VILLA ALAMANA

On our last day in Santiago, which was a Sunday, we traveled northwest out of Santiago to Villa Alamana where our assistant for that area gave a really wonderful training.  The leaders were very responsive and we met some great people that we chatted with afterwards over some delicious refreshments.  The picture of the chocolate is some artesanal chocolate made by the wife of one of the leaders.  They were amazing sticks of chocolate..... can't really describe them!

Our assistant, Omar, is the one on the left of Michael.  He is a music teacher and has two daughters.  He is an amazing instructor.  The brother on the far right is the one who provided the chocolate treat.

LOS DOMINICOS

Michael ordered this corn casserole that was flavored with nutmeg.  We shared it and it was truly delicious!  Also, served in a wonderful clay dish!

These "frutilla" fruit drinks are popular and DELICIOUS!

There was a huge cage of beautiful chickens !

We visited "Los Dominicos" on Saturday ..... we browsed the amazing craft shops and then ate a wonderful lunch outside with Dale and Jeannine!  It was a wonderful day and the weather was perfect! The crafts at Los Dominicos are the best of Chile!

Dale and Jeannine Perry

A BEAUTIFUL BUILDING - "PROVINCIA"

On Saturday, June 13, our friends and fellow missionaries, Dale and Jeannine Perry took us sight seeing in Santiago.  There is a wonderful building about four blocks from the church complex, called, "Provincia."  It was built in the 1930's and is very beautiful and filled with wonderful architectural detail and many beautiful decorative features.  We really enjoyed our walk through this amazing building.  Here are a few photos of our tour.

ALEJANDRO FIGUEROA AND RETURNING TO SANTIAGO

View of the temple at night from our apartment

The back of the Santiago Temple and view from our 4th floor apartment.

We drove into South Santiago around 1:30 pm  (13:30 here)  !  We had arranged to have lunch with our assistant from that area , Alejandro Figueroa ,and his wonderful family in their home.  They cooked meat outside, which was delicious and Pauletta prepared an old family recipe of gnocchi in tomatoe sauce, and served everything with a yummy tomatoe and white onion salad.  We had home canned peaches for dessert.  The Figeroa family is adorable.  Their two teenage daughters were delightful as was their 3 year old Paulette!  We spent a lovely evening of piano playing, by their daughter, Nicole (17) ,  and great conversation and sharing of ideas about the audit program.  They very much wanted us to spend the night in their home so we accepted their gracious invitation and enjoyed being with their family.  Paulette and Alejandro gave up their bedroom for us and we were very grateful for their generosity and kindness.

After spending much of the morning the next day, visiting further with Alejandro the three of us drove into Santiago where he would meet his wife.  After arriving at the church office , we checked into the missionary/temple housing where we have a lovely apartment for four days.  This complex houses the (CCM) Missionary Training Center for Chile, the church office building, the Santiago Temple,, and the housing for missionaries and couple missionaries and temple patrons.  It is a beautiful but simple complex and we are enjoying our stay here very much.  We have been working with Dale Perry, our missionary assistant here in Chile.  Sunday evening we will drive north to Vina del Mar to attend another training with Hermano Omar Aranda.  Vina del Mar is just north of Santiago  about an hour and we are looking forward to driving there.

Here are a few pictures of Wednesday!

Alejandro and Paulette!

Alejandro and Michael in front of the church office builiding in Santiago

We will do some sight seeing tomorrow with the Dale and Jeanne Perry who are serving here in Santiago.  They know of several interesting places for us to easily see in one day!

PUERTO VARAS

On our way back to Santiago, we stopped just north of Puerto Montt in Puerto Varas.  Claudio thought we should stop there and take a look around as it is quite beautiful  Even though it is winter here and it was a really rainy day, we did find Puerto Varas quite enchanting with its pristine harbor and old German buildings.  Much of Southern Chile was homesteaded by Germans from East Germany and the German architecture is very evident throughout all of Chile but primarily in Southern Chile.  Here are a few photos of Puerto Varas and some of the German architecture.  Many of the buildings are clapboard.

ROAD TO SOUTHERN CHILE AND PUERTO MONTT

There is a great "autopista" four lane high that runs the complete length of Chile.  It is a great road and made our travel easy and without stress.  (traveling on the two lane roads in Argentina with all of the agricultural trucks can be very stressful!)  Some of the scenery was very similar to the Pacific Northwest and in some parts felt very familiar.

Claudio and Adriana Rosas!  We enjoyed a delicious seafood lunch with them in an old German restaurant in the harbor  of Puerto Montt

Puerto Montt

It was difficult to say goodbye to the Rosas.  We had a really special time with them as we attended church with them, attending a Sunday evening training, and shared a wonderful lunch together.  Hermano Rosas does a terrific job with his trainings and it was really fun to watch him in his very animated manner with a great sense of humor.  We shared abrazos and headed back to Concepcion where we attended a training and had a great visit with our assistant, Rodriquez Fernandez , in the Concepcion Sur Mission.  

SANTIAGO , CHILE

We arrived back in Buenos Aires  from our Argentina trip on July 3.  We had been on the road about thirteen days and had seen an enormous part of Argentina, mostly the Patagonian region. We met with many wonderful Argentine people and experienced first hand the sincere dedication of these warm and kind people, their dedication to the Gospel and each other.  We drove into Buenos Aires around noon on July 3 and were scheduled to leave for Santiago, Chile very early in the morning of July 4!  After unloading the car,  and eating some of our homemade chicken soup from the freezer, ( it tasted delicious after 13 days of restaurant food!) Michael went into the office to do some work for our trip to Chile and I stayed home to wash, dry and iron clothing and get packed up.

The remis came at 6am and we were ready and waiting in  the foyer of our apartment building!  Our flight to Santiago was amazing and flying over the Andes Mountains was definitely a thrill.  I had a window seat which was terrific.

Our friend and fellow worker in the Buenos Aires office, Dante Roig was scheduled to give a special financial training to the Chile Assistant Auditors so Michael and I along with Elder Perry (he helps us with the Chile assistants)  had planned for this training to take place in the afternoon of the day we arrived in Santiago.  We had six of our assistant auditors from Chile here and the training was very successful.  Many questions were answered as new systems have been installed and there was alot of information to disperse!  After the training meeting, we had a lovely little catered dinner in a small room in the church office building here just a few doors down the hall from the meeting room where we had spent the afternoon.  The dinner was catered by a very amazing couple and their daughter.  The salmon dinner was absolutely delicious and the twelve of us enjoyed the food and the great conversation.  Afterwards, we had a meaningful "question and answer " time and there was a great discussion.  All of the Chile auditors really get along well, and their "esprit de corps" is amazing!  In all, there are nine assistant auditors in Chile.

Michael and Claudio Rosas from Puerto Montt, in Southern Chile.  We traveled later in the week to spend time with he and his wife and attend one of Claudio's training. Wonderful couple!

The next day, on Friday, July 5, we checked out a car from the church fleet here at the church office building and headed out early in the morning for Southern Chile where we would meet up with several assistant auditors.  Our first stop  was in Concepcion, about five hours south of Santiago.  We met with Hermano Acuna there in the evening and had a great and meaningful visit with him.  The next day, on Saturday we again arose early and headed very far south to Puerto Montt where we would meet up with Claudio Rosas and enjoy some time with he and his darling wife, Adriana.

COMODORO RIVADAVIA AND CALETA OLIVIA

Comodoro Rivadavia

The sunrise on the early morning drive to Caleta Olivia was sooo beautiful over the water.

After a good nights rest in a very old and vintage hotel in Trewlew, we met up with Hermano Ricael
Sosa in the morning.  He has become a dear friend and we were so happy to see him.  After a few abrazos, I gave my seat in the front of the car to Hermano Sosa so he wouldn't feel frustrated trying to speak Spanish from the back seat.  I was happy to sit in the back and let the two men speak Spanish while I contemplated the scenery  and made up Spanish sentences in my head that I might be able to use over the next few days.  We headed south to Comodoro Rivadavia  on a two lane curvy road.  We had about a four and a half hour drive.  Comodoro Rivadavia is an oil rich community situated right on the water which is called The Gulf of San Jorge.  The gulf itself is very beautiful , but Comodoro is dusty and windy  and over all not too striking.  It is a small port.  The church has just situated a new mission here and the new mission president and his wife arrived the weekend we were there .  We arrived late afternoon and checked in to our very tall hotel and ate a simple empanada dinner together.  Saturday morning we were up very early and headed to Caleta Olivia for an early morning training with the District President and one of his counselors.  They were very , very, nice.  The district president was young and has only been a member of the church about 8 years.  Our training went about 4 hours so it was a long one!  Elder Sosa and Michael split the time and both did a great job.  I took notes and leaned a few new Spanish words in the process with my dictionary at hand!  I am getting to where I can understand more and say a few phrases to communicate a few thoughts.  Though only in the present tense!  Here is a picture of the group!

Group in Comodoro Rivadavia

I don't have my notes with me here in Chile so I can't remember the names.  Hermano Sosa, however , is the one on the far right.  The room was narrow and this was the only place to stand!

After finishing the training we drove back to Comodoro Rivadavia as there are no hotels in Caleta Oliva and enjoyed a good nights rest!  The next morning we enjoyed a wonderful day at church! 

The members were particularly friendly and we received many kisses on the cheek!  We truly embraced the warmth of the people and loved our time there chatting with many different members.

That evening we had another training in Comodoro which was great and well attended.  An especially nice group of people.

On Monday morning, we left really early around 7am as we had to drop off Hermano Sosa in Trelew and begin our trek back to Buenos Aires.  We forgot to get gas right in Trelew so we stopped at a gas station just outside of the city to fill the tank up with diesel fuel which is what is required.  The station didn't have any diesel so we had to try and make it to Trelew on the diesel we had.  Gas stations are few and far between in Argentina and our greatest fear of the moment was realized! .... we ran out of gas about 30 minutes outside of Trelew!  Michael and Hermano Sosa flagged down a truck and Hermano Sosa climbed in and reassured us he would be back with some gas.  So about two hours later he came with his adorable wife and daughter with about 10 gallons of gas.  As he began to put it in the car, he looked at Michael and said, "gas , right" and Michael said it has to be dieasel did you forget?"  He hanked out the hose and said that it was regular gas!  So we sat in the car again for another hour until he and his family returned with the diesel fuel.  He and Michael filled the tank and Mike had said to me while we were waiting that with diesel fueled vehicles they are difficult to start again when you run out of gas.......that did prove to be true!  After several attempts to start the car, Hermano Sosa said he would go to Trelew and  get a tow truck or a mechanic and be back.  So another hour and a half sitting just off the highway with huge trucks whizzing by........ Sure enough back came this wonderful Sosa family with a young energetic mechanic!  While they had been gone Michael read in the car manual about what to do.. but it was vague and we had a difficult time finding the right button as did the mechanic.  The instructions said to push a black button, (everything under the hood was black!) and pump it to get the air out of the fuel line.  The mechanic finally found the right button , pumped it about 50 times and the car started!  It had taken all day!  and we still had about 6 hours to go to get to Las Grutas.  We followed the Sosa's to the dealership where the mechanic worked to pay them and they would not take any payment whatsoever!  We bid a found farewell to the Sosas with Abrazos and hopes to see them again in the future... and we were off to Las Grutas about 5pm.  (we had spent four wonderful days with Hermano Sosa and enjoyed every minute!) One of our cardinal rules on the road here is to never drive in the dark, as the roads are only two lanes, they are unfamiliar and it can be dangerous.  However, we both felt okay about going so we headed north.  We landed in Las Grutas on the Gulf of San Matias about 10 pm.  We got up early the next morning and headed to Olavarria, our next stop in Buenos Aires Province, about four hours outside of Buenos Aires.  We had scheduled a training there with a small district that night and we wanted to get there early enough so that getting to the training would not be a rush.  We had a great meeting with a wonderful group.

Olavarria

The left again early the next morning as we wanted to get into Buenos Aires by noon, which we did.  We usually find a great parking place right next to our apartment , but not this day!  So Michael just pulled up on the sidewalk and I stayed with the car while he hauled stuff in to our apartment foyer.... then I hauled it upstairs while he went to find a parking place.  Michael went on in to the office later to return the car and finish up a few things before we left for Santiago, Chile the next morning.  I stayed home and did laundry.... which is a trick as we don't have a dryer.  However, a fan and a heater worked great in the back bedroom and by 8:00 at night the laundry was all done and ironed!  We were up at 4:30 the next morning and  felt excited for our meetings and trainings in Chile and  we headed to the airport around 6am.  

The Gulf of San Jorge

Comodoro Rivadavia