I believe it was August 22 the Kemps, mission president of the Chile MTC and his wife, invited three senior couples and me to take a P-day with them. They have an eight passenger van. We drove to the town of La Ligua, about two hours away. Just outside the town is a little village with one long street of maybe sixty or more shops which all sell sweaters. Sweaters are a major part of everyone's wardrobe, men and women. Most are made of wool, some cotton, and some either alpaca or llama. Most of the sweaters are priced around $14 US. I was so tired of wearing the same outfits for almost four months, I ended up buying four sweaters, two of them crocheted. I kept thinking how much I would like to buy a bunch for my family. They really had fun things for girls around Abby and Aydrees age and of course tons of things my daughters would have liked.
On the way back to Santiago, we took the coastal route and saw some beautiful seaside towns. Everyone was lamenting that Chile is so far away from the US as those towns would be wonderful places to vacation.
Between September 10th and 19th the Chilean Independence Days celebration took place. Yes, it went on for over a week. They do know how to celebrate!! Here in Santiago there were literally hundreds of celebrations going on. The main celebration was in a huge park,(like a state fair ground, stadium and rodeo grounds all in one area) about a 20 minute bus ride and then 15 min. walk from here. I went to some of the activities at the park the first Saturday and the final day of the celebration. Many absolutely beautiful horses were involved in various parts of the celebration. I went twice to the rodeo. It is entirely different than in the US. The entire rodeo includes only one event which involves very skilled horsemanship and highly trained horses. The huasos (cowboys) work in a team to run a steer around the corral (Media Luna = half moon) and bump it up against the fence so all four feet are off the ground. Pretty amazing because one horse and rider are constantly up near the steers neck side-stepping at a gallop to keep the steer up against the fence. The other horse and rider are behind the steer driving it around the ring to the spot where the lead horse uses its chest to bump the steer up against the padded fence. Points are scored depending partly on whether or not all four of the steer's feet come off the ground when it is bumped against the fence. The last day of the celebration a group of us, about twelve senior missionaries, arrived at the park around 1PM for the program at 2PM. At the gate a notice was posted saying the time of the program had been changed to 6:30 PM. (Somethings in Latin American never change!) So, it was a much longer day than I expected, but worth the wait and in good company. Much dancing with beautiful costumes, of course many beautiful, well trained horses and a lot of outstanding programming. I was glad to be there and see so much of the culture. We all waved Chilean flags and chanted, "Chi, chi, le, le--Viva Chile".
Because of the celebration, the area offices were closed Friday,the 16th and Monday the 19th. I used Friday and Saturday to work on my apartment. In Chile the renter is expected to do all maintenance and improvements. So, I took advantage of that and bought a bedspread and a can of sage green paint for my bedroom. I spend the two days scrubbing baseboards and painting. I discovered that the blackish grey baseboards are actually a camel color. Now that things are clean and brightened up a little, I am liking the place a lot better. This past week I have worked on rearrange the main living area. I also like it a lot better. It somehow feels more inviting. It could be because it is now warm and full of sunshine so you can sit in the room without freezing'
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