Southern hospitality

Wow, a 8.8 earthquake. This has been quite the sureal experience. Even still this morning I felt a tiny bit of a tremor... the after shocks continue. I have not experienced any storm quite like this, let alone any earthquake in general. 

One thing is for sure, that E and are are in the best place we could have possibly been to experience this. Throughout a lot of our trip before this we have been alone or with a random fellow traveler or two staying in hostels or camping, hopping to and from internet cafes to be in touch. But now when we need security, instant connection to home, food, a caring community, prayers, and a safe place to stay... we have it all and in abundance. We could not be more taken care of by our Father.

So, all is well and life is as back to normal as it can be with supermarkets closed and threats of closing off water. Thankfully we are not dependent on far travel for the time being because the airport has had destruction and quite a few highway bridges have been brought down.

We are sticking it out in Santiago for a while, gaining too much rest, and hoping to be hands when we can. The past couple days we have been staying with a missionary family, so our help has come in the shape of helping host others in need and basically be a part of the church and family.

Throughout all that has happened I do want to also give a glimpse of the time we spent down south volunteering before the earthquake hit. 

It was a time of good contrast to hostel hopping and refreshing experience with the people from Lautaro and the church that came to help from Ranier View Christian church. E and I stayed at a young couple´s house who attend the church we volunteered at, Marta and Andres. They are our age and have been married for a couple years already, but just joined the church. They are an incredible fun and gracious couple ready to serve us in any way possible, share their family events, and they had amazing patience with our spanish conversations. They helped us learn a lot of Chilean Spanish, which is very much different than Spanish from Ecuador, Peru, or really any other country. I had a ton of fun with them and felt completely cared for. In leaving them I definately felt like I was saying goodbye to family and hoping with so much of my that I could be honest when I said "Hasta luego" rather than a permenant goodbye.

Well, most of our time was spent at the church on the projects they have been working on. The church is held in a gymnasium that they built to draw community members into a place, fulfill a need, and create relationships. I really like their mindset and was very grateful to help a church with such a healthy and active focus. I did a lot of painting .... a lot of painting, but while I was there an alarm system got set up and they started a better fence and worked on other projects to help keep the building secure. 

The other volunteers with Rainer View Christian church were wonderful fun people to work with. It was a blessing to be able to share our lives and see how they were blown away by "Southern (Chilean) hospitality" which is so rich. Even in the midst of recovering from one of the biggest quakes, I recieve such love and care.

Being connected with the church down south in Lautaro and getting to know a lot of wonderful people in Santiago I have contact information for anyone interested in giving to help with recontruction and aid for Chilean people affected by the quake. I know sometimes we want to give, but also want to be sure that the money is actually used.  Contacting IberoAmerican Ministries gets in contact with the people I have been staying with the past couple nights after the quake. They know directly where help is needed. You can email, call, or send a check with a memo to help out Chile to this contact info..

IberoAmerican Ministries

Doug Kallestad

P.O. Box 1493

Monroe, WA 98272

dkallestad@gmail.com

360. 805.2885

Beautiful Buenos Aires

generous living

If I could make one safe generalization about the vast population of South Americans, I would claim that at least 95% of all South Americans are extremely hospitable and generous. I believe it is an innate characteristic each person is born with. So many people that E and I have met are willing to drop what they are doing and help us in any way they are capable of... or uncapable of. We have had instances where we have people wiling to give us directions or information that is completely inaccurate, but they want to help so badly they try anyway. It is sweet but quite confusing and frustrating at times. Still, this generous attitude and giving lifestyle is something that I would love to take back with me. I have been so blessed, and I have learned that it does not take too much trouble to lend a very helping hand to others.

Things are not always as they seem

Welp, to the Buddist Monastery organic farm/retreat center we arrived two days ago, but in reality it is not the established farm and practicing retreat center like it was posted up to be. In actuality it is a huge plot of overgrown land with some rugged pear trees. Now a solitary nun is trying to start up a farm and retreat center... but mostly a retreat center. Not exactly what E and I had in mind. The place is beautiful, surrounded by massivly gorgeous mountains, but I would rather spend my energy on something I believe in and a place that didn't lead us on.
-Erika wrote well about the situation, so refer to her blog ... erikatrott.blogspot.com

Erika's Dad has given us a connection in Santiago, Chile to do some work with the community through a church. I am thinking a well refered place and work that we know we can do is more up our alley. But before then, we are going to head up into the mountains I have been dreamily gazing at, and try and shake off our weird interactions with some dark red, squashed and fermented grapes.

Christmas in Peru

Christmas Eve and day in Peru were way better than I expected them to be. E's and my original thoughts were to try and pull some semblance of a Christmas together for ourselves by making snowflakes, listening to Christmas music, watching Christmas movies in our hostel, and hopefully attending midnight mass. Instead we got to spend the holiday with Joe's host family in Lima!
Christmas Eve is where the focus of the celebration lies in South America. Most of the day was pretty relaxing. We had a tasty late lunch with his family that his host grandma made and then the rest of the extended family did not come over until about 9. Soon after they arrived we had hot chocolate and Paneton, which is a traditional appetizer. Paneton is a sweet bread with candies in it... kind of like a huge muffin. Then about an hour later at 10:15 pm we finally had dinner: delicious turkey dinner with noodles and beet salad. Afterward three different kinds of wine were brought out while the "adults" sat at the table and the "kid's table" continued to play around.. some things will never change between cultures. After a long while of chatting and hearing distant and not so distant fireworks we went up to the roof and saw the most amazing fireworks show ever. We were surrounded and could see out over all the city. Independence Day celebrations were left in the dust. I do not know why I love fireworks so much, but I do... and it was enchanting.

Well, traveling has been a whirlwind and pretty fast paced this last month. We got into Lima a tiny bit before Marcus got here and have been all over since then with the boys in company. We have gone from the desert to the lush mountains, Machu Picchu old city to touristy new cities, and deep canyons to tropical and hot jungle. We have seen so much beautiful country it is amazing how much Peru packs into one country.

I spent New Years at the bottom of one of the deepest canyons in the world!

Time is short.. more later.

some beauty that I have found and things I have created

Arriba a la montana (Up to the Mountain)

The 3rd of December at 8 o´clock in the morning and I was having a pretty non-typical day for me, yet experienced a very typical morning for a Peruvian mountain cattle herder.
That morning I decided to wake up at 5: 30 in the morning and go hiking up in the mountians. I wanted to wake up earlier but sleep held me for a half hour longer. I didn´t wamt to get up, but I am so glad that this morning my desire to go hiking beat out the desire to sleep in. It was very worth it.
I decided to go hiking past the point where I had gone a couple of times with other people already in the beautiful mountians surrounding the valley we lived in. By 6:00 I made it to the edge of the neighborhood and started hiking up .It wasn't too long till I had past the first hill that most of us had hiked to previously and as I continued up I was thoroughly glad that I woke up early and had visions of a lovely breakfast of sweet bread, beautiful views, and peaceful presence in the mountains. After a while I decided that even though I wasn't at the top yet I would take a break for a while. Just then behind me I hear, "Buenos dias, Senorita!" A man hiking behind me thinking I was lost took the time to direct me on to the right path to make it to the top. That was all the encouragement I needed to not ake a break and continue hiking, and as it turned out he waited for me and I got a hiking partner.
After talking for a while he invited me to breakfast. How could I refuse that opportunity? A hot breakfast in the mountains... yeah, doing it. I was a littlensure because I knew in theory following a strange guy up to his mounatin home is a poor choice, but he wasn;t creepin' so I figured his intentions were out of pure hospitality that I just don' normally see inthe states, but is very normal around here.
So over the river and through the woods... it was far but not out of the way. I did get a little bit nervous and almost asked if he had a wife and children (just to make sure) but as well ascended the last hill I saw small safe community. As soon as we got near I was introduced to his friends(neighbors) and I settled down to have a large breakfast with his friends and family.I started out with a large bowl of hot soup and then I got served another heaping bowl og rice and potatoes. SO, for those of you who might be worried that I am losing weight... don't because I am not. I am on a full carb diet. All we eat is bread, potatoes, and rice... sometimes with a little veggie, fruit, or meat thrown in the mix.
Though small I do value this event greatly. I was encouraged emmensly with my ability to communicate and create my own personal unique experiences in South America. It was wonderful to witness and be a part of an authentic Peruvian mountain herders morning. They all readily and warmly accepted my presence. As i left to desend the mountain I was joined by various others from the community as they all headed down the hillside with loads of donkeys, cows, and sheep. I was in their company the rest of my early morning making it into town at 9:45 with the rest of the day ahead of me.