After Coronel returned from California, one day of 1930 he saw Maria for the first time. She was in Granada building a boat on the lake coast. Then 22, she was —as usual— wearing pants, a white blouse and a straw hat; smoking and walking on the logs selecting lumber for her new ship. He asked who the “estrange” girl was and said it would be fun to date her. His friends laughed at him because all young men in the city were afraid of asking her out, and those who did were rejected. He bet his hat on succeeding at dating her.