat from my labour, my blog income through Google AdSense has quardrupled.

John is my secret mentor that I cherish so much. He introduced me to the AGLOCO internet money making venture, that would take off early in February 2007, with the expected release of its view bar.my potential 109 referrals are worth more than $3,270 dollars in share value with Agloco.

His 'practical lectures' showed me how it is possible with a blog that's, less a year old, to earn an monthly income of over 2,000 dollars!That is an incredible income for any blogger in the third world. It infuses me with confidence to attain such levels too for my blog here, before it marks its first year anniversary in August 2007. I am currently above 10% of that.

John is a bundle of passion, and that is what makes his blog tick. The transparent honesty and passion behind his writings among others, are what makes the traffic to surge and always come for more 'food'.

I know of bloggers who practically 'live' on John's blog. With 75 comments by a blogger, within 3 weeks naturally point to the fact that some people do overtime there.

All hail my secret mentor!

Staying on Course

Fellow Gardener's, On New Year's Day, I made a solemn promise to deepen and greatly enrich our collective entertainment value from this telenovela blog, 20 times over, this year, 2007, making sure that: " ... by the end of this new year, I pray, and would work to make this blog parade at least, the best 20 telenovela stories in the world, in English language for all of us, God help me."

It is precisely the efforts to redeem that promise that sent me on quality and painstaking research to fulfill our telenovela appetites this year. That is why some of you may have noticed that I have only been posting only one, or occasionally, two snippets per day, unlike my traditional 10 snippets per day, at peak seasons. A promise is a debt and I would complete what I have started.My Father's name is The beginning and the End, so, I wont leave you in the middle of the telenovela ocean.

I must however congratulate you that my research is producing awesome results,I have found three of the "All-time" most popular telenovelas in the world and I am itching to start posting the daily snippets in by next week after I must have finished posting snippets of Esmeralda.

"Rebelde", "Rubi" and "Yo Soy Betty, la fea" I am Betty, the ugly one. are three telenovelas that would knock you off. The Rebelde revolution is raging like a contagious entertainment virus throughout the five continents now, it is only Africa that was missing out. The U.S.A. caught the telenovela fever last year 2006 and it is already in a state of telenovela stupor now. Some of these telenovelas have begun to win prestigious nominations and win awards, including Oscar.

For those wanting to buy the complete dvds of the gardener's daughter, and other telenovelas, get ready an average amount of 50 to 100 Euros or equivalent in you local currency for the purchase.

I'm Through With You!

Thursday's conflict in the gardener's daughter telemovie soap opera, found in Snippet 99/100A was an anticlimax. Carlos accused the two trusted and closest women in his life, his mother Marissa, and his obsessed fiancee, Jennifer de la Vega, of betraying his trust by conspiring with his mortal enemy, L.A. He declared to Jenny: " ... I can't live side by side with a woman I can't trust ..." Then the BOMB! " ... I am through with you!".

He headed straight for L.F's house at that odd hour of the night, and when L.F, with her own mountain of problems saw him and expressed surprise at the midnight visit. He stammered a weak statement saying: " ... I wanted to ... I want you to know that I've broken up with Jennifer". Wait until Friday to know the response of L.F to this news.

If you are too impatient for that, then go to Snippet 99/100A after reading that, scroll to the bottom and you would see links to "Older Post" on the right and "Newer Post" on the left . Click the "Newer Post" and it would take you to the next episode, and so on and on, till the grand finale of the full story.

But I must warn that those snippets are approximate interpretation (may be 65% accurate) from the Spanish language to English. This is because content would naturally be lost or adulterated when translating from one language to the other. Your best bet is, if you watch it on TV.

The Last Straw

Jennifer's Double-Dinning game that was exposed was, for me the most outstanding event of Snippet 98. Yes, she was dining with the devil himself (L.A), and also came to romance with the Gomez 'kingdom', knowing fully well that the man she desperately sought to please and marry, the heir to that kingdom, Carlos Eduardo's mortal enemy was L.A.

She denied that L.A was living in her house when interrogated by Carlos, saying that the informant, Ordonez was suffering from derilium. Carlos had his doubts, so, he secretly picked Jenny's house keys, and went to search for the stolen boxes and to confirm if L.A was also living there.

While searching through the house, for the stolen boxes, L.A and Solozarno entered, and were shocked to see Carlos in the apartment. They challenged him, asking him how he got access to the apartment. He replied saying: " ... so, its true!", to his own amazement, that jenny had been lying to him and manipulating him with the schemes of his enemy.

This discovery, no doubt was the proverbial last straw that broke the Camel's back.jenny would certainly not find it easy to wriggle out of this brazen lie. even if Marissa chose to take the blame in order to save the Jenny-Carlos relationship, it would be fundamentally later to repair the broken love/trust thread between her and Carlos after this episode never again!

Let's wait eagerly for tomorrow's episode

Battle of Social Climbers

Tonite's drama on the popular soap opera la hija del jardinero, found in Snippets 97 took a humorous turn when Heribeto Sotomayor and Orlando, the fiance of Vanessa engaged in a war of words.

While freely accusing his daughter's fiance, Orlando, of being a social climber and a good-for-nothing bum, the young chap hit back at him, saying that he heard from Don Fernando that he (Heriberto), too married his wife, Consuelo, for her her father's money!

This led to almost a fist fight between the two. Orlando defended his current rise and stardom in the Alcantara's kingdom. He said that though, he may be a 'Mr. nobody', but he loved his fiancee, Vanessa and for ever, and unlike him (Heriberto), who never loved his wife, but married her for what he could get from the Alcantara fortune.

Predictably, Xochil returned back, this time, not just into Alfredo's flat as a pretentious housemaid, but into his life, as a self-confessed lover, helper and of course, a bolder rival of L. F.

It's a pity that Alfredo was blinded by his lust for L.F, and consumed by his jealousy and Tom & Jerry rivalry, with Carlos Eduardo to appreciate this 'flower' begging to be 'plucked' in his house.

While Xochil saw the suspended wedding of Alfredo to L.F as a 'miracle', Alfredo was mourning and called it a 'disgrace and tragedy'. Xochil took her luggage back into the room without waiting for Alfredo's permission. From now on, a fierce rivalry battle would break out between an emboldened Xochil and L.F.

Another side attraction which was not in Snippets 97 is the melodramatic 'lecture' given to Armando by his roguish father, Luis Alejandro Montero. This con star 'lectured' his apprentice son in the delicate art of trickery, and why he should never love any woman or be weak on bed with them. He taught him never to love with is heart but with his head, and also, how to play with gullible women's emotion and feelings, so he could always twist them in his little fingers like toys, as he was currently doing with "Mrs. foolish" Marissa Gomez.

I felt so nauseated as a woman to hear what this emotional hitch-hiker said and did with all the five or six women (Amelia, Consuelo, Elvira Perreira, Andreina, Marissa and what he was planning for Xochil), in his life in this telenovela. Thank God it was a novela, but it is close to societal reality of nowadays.

Jinxed Weddings

With the second abortion of Jennifer's wedding to Carlos, it is now too clear that she was racing against fate. A race that she could not win. She was not alone in that race, Alfredo Anzola was her team mate in the race against destiny.

The spillover of Snippet 96 just like before, contains these facts. What was not reflected there was the Xochil drama, where she openly confessed her undying love for Alfredo and why she was always saddened that he was blind to realize that she was the one who truly loved him, and not Luisa Fernanda. She packed her luggage and left. If she truly left for good would be seen tomorrow. Would the conjecture of circumstances brought her back into Alfredo's life.

It's Alfredo's turn to suffer the crushing blow of fate. The next two days would show that his wedding fixed to outwit any obstacle to marriage with L. F, was also jinxed as LF would learn that he had suffered a terrible accident in which he lost the use of his leg for a season.

Camila-mania!

Born 32 years ago in Caracas, Venezuela, Scarlet Ortiz, alias "Camila Montes de Alba", as we know her, caught my fancy this Sunday and I decided to go 'camilamania' by posting some of her angelic looks on our blog here. She was the rave among telenovela fans last week in her "Todo Sobre Camila" All About Camila being shown on MITV 10 p.m Mondays to Fridays, and 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Fortune cable TV airs it 8:30p.m every day, seven days of the week.

She played the role of the 'cat with nine lives' surviving the deadliest yet attack of her mortal enemies in a prison inferno. Now, she has become a fugitive again, on the run, not necessarily from the law, but from the 'badman' Eduardo Bonfil.

Redemption of her integrity and name seems like an uphill task, but let us keep our fingers crossed and watch how she would 'wangle' her way through the intricate web of intrigues, lies and character defamation that her enemies are currently weaving around her.

She has to her credits some 10 novelas which are earth-shaking: Nubeluz (1990), Llovizna (1996), Niña Mimada (1998), Luisa Fernanda (1999), Mis Tres Hermanas (My Three Sisters) (2000), Yo Soy Betty, la Fea (I Am Betty, the Ugly) (2000), Secreto de Amor (Secret Love) (2001), Todo Sobre Camila(All About Camila) (2002), Todos Quieren con Marilyn (All Want Marilyn) (2004), where she played the prostitute ... and, her latest, Mi vida eres tu/La voz del amor (My life and yours/ the voice of love) (2006).

Looking over many of many of the ten novelas of Scarlet Ortiz shows that, at least, 4 (four) were stupendously good and popularly acclaimed world wide. It would have been good if our entertainment merchants focus on getting such best of any actors/actress w, down here for us, instead of the low quality and low budget novelas which they are currently and indiscriminately 'pumping' through many TV stations now.

It is time that our entertainment merchants in Nigeria wake up, and go for good quality and trully entertaining novela instead of the hogwash bandwagon that many tv stations are now showing. The fact that the novela bug had bitten the home entertainment industry in the last two years does not mean that every soap opera with the traditional label of "TELENOVELA" is good for our consumption. Many of this latest entrants are weather-beaten dung, re-packaged by unscrupulous opportunists in collusion with gullible TV stations, to serve an unwary but enthusiastic Nigerian audience.

Some of our local nollywood productions that we have had cause to complain about in the recent past, have become far better in comparison to the flood of cheap telenovelas that some of these merchants are peddling in the market now. If care is not taken, the activities of these 'cheaper-is-better' telenovela merchants would soon devalue the novela entertainment in the country.

Another downside of the current novela buzz is that of timing. These novela zealots forget that many of our tv stations serving 140 million Nigerians are local and not national. They all cramp themselves into the Lagos axis, and also cramp into the the same prime time, for the same audience, thereby diminishing the entertainment value for the home audience. For example, La Revancha (The Revenge) (2003) has truly started on STV, but ask me when? 9:00 p.m same time as la hija del jadinero on AIT! It ain't easy for many novela fans to choose between the novela clash between Silverbird TV and AIT in the new supremacy battle for airtime, triggered by the 'telenovela revolution'. We expect much sanity and mutual compromise among these conflicting interest so that we can maximize our entertainment value.

Prisoners of Love

The scenario painted by TGD episode 95 which can be found partly in Snippet 95/96A. Carlos and L.F remain prisoners of love, locked up by their scheming emotional prison warders- Jennifer de la Vega and Alfredo Anzola.

Alfredo too was alarmed and paranoid to learn that L.F visited Carlos for the second time in prison. He demanded immediate marriage with L.F and persuaded a reluctant L.F. to fix the meeting for the next day.

She conceded to his request. Joaquina noticed that L.F was in sorrow because of that decision but she denied, saying she was happy. She wept sorrowfully after Joaquina left.

Carol heard the most shocking story of her life when, her fiance Armando, confessed to her that he was on the verge of being imprisoned, because of the many shady and fraudulent deals L.A inspired him to execute while he was the bank's president. He told her that, neither him nor his father would escape been jailed if the truth contained in those bank documents were found out.

Don Fernando Alcantara, now with gradual recovery of his memory, began to ask Vanessa who the mother of Luicito was. Vanessa told Don the story of how L.F and her mother had a tragic auto accident which killed the mother. Just as she was about to mention Amelia's name, Consuela deliberately interrupted the flow, and announced that there was a great fight between Roberto Sotomayor, her husband and Vanessa's fiance, Orlando, at the steel factory, that needed Vanessa to escort her there.

Detective Solozarno visited his boss, L.A, to let him know that Carlos had just been released from prison.

Carlos was released from prison and Jennifer declared to Rosario and Clarita whom she had earlier accused of conspiring to abort her wedding, that her first priority after Carlos was released would be to finish the uncompleted weedding that was aborted by them.

Out-witched!

Yesterday was drama and humour for lovers of the telenovela, la hija del jardinero. Jennifer suffered a terrible disgrace that even she, could not comprehend. Her aborted wedding to Carlos was a great mystery which she could not unravel. It was humor for me to see a 'witch' like her bewitched, and she acknowledged it. She told Marissa that the seeming coincidences of circumstances that conspired against her to terminate her elaborate wedding ceremony was WITCHCRAFT par excellence.

The Snippet 94 has the details of this drama of divine intervention. Another thing which I noted was the fact that all the people close to them were either consciously or unconsciously working to separate Alfredo and L.F. Victor who is Daniel's younger brother and should naturally have been on the side of his brother's friend Alfredo, was even encouraging Xochil to tear apart Alfredo from L.F.

Rosario and Clarita apologized to L.F and confessed that they did invite her on purpose hoping that Carlos would cancel his wedding when he sees her on his wedding day. Even, Don Fernando, Rigoberto,Vanessa and her fiance, Orlando, all agreed that it was a blessing in disguise.

Consuelo dribbled Rigo yesterday when she simply told Don that all she wanted to do was to apologize to him for her sending him to an asylum. The old man suspected that she was hiding a secret and was not just about a simple apology over asylum.That means that she still has a lot to dispense from her bag of tricks.

La Heredera 1: Destinies Under Attack

Don Julian Madero is undoubtedly the most controversial and influential figure in the economic and political landscape of Mexico. A resentful and heated argument provoked by his mafioso son, and heir-apparent, Lauro Madero, during the Annual General Meeting of the shareholders of the Madero Group of Companies, triggered a cardiac arrest in him, that sent the Mexican stock exchange into a crash, when the news of his heart attack filtered to the press.

[Always refer to the Profile Page to be able to reconcile the principal characters whose names are being mentioned here].

Meanwhile, Salomon and Aranza, the hatchet man and woman in the executive wing of Lauro's mafioso organization were caught in a crossfire, as they were taking delivery of illegal arms, smuggled into Mexico through the border River Papaloapan. They were intercepted by a crack team of detectives from the drug law and enforcement department, based on tip off, and led by female detective Kauris. Aranza managed to escape with many bullet wounds, many of her crooked aides were killed and others on danger list were rushed to the hospital.

Gabriela, Don Julian's faithful wife and mother of his four children was informed by Brenda (Angela Fuste), her private secretary, about the cardiac arrest. The other three children, María Claudia, Octavio and Lorena were promptly informed about the news of their father's heart-attack. They were summoned back to Mexico to be by their father's bedside, to support him with their presence and solidarity.

Lorenna, who handles the chain of boutiques and fashion department instructed Don Ángel to hire a pilot to fly their father's jet plane to to go to Austin, Texas, to bring María Claudia back to Mexico. Antonio (Sergio Basanez), was contracted to fly the plane.

But Lauro was furious because he and his men had sabotaged the jet plane so that his father would die by air crash at his next flight. He didn't want his sister to meet with his planned fate for his father, but he didn't want to expose himself by betraying his emotions or wicked plot. He had so sabotaged the jet that it has become a 'flying coffin', waiting to swallow it's next occupants in mid air anytime it takes off.

Dr. Álvaro, the family doctor and his team of medical experts were able to save Don Julián Madero from sudden death, albeit temporarily.

Gabriela had already told her two children, Lorena and Octavio, that Lauro was to blame for his father's cardiac arrest, because he triggered it with is heated argument with the old man. Octavio warned his brother Lauro, that he would not be absolved of guilt, if the old man should die.

Aranza, on hearing the news about Julián's heart attack, sent words to her mafioso boss that the operation was aborted and that, she had to go 'underground' until the heat is off. Meanwhile, detective Kauris was sad about the news of Julián's tragedy, because she believed that the old man was behind the illegal drug and gun running in the underworld in Mexico. She vowed to catch up with her, because she (Kauris), knew of a fact that Aranza had a son, by whom she could be traced.

María Claudia (Sylvia Navarro) boarded the jet plane which Antonio was patiently waiting to fly to Mexico from the U. S. After formal introduction of pilot Antonio to María Claudia by Luis, the flight attendant, the plane took off the airport.

An urgent and high-risk surgery was necessary to take Don Julián out of the perimeter of cardiac danger. His wife, Gabriela assured him that he would come out fine and that his daughter is already on flight back home and that Lauro has taken effective control of all his business interests and should not worry again. Lauro too approached his father and told him that though he(Julián) hated him, but he wished him a safe surgery led by Dr. Álvaro and his team.

The news of Don Julián's attack spread like wildfire during harmarttan. Some were sad because they see him as a good man, while some were happy because they consider him to be a bad man whose source of enormous wealth was shrouded in mystery and envy.

Dulce was happy and told her younger son, Dionisio, that she prayed that Julián would die because of the unending rivalry between the two richest families in Mexico, which had led to a lot of financial wounds that refused to heal over decades. Santiago, the first son of Dulce was indifferent about the news of Julián health.

As the jet gained altitude, Antonio chatted with María Claudia telling her of his life passion for flying. He also tried to comfort her over the attack which her father just suffered. Suddenly, the jet developed mechanical fault in mid-air and they lost contact with the control tower. Antonio had to begin to expertly maneuver the plane , looking for where to crash land safely, because the plane had disappeared from the radar.

Thumbs Up For the Maids! Episode 93

The battles of destiny is reaching fever pitch and are being fought in the dirty trenches now. Yesterday's epic battle of the Gardener's Daughter episode 93 found in Snippet 93 was the toast and icing on the cake of the maids, Clarita and Nana Rosario who plotted and succeeded in aborting the 'arrangee' marriage of Carlos to Jennifer de la Liar.'

All is fair in warfare, so goes a popular saying, these two righteous maids deployed dirty tricks of cunning lies, in order to abruptly terminate the grand shame called wedding, between CE and Jenny.

If I call Marissa the biggest fool of this la hija del jardinero novela it is not too much. She and Pedro Perez were good persons but thanks to their follies, this novela was prolonged, causing aches and pains that neither phensic nor panadol or any emotional aspirin could cure.

The 'Baddest' Guy on Telenovela

Coming soon! - we all know him, so it seems. The meanest and 'baddest' guy in "Todo sobre Camila" 'All About Camila'- 39 year old Peruvian, Bernie Paz, alias Eduardo Bonfil makes my hairs on my neck to stand straight, anytime he spins his traditional wickedness.

The table turned against him in yesterday's episode. Camilla survived and escaped his plot to murder her and her infant child in the prison, when his agents caused a prison riot and started a fire that killed 18 innocent souls in the prison.

Let me keep my fingers on my chest awaiting the outcome of research into this 110 episode telenovela. As soon as it lands in our hands, I would let you know and it shall be one of our 20 best for this year.

Later today, you can check for 10 episodes each La Heredera 'The Heiress' and Amor sin Condiciones 'Love Without Conditions(LWC).

Episode 92: Ab'Eleja Yan

Yesterday's episode of the gardener's daughter found in Snippet 92 is typical of what the Yorubas call Abelejayan, meaning a zealous person who goes into roasting a fish without the owner's consent and who at the end of all his labours was not rewarded nor acknowledged.

This is the exact and inglorious role of lover boy, Dr. Alfredo Anzola. Seeing Luisa Fernanda and Carlos Eduardo kissing yesternite, completely negates the fantasy of Alfredo, that he had a fiancee in L.F, who would soon marry him. Carlos "claimed" L.F saying: " ... You Are Mine". That was the conclusive proof that Alfredo is not the owner of the fish he has been roasting for the past two years. Alfredo had "fathered" little Pedro and yet, was not acknowledged nor appreciated by the true father- Carlos Eduardo.

de la Vega also belong to this class. She abandoned her career and profession for over two years to travel to Baltimore to 'roast' the Carlos 'fish' that does not belong to her, it was amusement for me to see that 'big fish' slipping through her greedy fingers, as Carlos and L.F exposed her tricks.

Intermission: The Gardener's Daughter

Yesternight, the gardener's daughter telenovela, la hija del jardinero, resumed with episode 91, after crossing the half mark last Tuesday, in its 180 episode serial. This Mexican soap opera is getting more popular with TV and home entertainment fans. There has been a fresh influx of new fans to our telenovela blog here in the last three weeks, reflecting this fact.

To aid many of these new, and even some old fans, I would be pointing attention daily, via linkage to the corresponding SNIPPET. For example, if you watch episode 91 yesterday, I would link you with the SNIPPET 91 today. I have already completed snippets la hija del jardinero up to the Grand Finale Episode 180, so, this is the best navigational aid I could provide. We have too many novela stories on our hands, waiting to be posted than to go back to start posting TGD Episode summaries afresh.

For those wanting to read the The Gardener's Daughter on this blog from the beginning to the end, what I always advice is read the The Episode Summaries from 1 to 68 and continue therein from SNIPPET 69 to Grand Finale SNIPPET 180 By these, you can follow the thread without being broken.

Back From the Starcomms Dungeon

Pretend as if you stumble, and observe to see if anyone would show concern. This is an apt Yoruba proverb, that portrayed my circumstances in the last 8 days when the ineptitude of my ISP (Internet Service Provider) Starcomms(dot)com ambushed my promises at the gate of this new year 2007.

The last time I had problem with their services was August to October 2005, some 17 months ago! I had no problem with their services throughout last year, 2006. I was advised on phone (Dialled *121) by their customer's service department (Which I now call Customer's deception department), on phone to pay through GTB bank for renewal of my monthly subscription, which I promptly did.

They went into deep slumber immediately afterwards. All my travails and efforts to get Starcomms to reconnect me proved abortive. I lost count of the official and contradictory lies given me by the many staff at the customer's (deception) desk.

I almost lost my account with Google AdSense because Starcomms forced me, out of desperation, to access both my Blogger and Adsense accounts at a public cybercafe. Google wrote me a warning letter, because of that inconsistent pattern triggered by starcomms ineptitude.

It is rare to receive a warning letter from Google, what she does is to ban any client that was suspected to be engaged in invalid clicks practice. My telenovela blog- The Gardener's Daughter (la Hija del Jardinero), is a very popular one in Nigeria. It is not impossible that some customers at the public cybercafe may be reading my snippets and episode summaries at the same time as I was accessing my accounts at the cybercafe.

Nigeria is notorious on the world wide web as the home of internet scammers and unethical web practices. That bad accolade, due to the few 'bad eggs' amongst us can cause incalculable damage to the honest web entrepreneurs among us. Starcomms did not help matters by her lack lustre services.

I was amazed about the unbelievable volume of mails and commentaries showing concern for my absence from the web for 8 days by my fans and supporters, not only from Nigeria, but also from all over the world. I appreciate your love and concern. I pray and hope we have gotten over this mental somersault by Starcomms for good. Cherish from Texas, Prof EAO, from B.U.K Kano, Nigeria, and all our numerous friends, too many to exhaust your names and individually reply your mails of concern. I thank you all.

I have started working towards changing ISP as I am already considering the offer of my dear friend and fellow 'gardener', Philip from Excite(dot)com. Multilinks(dot)com is no better because, our dear colleague Seun Osewa from Nairaland Forum did not spare them of his acidic tongue due to their poor services too.

I welcome all old and new members back on board and to the fulfilment of our 20-fold telenovela 'prophecy' for this year 2007. ...Let's begin the flight!

Grand Finale: Triumph of True Love

With the emotional surrender of Alvaro, the way was paved for Esmeralda to proceed to Casa Grande, and to straighten all crookedness that have been created by enemies of her union with Jose Armando.

On the supposed wedding day, blind Jose Armando went to sit by his favorite spot, by the waterfalls beside the cave. He went to 'mourn' the final departure, as he assumed that Esmeralda would, at that moment be signing the dotted lines to become Mrs. Alvaro.

Nobody told him that Esmeralda's wedding to Alvaro had been canceled, nor told him that Esmeralda had just arrived in the village that same day.

Suddenly, he heard a soft footstep coming towards him. As the person sat beside him, he imagined that it was his best companion, Melesio. So, he called out, as the person was putting fresh flowers into his hands, saying: "Melesio, why are you giving me flowers today?"

"Please, decorate my hair with these flowers, like you usually do to me here, when I was blind", came the response.

It was an electrifying moment for Jose Armando, as he recognized the distinct and musical voice of his heartthrob, ESMERALDA. He was astonished, he cleared his throat with unbelief, thinking, it must have been hallucination.

She held his hand and guided it to touch her face, then he knew it was for real. He asked her what she was doing in the village on the day of her wedding to Alvaro. She replied that it was impossible to live without true love. She told him that he was the only man her heart had ever opened to receive, there was no space for any other man, not even Alvaro, in her heart. She declared her unquenchable love for him. Tears streamed down the eyes of this couple as they recounted and relieved their past trials and temptations.

She led him back later in the evening to Casa Grande. Everybody were filled with joy to see them reunited. As he entered the house, he asked for his son, little Jose Rodolfo, she brought the little and handsome boy to him, the three of them began to laugh with joy, ... then, ...suddenly, his eyes popped open and he regained his vision.

Few days later, they consummated their holy matrimony in church. Esmeralda was resplendent in her emerald earrings and her white wedding gown, while Armando was decked and arrayed in a white suit, they were joined as husband and wife and the union was sealed with a holy and romantic kiss, at the altar, in the presence of all eyes as witnesses.

Their dream of several years became fulfilled.

Esmeralda 58: Goodbye, little one

The die is cast, 24 hours to the wedding of Esmeralda and Alvaro, she seems determined to go ahead with this sacrificial marriage, not for love's sake but for awesome gratitude to Alvaro. She told all the love crusaders around her that, gratitude to Alvaro must take precedence over her undying love for Jose Armando.

Alvaro too came to a painful but honorable decision to release his 'captive-lover' from the prison of gratitude and let her her go free. He realized that what Esmeralda felt for him was sheer gratitude for the three major things he did in her life, viz:

1. surgical operation that opened her eyes;
2. scholarship assistance he gave her to study nursing;
3. offering her a job at the hospital, to earn a living.

He rose up with agony of heart and went to visit Esmeralda. it was an emotion-laden meeting. He held little Jose Rodolfo tight to himself and gave him a goodbye kiss, saying goodbye little one. Esmeralda was confused and asked him what he meant by saying goodbye to her son. He looked up and said: " ... there shall be no wedding tomorrow, it is canceled ... ".

Esmeralda was shell-shocked by this statement. He explained further to her that, he found out too late that she would never love him as much as she loved and still loves Jose Armando.

After her initial recovery from shock, Esmeralda rejected his explanation and told him that he was an ideal husband for her, because he had always cared for her, and has been a honest person throughout their relationship. At that point, Alvaro confessed to her that it was not true, and that he had not been entirely honest in his dealings with her.

He told her how, out of the fear of losing her, he hid all the information of the good deeds and efforts of Jose Armando, who wanted to help her when Lucio kidnapped her son, but he (Alvaro), prevented him, and did not disclose the efforts to her, because he feared that she would go back to Armando, if she knew the man still loved her to the point of readiness to sacrificially defend her.

Esmeralda broke into fresh tears upon learning of these long-held secrets of affection towards her by Jose Armando. He reassured her that it was him that was leaving her, and not she abandoning him. He told her that he realized that nothing could quench the fiery love that rages between Armando and her. He told her that instead of feeling guilty, she should always be happy for him for helping to open her eyes, because he too would always be happy for that noble act.

He walked quietly away from her ...

Esmeralda 57: Because I Love Armando!

Jose Armando went into jealous rage when he was told by Rodolfo that Alvaro is around to see him. Rodolfo assured him that Alvaro came as a specialist to examine his condition and determine if he could regain his sight.

After medically examining Armando, Alvaro revealed that the state of depression in which Armando was going through currently, has worsened his sight. He concluded that Armando needed either an urgent ventilation of refreshing joy which would make him to regain his sight or immediate surgical operation, otherwise he would go blind permanently.

Nobody is left in doubt as to the real cause of Armando's depression and the solution that can bring the so-called 'ventilation of refreshing joy'. The fingers of this medical examination points to ESMERALDA!

Armando being a medical doctor himself testily replied that he already knew the diagnosis. At that point, Alvaro got angry, he lambasted Armando and accused him of exaggerating his state, in order to obtain pity of Esmeralda and thereby abort his own wedding. Armando hotly denied the accusation, saying that if he wanted to disrupt their wedding, he would have stayed back in Mexico city,, and not have come back to the village in Casa Grande, to avoid confrontation.

Just before their hot exchanges degenerated into a brawl, Rodolfo and Blanca intervened to separate them and calm down tension. Rodolfo blamed Alvaro for taking his rivalry with Armando to ridiculous extent, of wanting to disrupt his (Alvaro's) wedding to Esmeralda.

Esmeralda was devastated to learn from Alvaro about the danger of permanent blindness facing Jose Armando. Alvaro for once summoned courage to tell her the blunt truth saying: " ... the only drug that can cure Jose Armando is You! ... " This made her to be bewildered because she lacked courage to approach Armando, having spurned and rejected him recently.

Other well wishers led by a crusading Dominga and Florecita, told and advised Esmeralda to cancel her impending church wedding with Alvaro, because she would be a sad victim and hostage in a marriage where her true heart beats cannot be found.

Melesio had the traditional job of always leading blind Armando around the village to the side of the waterfall, just like he did for Esmeralda. Melesio became his best friend and companion, just like in the case of Esmeralda in the past.

While Jose Armando languished in self-pity and sorrow in the village, bemoaning the loss of Esmeralda's love, Esmeralda too was weeping all days in the city, as she prepared for her unhappy wedding to Alvaro. Then, two days before the wedding, Alvaro caught Esmeralda inside a sea of sorrowful tears. He felt guilty because it was obvious that Esmeralda was not in love with him, but with Armando. He knew that he had lost the love battle.

When later Dominga challenged her to ask her the reasons for her tears, she confirmed to Dominga saying: " ... because I love Jose Armando! ... ".

Esmeralda 56: Two Weddings, Two Outcomes

Jose Armando regretfully returned back to Casa Grande, having lost the opportunity to win back the love of Esmeralda, he went into a sad seclusion and refused to talk with anybody. He did not want to disrupt Esmeralda's wedding plans, and he assumed that Esmeralda would find happiness with Alvaro, so, he steered clear of Mexico city, as he did not want his hanging around to remind him of his sad loss of Esmeralda's love.

Medical doctor Alvaro went on with speed, to organize his wedding ceremony to nurse Esmeralda. Coincidentally, Esmeralda's wedding day was the same as that of Adrian Lucero, with another lady (Aurora - pix above right), whom he loved dearly, after Fatima aborted his love affairs with Graciela, whom she had 'traded' off in marriage to another rich man in Mexico city. A man whom Graciela did not love.

Adrian begged and invited Jose Armando to attend his wedding in Mexico city. Jose Armando reluctantly agreed and came for the wedding. While at the church for Adrian's wedding, he got news that Esmeralda would be marrying at the same time, in another part of Mexico. He could not bear the memory of his only beloved, getting married to his best friend, while he, sitting helplessly as a spectator in another man's wedding ceremony. He rushed out in anger and disillusionment. He climbed his horse and furiously headed for his home in Mexico, to mourn.

In his reckless fury, while riding the horse, he had an accident, a head-on collision with a judge riding a car. He had severe concussion and lost consciousness, he was rushed by a good Samaritan who found him, to the hospital to save his life. The good Samaritan contacted the Peñarreal family in Casa Grande, to break the sad news to them.

Bad news spread like wild-fire, Esmeralda, who was waiting at the civil registry impatiently for the arrival of Alvaro to legally consummate their marriage, received the news of Jose Armando's tragic accident with shock and was instantly depressed. By the time Alvaro arrived, he received a phone call, that the judge also had a fatal accident on his way to the court marriage and had been hospitalized.

That was a big relief for Esmeralda, and she advised Alvaro not to desperately seek for another judge to join them, but rather call off the civil wedding. She assured him that they should work towards the success of the church wedding in a week's time.

Rodolfo rushed to the hospital to see Armando. By the time Jose Armando came out of coma, everything around him was thick darkness, he had lost the use of his eyes and gone blind. This new reality, was crushing for him. To be blind just like Esmeralda was in the past, was too much a burden for Jose Armando. He assumed that it was God that was punishing him for abandoning and divorcing blind Esmeralda, when he doubted the paternity over her pregnancy.

Esmeralda broke down and wept profusely, when she learnt that Jose Armando had gone blind as a result of the accident. Alvaro was troubled by her depression, and was not sure if she would still go ahead with their plans for church wedding next week.

After Armando was discharged, he was led to Casa Grande and was medically advised to consult with an Ophthalmologist to determine if he could gain his sight back, but he refused, willing to serve 'his punishment' to the end.

When Dominga and everybody around Esmeralda saw how she was grieving for Jose Armando, they advised her to discontinue her wedding plans with Alvaro, since she still loved and treasured Jose Armando. They even advised her to visit Armando in Casa Grande with her son Jose Rodolfo, par chance, her visit would bring succor and healing to Armando.

She told them that it would bring rather pain to Armando because she had rejected him. She even told them that her rejection of him is what drove him with rage into that unfortunate accident. She however pleaded to a reluctant Alvaro, being a specialist ophthalmologist, to go felicitate with and examine Armando's eyes, if he would see again.

Esmeralda 51-55: The Haunting Truth

The truth does not torment but it stubbornly haunts both the wicked and the ignorant. Lucio Malver sold all his properties in the village and headed for Mexico city. He used the money realized from the sale of his properties to pay for the plastic surgery of his disfigured face. He was ashamed to face Esmeralda with an ugly face.

Ironically, it was Jose Armando, being one of the best dermatologists in the hospital, who headed the plastic surgery team that operated on Lucio. After the successful surgery, Lucio went to visit Esmeralda demanding custody of his "son" and also asked her to marry him. Esmeralda tongue-lashed him and told him to leave her in peace and that she would never give up custody of her child to him.

Beautiful Georgina pleaded with Rodolfo to influence Jose Armando to marry her immediately, but Rodolfo was not persuaded, he had done enough harm to his daughter, Esmeralda, to further cause her more sorrow. He was characteristically blunt with Georgina, telling her that the only joy of Jose Armando would be to re-marry Esmeralda. She threatened that she would make her father to sack Esmeralda from the hospital, if Jose Armando would not marry her immediately.

Georgina knew this as a haunting truth because Jose Armando still lounged for, and loved Esmeralda, therefore she conspired with Lucio, telling him to kidnap 'his son' in order to force Esmeralda to marry him. Lucio confessed to Georgina that the boy was not his son, and that he had invented the lies about his paternity, hoping that his lies would separate Esmeralda from Jose Armando. He told Georgina that the boy was truly the biological son of her fiance, Jose Armando.

Georgina was shocked by this revelation, but insisted that Lucio must go on as planned by kidnapping the boy. Lucio carried out the dastardly act of kidnapping little José Rodolfo. This caused much anguish for Esmeralda, and nobody seems to know how to help her resolve the dilemma.

José Armando went to talk to his 'friend' and rival, Alvaro. He told Alvaro that he did not want Esmeralda to suffer any pain as a result of Lucio's wicked acts. He suggested that if he registered the little José Rodolfo as his son, and obtain a birth certificate for him, he could file a suit in court to strip Lucio of any custody of the little boy. Alvaro objected to José Armando's suggestion because he was insecured and afraid that, if Esmeralda knows about this suggestion, she would melt and become fond of José Armando again.

When Alvaro refused his offer, José Armando said he would go and threaten Lucio that he would make his life impossible, if he should cause sorrow for Esmeralda. Dr. Alvaro, just like Dr. Alfredo of the gardener's daughter telenovela, was in perpetual fear of losing Esmeralda, so, he hid all this offer of assistance and defense by José Armando, from the knowledge of his fiancee, Esmeralda.

In the middle of arguments between Lucio and José Armando, Malaver suffered a fresh round of cardiac arrest, and this time, he did not survive it. While on his death bed, this wicked man confessed to José Armando that, little José Rodolfo was truly his son and that he (Lucio), never sexually abused Esmeralda.

He recounted how he made Esmeralda to touch his scarred face, to show her what he had suffered for her sake, and how Esmeralda fainted as a consequence of the shock from that touch. He swore that he never touched her on that fateful night. He also revealed that it was his fiancee, Georgina, who inspired the kidnap of the little boy to clear the coast of her romantic territory, in order to marry José Armando.

On the score of this truth, José Armando broke up his engagement with Georgina. He tongue-lashed her for emotionally manipulating him and scheming to kidnap his son. He also went back to plead for forgiveness by Esmeralda.

In the similitude of stubbornness of Luisa Fernanda in the gardener's daughter soap opera, Esmeralda refused to forgive José Armando, no matter what he did to appease her, even though she still secretly harbored a great and undying love for him. She would not listen to Dominga's advise to forgive him. She banished him from coming to visit her. Having lost all hope of restoring relationship with Esmeralda, José Armando headed back for the village to spent the rest of his life in Casa Grande.

Esmeralda 46-50: Enter, Alvaro and Georgina

Blanca was able to finally locate Esmeralda in an Orphanage in the city. Esmeralda resisted the pleadings of her mom to return with her to Casa Grande. She told her that if she had survived without them (Blanca and Rodolfo), for 23 years, she could as well live her life without their financial arrogance and animosities.

Rodolfo was worried by the attitude of his daughter, Esmeralda. He felt threatened that Esmeralda was of the verge of disowning him as a father, since she did not want to ever associate or live with them.

Meanwhile, Fátima went to inquire from the Civil Registry. She cunningly asked for ways of annulling Esmeralda's marriage to José Armando. She got help and was told it is possible at a price.

José Armando committed a fatal mistake of his life when, he allowed himself to be persuaded by the family lawyer to divorce Esmeralda. He was initially reluctant because he still loved Esmeralda, but because of his doubts about Esmeralda's pregnancy, he proceeded with the divorce.

Esmeralda later met Dr. Alvaro in the city, and a friendship blossomed between them. Alvaro was the Ophthalmologist friend of José Armando, who tested and confirmed that Esmeralda could regain her sight.

Alvaro was secretly happy that she and José Armando are divorced, because he had fallen in love with her. Alvaro took charge to care for her and went to great extent to help her in carrying out surgery which restored her sight. Now she could see the beauty that Fermin and Melesio had always described to her.

Alvaro also made sure that she learnt to read and write. Afterwards Esmeralda gave birth to a bouncing baby boy, (which she named José Rodolfo, after her divorced husband José Armando, and her estranged father, Rodolfo). She wrote a letter to Florecita, her friend in the village, to announce her joy of motherhood.

Rodolfo went to the city to visit Esmeralda. He confessed to his lawyer that Esmeralda was his biological and only child. He begged Esmeralda to give out the 'bastard' child for adoption by the Catholic Orphanage, so that she can return with him back to Casa Grande to start a new life, devoid of the shame of the past.

Lucio suspected that Florecita had the address of Esmeralda at the city, he was so frustrated that he had to threaten Florecita to tell him the address, or he would injure her. To his dismay, Florecita told him that she did not know where Esmeralda lived in Mexico.

Alvaro made sure she enrolled to study and qualified as an auxiliary nurse in the big hospital where he worked as a doctor. After several years, she developed a gratuitous affection for Dr. Alvaro. The kind that Luisa Fernanda had for Dr. Alfredo, in the Gardener's Daughter telenovela.

In the same space of time, José Armando had come to the city and got employment as a medical doctor in the same hospital where Esmeralda worked as a nurse.

The daughter of the Medical Director of that hospital, fell in love with José Armando and got engaged to him. Her name was Georgina. When she learnt that Esmeralda was a former wife and lover of José Armando, she became a persecutor and implacable enemy of Esmeralda, scheming and spinning wickedness against Esmeralda, just like Jennifer de la Vega, of the Gardener's daughter fame.

Even though Esmeralda had not forgiven José Armando, the old flame between them was about being re-ignited one night in the hospital, as they drew closer and kissed. This budding romance was aborted when Esmeralda learnt of the engagement of Georgina and José Armando.

Driven by fury, Esmeralda went and also to say yes to Alvaro's love proposition, and got engaged to him. Ironically, José Armando became outrageously jealous when he learnt of Esmeralda's engagement to Alvaro.

Esmeralda 39-45: Doubted Paternity

Esmeralda was terrified by the announcement and confirmation of her pregnancy. She strongly suspected Lucio, who had sexually abused her about 3 days earlier, to be responsible, so she became cold and unenthusiastic towards José Armando.

José Armando was confused that Esmeralda did not share his joy about the pregnancy, and was acting strange by avoiding any contact with him. Rodolfo was about to scold Esmeralda for acting cold towards José Armando, when she told him that the reason for her action was because she was unsure who was responsible for the pregnancy between Lucio and José Armando.

Rodolfo had to propose an annulment of marriage to José Armando because of the possible scandal of doubted paternity between Lucio and José Armando when the news blow open. Armando did not know what was going on, he was happy that Esmeralda would soon become a mother of his son.

Fátima continued in her evil plans by seeking to know if Esmeralda's marriage to José Armando could be annulled by making Esmeralda to be expelled from the house on the excuse that she abandoned her husband.

Fátima visited Lucio to hatch her evil plans against Esmeralda. Dominga was furious to learn of the the suspected sexual abuse of Esmeralda by Lucio. Fermín also advised her to tell José Armando about her suspicion when Rodolfo drove her as a prey into the hands of Lucio. Rodolfo deeply regretted his action of driving his own daughter into the hands of a wicked man who was now being suspected to have impregnated her.

When José Armando went to question Lucio on what transpired when Esmeralda slept the night in his house, Lucio suffered a heart-attack and would have died but for the noble act of José Arming medically attended to him and saved his life. Due to this factor, José Armando did not have the time to find out the truth from him.

Esmeralda visited Lucio who was seriously ill, to ask him to tell her the truth of what happened on the night that he held her captive in his house. Lucio lied to her by telling her that he was responsible for her pregnancy, and that she was carrying his son. Esmeralda was devastated by this disclosure.

José Armando was disappointed when Esmeralda told him that Lucio was responsible for her pregnancy. He vows never to forgive Esmeralda for being unfaithful to him. He visited Lucio again, who, this time, confirmed to him that Esmeralda was carrying his baby.

Fátima, for the umpteenth time caught Graciela and Adrián in a romantic session, and this time, she made a huge scandal out of it, with the hope that Rodolfo would send Adrián out of the house. This did not happened. It rather opened the eyes of Rodolfo, to know that Adrián and Graciela were lovers, and that Fátima was scheming for Graciela to marry José Armando for pecuniary interests.

The cloud of hatred and doubt over her pregnancy was so thick in Casa Grande that Esmeralda had to take Dominga, and both left Casa Grande for Mexico City, because José Armando did not forgive her.

Blanca was anguished because of the departure of her only child, Esmeralda, from Casa Grande. She accused Rodolfo and José Armando for being the architect of her sorrow, due to their cruelty towards Esmeralda. She insisted that both men must go to Mexico city to seek out her daughter, and also bring her back to Casa Grande.

In the city Esmeralda went with Dominga to live in the home for the poor, which the Catholic Church manages. Esmeralda was hospitalized and given a bed-rest to save her from stress and prevent a miscarriage. When she woke up on her hospital bed, she requested from her guardian, Sister Piedad, to help her find a job.

Esmeralda was resentful and believed that José Armando never really loved her. Fátima reassured Graciela that she would scheme to make José Armando annul his marriage to Esmeralda, so that Graciela would now marry him. Unfortunately for her, she and her daughter were the only ones in Casa Grande, who did not yet know that Esmeralda, and not José Armando, was the true heiress and child of Rodolfo.

While Rodolfo employed detectives to search the whole Mexico city for his daughter, Fátima already discovered that they were holed up in the Home for the poor, but she hid up this information from the knowledge of Blanca and Rodolfo.

Meanwhile, Lucio was frustrated and helpless because he too did not know where esmeralda and dominga disappeared to.