Muy Queridos Familia y Amigos,
It has been another amazing month … full of a lot of exciting new experiences. I went to Chile at the end of June for 10 days. I stayed with the sisters there and my friend Ale from Quito. It was great to see her and visit many of the people who had stayed with us in Ecuador in April. They were so generous and took us to see many of the sights and surrounding areas. We took several day trips around Santiago; the first was to the Pacific coast along the Isla Negra where we got to ditch our shoes and dip our toes in the sand. The water was HELADO, but totally worth it! How many times do you get to walk along the beach in Winter?! There seasons are opposite, so just as summer was starting here, winter was beginning. On the Isla Negra was one of the three houses of famous author/poet and diplomat Pablo Neruda. He had a very interesting collection of …. well everything you could imagine. From colored glasses that he believed made “water taste better” to seashells, to a huge wooden horse with three tails. He was quite an eccentric man, but his incredible originally designed house had amazing views overlooking the ocean from every window.
We also visited Neruda’s other two houses, one there in Santiago with a great view of the beautiful snow-capped Andes and the 3rd in Valparaiso with a serene view of the port. Our trip to Valparaiso was with my adopted Chilean parents Normita and Luchito and their sons. Luis is a professional tour guide, so we hit all the must-sees and learned a lot along the way. We stopped to see a few of the vineyards (there are miles and miles of them covering the countryside) and learned about the unique climate that makes Chile such an ideal place for producing wine. Because of their natural borders of the Atacama desert in the north, Ocean on the West, Andes Mountains on the East and freezing South they have been kept from any insect plagues and other plant diseases. They are very proud and protective of this, not allowing anyone to bring in plant matter of any kind. I was a little paranoid and declared my dried flowers in my journal, just to be safe! They deteremined these were not a risk and didn't fine me, thankfully! Valpo is a beautiful city full of cliffs (42 I think) that drop off right at the coast, unbelievable blue water and full of colorful houses. There isn’t a house in that place that is the same color. We swung by Viña del Mar on our way home to see the giant reloj de flores (flower clock) and a Moai, an ancient rock burial statue from the oldest inhabitants in the world, taken from Easter Island off the coast of Chile.
Another day we checked out the Presidential Palace, the Cathedral and a couple museums in the city. Santiago is a unique city with a lot of history. There were still many buildings being repaired and renovated from the February earthquake. I saw a few buildings with huge inhabitable signs because the structural damage and several antiquey, old buildings with fallen stones and broken windows. One thing that really impressed me was how the entire city of 6 million completely shut down for the World Cup games that Chile was playing. The 2nd game we were in the city and got caught in a crazy traffic jam as everyone left work at noon to make it home for the 2:30 start time. It felt like the 4th of July, there was such a swelling of national pride, flags everywhere, jerseys, hats everything in national colors: red, white and blue. The sisters there work with the community to assist with drug rehabilitation and alcoholism. It is a really tough neighborhood with drug deals happening in the parking lot adjacent to the house and several of the AA members gathering on the corner to drink. I can’t even imagine how difficult it is to work with these diseases and devastation. As a goodbye, we had a great picnic in the park after Mass and spent the day in a little touristy, artsy town.
Overall it was a great trip and I was sad to leave and have to say goodbye. I hate goodbyes. I came home to Ecuador for a few days and enjoyed spending time with the kids and teachers before saying goodbye again. It was so hard to leave this community I had grown to love and really feel a part of. Although it was tough to go, I was looking forward to being back at home and catching up with everyone here. One thing I did realize during my traveling was that every place has incredible, unique, beautiful places, sights, and stories but more important than the glassy sea shore and towering blue mountain tops are the people. They are the ones who “make” these different places so beautiful and unforgettable. I have been truly blessed this year to meet so many diverse, unique and loving souls. I have changed so much because of all they have taught me. Their lives are so different and yet, we have so much in common.
It’s been weird to be back at home here in Kansas. I knew it would hit me hard. For me, reverse culture shock is way harder to deal with than culture shock. When you go to a new place, you sort of expect everything to be different, strange and its an exciting adventure. When you come home, you know things have changed, but at the same time it all seems exactly the same. It’s hard to adjust to the time you’ve “missed” in so many lives and catch up. I read a quote by Nelson Mandela I really could relate to and would like to leave you with this thought: Sometimes it takes coming back to a place that remains unchanged to see all the ways in which you yourself have altered. I know that is the biggest struggle for me, sort of finding out who I am again and how to be here. Praying that you all have a blessed week and are able to dive in to whatever it is God has in store for you. Please pray for me.
Dios te bendiga,
April
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