Chile---part 3: curacavi, santiago temple, santa lucia, last days

DAY 7

CURACAVI

We actually pulled into Curacavi the night before, but "Day 7" was when we spent the bulk of our time in this town. I took a picture of this weird tree while we were waiting for Christian and Kathy to meet us and take us to their home.

Kathy and Christian were a young couple who housed Shad and one of his companions during Shad's time as a missionary. I really liked them and how down-to-earth they were. When Shad lived with them as a missionary, they had one daughter who was about 2 years old. Now that daughter is twelve and they also have a son who is nine.

They took us to the "feria" where plenty of people were trying to make a buck, or peso rather.

There were so many different things that I saw and really liked, but we were trying to be conservative in our purchases. It was still fun to window shop.

Most places have iron gates or fences around them, whether it's homes, church buildings, etc.

I took this picture for my boys, because they love anything with wheels.

This is another feria—food everywhere.

This is "mote", the boiled wheat that is used in the dried peach drink that I really like. If it weren't illegal to bring food across the border, I would have bought a bunch of this to bring home.

More food---I probably mentioned this before, but I loved all the color. One of the things Christian and Kathy served us during our time in their home was "leche con platano" which literally means "milk with banana". I make it for my kids every so often, and they even ask for it by name (which in our home is just "banana milk").

It was fun to see all the variety of food, and interesting to see what they did have that we don't usually see in the states. For example, that big squash in the lower left-hand side of the picture? It looked similar to a pumpkin, but bigger and green on the outside. It seemed to be their standard choice of squash.

Another example of a mobile vendor.

A row of painted trunks.

A bunch of different grains.

I don't know if these guys had a business or not, but I liked their mode of transportation.

These paintings were sitting outside the gates of a supermarket. Shad and I admired them while Christian and Kathy went into the store.

We ended up buying the smallest one there, hoping we could get it home. I asked the artist if I could take his picture with it, but I don't remember his name now.

This is an example of what some of their doors look like from the outside. Notice the handle is in the middle, and on the right is the key lock.

I just liked this picture because it shows the beauty and color of Chile despite the bars and gates.

We of course had to try some ice cream while we were down there. I picked the raisin flavor because it stuck out to me as an odd flavor. I don't think I would get it again, but it was still fun to try.

This was a cool church.

It had some pretty architecture.

And a nun.

This is Rocio and her family. She's a lady that Shad taught and baptized as a missionary.

Christian took us on a walk to a park that wasn't too far from their home and we saw a couple boys with horses trying to catch up to a foal.

This was a long, skinny bridge a little ways off from the park that had a great view.

This is looking over one side of the bridge.

This is the same side, but zoomed in a little.

And this is looking over the other side of the bridge. Take note of how shallow the water is.

This is a picture taken while standing below the bridge. This guy was fishing in the very shallow water.

He had several poles set up, and I wished him all the luck in the world.

And here are the boys with their horses.

We had a really good time in Curacavi. It was a very quiet, pleasant town, and Christian and Kathy were gracious hosts. Shad enjoyed a lot of conversation and catching up. Oh, how I wished I could speak Spanish.

To give you an example of the generous, selfless, giving nature of Chileans, I'll tell you about something that really touched me. Shad was in the bathroom, and I was just sitting on the couch, probably looking through pictures on my camera and deciding if I wanted to take a few more before we left this town. Christian walked over to their bookcase and started looking through their books.

After a few minutes, he pulled out a book of black and white photography by a famous Chilean photographer and handed it to me while saying something that I thought meant, "This is for you," but I brushed off that thought and took it to mean "Here, look at this" (because we all know I don't really speak Spanish). So I started looking through the book, and was really enjoying it---it had a lot of the types of pictures that I would have loved to take while we were there, but didn't because I'm not bold enough to just go up to strangers and ask to take their picture.

So I was quite enjoying it when Shad came out of the bathroom and Christian essentially said to him (in Spanish), "Shad, I don't think your wife understood what I meant when I handed her the book. Could you please tell her it is a gift for her, to keep?" As soon as Shad confirmed my initial impressions, I was overcome with gratitude for these people and their thoughtfulness. I was truly touched. To top it off, Christian, who is a very good artist, took one of his paintings that was hanging on his wall and gave it to us as a parting gift. I'm glad I was able to meet Christian and Kathy and their family. They are wonderful.

DAY 8

Back in SANTIAGO

After our days of visiting and staying in other towns, we returned back to Dagoberto and Ana Maria's home. Outside they had set up two tables so that we could all sit down comfortably and eat with their entire family as well as Henry and his parents.

Henry is a very good friend of the family who was born and raised in Chile, but has since lived in Australia for 30 or so years. He speaks English, and was more than happy to speak English to me almost the entire time he talked. Try to imagine someone who speaks English with both a Spanish AND an Australian accent. It was interesting to listen to him.

We had been over to Henry's place once and he had been over here several times. He and his parents were going to be moving back to Australia shortly, and our trip was coming to a close, so I think this meal was one last hurrah with Henry and us. And the ice cream dessert in the picture was delicious --- just trust me on that.

Felipe was more than happy to use up the rest of the whipped cream.

And I couldn't help but take a picture of everyone as they walked with Henry's parents back to their apartment across the street. Henry's parents were the sweetest couple.

I love watching people in general, and to be in a country where I can't communicate much, I was able to do plenty of people watching. I enjoyed observing their interactions and their close relationships.

It was fun to be there long enough to see them in their regular habits and behavior, instead of the "smile because we have guests" behavior.

That same day, we went to the Santiago Temple. We were greeted by wild turkeys upon our arrival.

The flowers were beautiful, as they are at any temple.

There was a nativity display on the grounds.

These next few pictures were actually taken on one of our first days in Santiago, but I'm putting them here just because.

So back to "Day 8". There was a special Christmas program that night, so we stayed long enough to get a tour of the temple grounds from the sister missionaries (who talked to me in English afterwards) and to see the program that had been put together for the event.

After the program, we stepped back outside just as the sun was setting.

I love temples.

There was a group of missionaries standing off to one side, and one of them hollered out to me in English---I guess I stuck out like a sore thumb. But it was fun to talk to them for a little while. I spoke more English that night than I did our entire trip (not counting my conversations with Shad, of course).

DAY 9

SANTA LUCIA

For our last full day in Chile, we decided to spend the day at Santa Lucia, another hill that you can hike. It has a large artesan's market at the base of the hill too, which is where we did most of our souvenir shopping.

This was a city park, complete with car parked on the grass.

And this is the same park, which actually looks better in the photos. The grass was unkempt and there was trash everywhere.

But it was still fun, see?

Doesn't Shad look good carrying my travel bag?

This is just a shot to show some of the old buildings around town.

A phone booth, which I dare say doesn't work anymore.

The only mode of transportation we didn't try out was the train. Had we known about it earlier, we might have arranged things differently so we could have traveled farther South.

A big Christmas tree near "Estacion Central" (Grand Central Station).

Complete with Santa at the base of it.

And this is a shot of Santa Lucia. It was beautiful.

And you got to walk up these cool stairs.

Before we got too far into it, we walked across the street to drop our stuff off at a hotel.

This is a pigeon I caught standing on a ledge just outside our balcony.

Now back to Santa Lucia. I loved the yellow.

This is looking out at the "feria de Santa Lucia" that sits across the street from the hill.

I just like this shot of the city.

Graffiti, even on the plants.

Cheese!

Up at the top of Santa Lucia.

Snacks.

Mmmmm, mote.

We spent quite a while shopping for souvenirs. It was a lot harder than I expected to decide between different things for different people, what we wanted to afford, and what we could feasibly get home.

After a bunch of shopping we walked around the city looking for a place to eat.

We found a Peruvian restaurant and the Inca Kola (pictured below) brought back memories for Shad from his medical time in Peru. I ordered a glass of water, because I could. I'd been drinking soda for a week and a half and water sounded better than anything else. The lady looked at me like, "You want water? Are you crazy?" She actually asked Shad, "She wants water, like from the tap?" And Shad told her yes. So I watched as she went back to the counter where the cooks were. She handed my glass to one of the guys and told him to just fill it up with water. He asked her, "You just want water? From the tap?" The waitress told him yes, that's what we wanted. So with a perplexed look on his face, he filled my glass with some nice, cold tap water. Weird, I know.

This was an appetizer we ordered. The round things covered in green sauce are slices of potato, garnished with eggs and black olives. The orange flower is a carrot. It was unique. It was fun to try some different food (as if the last week and a half wasn't enough).

After dinner we headed back to the hotel. We were both tired and ready to crash. This was the line for the bus---we were glad our hotel was within walking distance.

DAY 10

Our last day on Chilean soil

The next morning, we enjoyed the hotels continental breakfast. It was pretty good, but nothing was cold. The juice, milk, yogurt, fruit--anything that would normally be refrigerated or on ice in the states, was not.

After breakfast we did some more souvenir shopping before packing up and heading back to Dagoberto's and Ana Maria's. This picture is another shot of Estacion Central.

We enjoyed one last, delicious, filling meal with the Albornoz family. I think we tried just about every food Shad wanted to that he could remember from his mission.

Before we left, we wanted to give their family some gifts. Shad had made a frame from brazilian cherry wood to hold a picture of the Santiago temple, and we had brought other gifts for each of them from the U.S.. Shad's Dad bought the new Spanish Bible for each member of their family to have a copy, which they loved.

And Shad shared a strong, heartfelt testimony with these people for whom he developed a love for as a missionary, and who I grew to love in just the short time we were there.

In turn, they told Shad that his coming to visit them was priceless, and that a seed had been planted.

I hope they make an effort to embrace the church again. We had a wonderful time in Chile and we are so grateful for all the time and effort this family, and so many others, put into making our stay more than we could have hoped.

But just as all good things must come to an end, so did our trip. They borrowed a van and we, along with two of their kids, sat in the back with our luggage for the ride to the airport.

As chance would have it, we saw Carl at the airport, saying goodbye to his wife and daughter as he was getting ready to go back into service after his two-week leave. Ana Maria took this picture for us.

Pictured from the left (below): Dagoberto Jr., Felipe, Ana Maria, Dagoberto, Patricia, Shad, Carla, Cristobal (Carla's boyfriend), and Dagoberto Jr's wife.

I think I slept less on the red-eye flight home than I did on the way to Chile---probably because I was so excited to see our kids again.

And we were able to get everything home in one piece.

I'm grateful to my mom and family for watching our children and keeping them safe. I never worried about them once---missed them a lot, but didn't worry about them.

And I'm grateful to have met so many wonderful people that Shad has talked about over the years. Chile is a wonderful place, and the picture below shows how I would sum up the kindness, selflessness, and goodness of the people.

Welcome to Chile. The door is always open.