Sunday, July 12, 2009

Happy 4th of July, and the Chanchito, oh my!

Here is wishing you all a very happy 4th of July, with lots of family, HOT Weather!, Great food, and FIREWORKS!!!We had a marvelous 4th of July. We were a little short on the HOT weather... and the fireworks as they are illegal here. We celebrated by going to the US Embassy where they had a flag raising, speaches and an amazing big band brought to us by the Chilean Airforce.

It was cold and windy... but we've just figured that this year is 'opposite' year for us here in Chile... hot summer days in February, and cold winter adventures in June. We had our first taste of reverse culture shock being around so many Americans again.


We even got a picture in with the Mr. and Mrs. President... they weren't even cold!


The Swine flu hit our home a few weeks ago. 13 girls were sick in bed with it. Everyone got their medication and all are doing fine now. It has given us the opportunity to live for a few weeks at the provinicial house here in Santiago as they needed our bedroom for the enfermary. It has been a wonderful experience to come home to the loving community at the Mother House and to hear the evening reflections of Mother Superior. They have created such a calm, welcoming and joyous atmosphere here. Sometimes we're even able to catch the Vespers and Rosary before dinner.



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Skiing in June baby!

We had a wonderful first Anniversary. We made a trip up to El Colorado, which is a ski resort only 1 hour away from Santiago. We rented all our equipment and took a bus up to the ski hill. The Hill is high up in the Andes where it is all rock and no trees.
The view from the hill looking down on the Valley of Santiago was amazing.



Our first friend we met up on the ski hill. I thought at first he was a large stuffed animal instead of a sweet dog with dreadlocks!


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Saturday, July 11, 2009

Beautiful Vilches

  1. Wow, it is amazing to think about all the adventures we have had lately. Our first story starts with a train ride down south to the sleepy little village of Vilches... ok, it's not really quite a villiage... more like a string of houses, along the road side, nestled into the foot of the Andean Mountains.

We had the amazing opportunity to get in touch with some Maryknoll Missioners who are working with the rural poor on agriculture projects and public health. They also open up their home for retreats and get aways for religious and other people working in service in the larger cities. A real need if I may say so myself. Meet Ted and Maruja along with their daughter. (If you click on the Title of this blog entry it will send you to their Maryknoll bio).

It was our first really relaxing weekend get away in a long time. They invited us to stay with them at their cozy little home where we slept in until noon and woke up to a sleepy drizzling rain. The hills, the trees, the pastures, the greenery was so refreshing. They have two beautiful black horses that we just had to go visit and they sent us home with home grown honey. The perfect weekend! Probably the most refreshing part of the visit was to be able to talk with lay people who work with Sisters and Priests. Who know the unique struggles and challenges of working within the Religous culture; the structure, the hierarchy, the rigidity and the strengths. They had some very good ideas and suggestions and were so encouraging.
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