Our ‘Summer’ vacation began on February 4th. Jeff and I met Jared at the airport in Santiago to pick up a box he brought us. It was very exciting. Filled with things we wanted and some presents for Josh’s birthday. He then continued on the Concepcion. Jeff picked up a 12 passenger van and we drove home in it. It was so great to be driving in a car. The car received the name the ‘Papa Plata’ which means ‘Silver Potato’. That should tell you what it looked like!
The next morning we all packed up and headed out about noon. We drove to Concepcion and arrived about 6 pm. Everyone was excited to meet Jennie, Nathan, and Josh for the first time. They all got to know everyone quickly and were off playing with the cousins.
The next morning we went to church. Carlos, Angelica’s husband blessed Makarena’s baby. Her name is Martina Florencia. It was very nice. I went to primary with Josh and Jeff went to Young Men’s with Nate. Jennie was on her own and Sarah went to the Young single adult class. After church we had a nice dinner . I made a watermelon baby carriage salad (thanks to Kate’s ideas) and we made chocolate chip and no-bake cookies. Momita made delicious baked chicken, potato salad, rice with vegis, and green been salad. All vegetables are eaten cold and considered a salad. The green beans were delicious. They were sliced French cut, cooked, chilled and had lemon juice on them. Sounds weird but it tasted really good. They thought it was very strange that I mixed all the fruit together and that it was supposed to be a salad not a dessert.
Sunday night we drove around Concepcion so the kids could see the buildings that fell down during the earth quake. They have finished studying them now and plan to start demolishing them this week. We also stopped at the beach and went for a walk. Josh and Nate had fun collecting sea shells.
Monday morning we headed out to Caburgua. It is next to a more well known town called Pucon. It was at the base of a large smoking volcano named Villarica. There are 2 large lakes and lots of rivers and streams around.
Jared and Kote had found a cabin that slept 12. It was perfect for all of us.
We did a little fishing, swimming and canoeing in the lake, site seeing etc. Jared and Kote and the college girls went dancing one night in Pucon. It was beautiful and really fun. When we drove back the car Jared was driving had a leak in the coolant system so we had to stop and get it repaired. Luckily we were right by the lake so we just had a picnic and played some more. We got home a little late so we had to cut out plans to visit a few people but it wasn’t a big problem.
The next morning(the 10th) we got up and drove back to Santiago. On the way back we stopped in a little town call Chillan. They had been hit hard with the earth quake. They have a fun artisan market and vega (fruit/vegis). We bought a few things for Kote’s birthday and some fruit. The high light of the shopping trip was a man running past us with a dead pig on his back. Nearly scared Sarah to death when he bumped into her. It looked like it weighed a ton! The poor kid carrying it!
We cleaned up and did laundry on the 11th. In Concepcion that day there was another earthquake of 6.8. Nothing bad happened but it was enough to shake everyone up and knock a few things off the shelves. I was having a nap and didn’t feel it but Josh came running in and told me about it. He said that he heard a rumble and then the apartment moved. That was the same report I got from other friends around town too.
Saturday the 12th was Josh’s 9th birthday! I can’t believe it has been that long. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was in the hospital watching the 2002 winter Olympics! He chose to have boxed macaroni and cheese for his birthday dinner. Jared had brought us some. Yum (not). I made him his favorite chocolate cake with pudding and whipping cream. It turned out great. Whipping cream tastes much better than cool whip. For his birthday he got a pair of headphones, a movie and some games. Chess, Checkers and pick-up sticks. He and Nate need more things to do around here. They have been having fun with them. That night Jared and Kote got here. Corey Wride (a friend) took us to the airport to pick them up. Jared had the flu. He has been sick the entire time they have been here. He is feeling a little better today so Kote, Jared, Sarah and Jennie have gone out sight seeing for a little bit. They leave to go home tonight. Then we all have to get back to work and school! It was a fun week and a really nice diversion.
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