Wild and wiggly big bus rides were exciting but the camera wiggles too.

It was a wild ride !

The Metro was about as fun as anything. Simple things are the best.

I loved the down time at home.

Weekend at the coast

This is the beautiful beach house where we stayed. The swimming pool is in front and the ocean across the street.


This is the "beach", but I don't think you would want to swim here.


The waves would come in constantly "lulling" you to sleep - not!


Our car is the silver one closest to the fence. A bit hard to get out of such a parking lot.

Visiting the worlds largest underground Copper mine

We learned alot as one day miners.


It was so huge inside the mine that large trucks, buses and other machines could drive in it. We saw ahuge rock crusher that could smash big boulders so they could extract the copper.


It is mighty dark in a mine, we had reflectors, flashlights and head lamps.

Independence Day called Dieciocho, Sept .18

Wandering around the park -taking in all the sights.


There were lots of displays featuring antique farming equipment,household items and clothing.

Lots of people, lots of fun--- they really go all out for Their Independence Day.

The Cueca is the national dance. All Chileanos learn it each year in school. Those who are really good have dance lessons and practice year round. They had different age groups in dance competitions through out the day.

They had five stages set up with Dancing, singing, clown acts,a magician act, and dog show and who knows what else. It was wild, loud and very fun. That is all we saw in a couple of hours. It goes on all day, from 10:00 in morning until Midnight.

There are many rides and activities for the Children, including this ride that turns them upside down. There were bounce houses, slides, climbing walls and more.

Independence Day is the biggest holiday of the year. The parks are turned into huge parties. With many Booths lining the both sides of the park.

September - the Month of National Holidays

To start the celebrating we went to the City Council Building in Providencia (just a couple of blocks from our apartment) for some entertainment. It had rained the day before and looked a little threatening this day, but the weather cooperated. They filled the plaza with chairs and covered each one with a white cover. I guess it creates jobs for the laundry folks.

This is the front of the building from where we were sitting. They have a military band start things off that marches in from the street and end up standing for the whole hour plus performance.

In the distance you can see the band with their "strange" hats. Another group of "cadets" were to the right of them wearing white hats. We couldn't figure out what they were doing until the end when they sang some military song. I don't think they were actually a choir as everybody in Chile "thinks" they can sing.

But these guys really can sing. They are called Los Cuatro Cuartos, which means the four quarters. I don't know why there are five of them. But they sang songs depicting the War of the Pacific between Chile and two countries, Peru and Bolivia. They have been singing this program for 40 years and are a national treasure of their own. They awarded each one a plaque at the end so they must have a building full of them. But it was really enjoyable and we'll be here next year to hear them again.

Surprise Birthday Party at the Call Center

We were always told that they don't know how to make deserts in Chile. This birthday cake was actually good as someone put plenty of sugar in it.

This was actually the day after Mickie's birthday, so it really was a surprise. There was plenty of cake that they wanted us to take home, but we left it there and have no idea what happened to it.

The birthday hosts. The one on the left is a local full time missionary, Elder Farfan and the one on the right is a temporary employee, Cristobal. The two on either side of Elder Johnson are Jose Reyes, the Call Center Supervisor and Ricardo Gonzalez, the Perpetual Education Fund Supervisor. They are all pretty nice guys and are helpful and patient with us.

More Food!

Home made preserves made by Ian's Grandma Susana. The pot was a gift from her also.

On the left is what Ian calls "human bread". On the right is Chilean bread that you buy fresh baked every day. Whichever one you eat will make you fat.