It's Chile This Summer: 5 More Gringos Come to Santiago!

Well, the visitors have come! And gone! The last of them left today, so I'll give you a peek into the highlights of the last week and a half!

To start off, my mother has been nagging me about writing a blog, so I decided to post this photo. Make sure click on it and blow it up.

And this one : )

I drove with Raquel to the airport bright and early last Friday morning to meet my parents, Harry Rowland, Denise and Bonnie Grace. Let me give you a preview of Raquel's schedule that day. At 11 a.m. she met with the former president of Chile to pray with her. For lunch, she ate with Louis Palau (the Billy Graham of Latin America) to discuss his upcoming evangelism conference in September. At 5 p.m. she met with the current president of Chile to pray with him. But she began the day with Glen Foster and Harry Rowland!!! Ps. She had a root canal the day before.

Lunch at my family's restaurant on the day of arrival! Delicious as always.

Quit playing games with my heart, with my heart. Oh, I'm sorry. I got a little distracted by the Backstreet boys blaring in the background.

OK, HIGHLIGHTS! Here we go!

San Cristobal. We drove up this beautiful hill to see the giant virgin...and the view. A large statue of Virgin Mary is located at the top of this small mountain. Although it's a lovely piece of art, the view of the city is the real prize for maneuvering a minivan through the twists and turns of a mountain road. You can see the entire city of Santiago with the snow-covered Andes in the background. It's a postcard view!

Mary and her virgin self.

Dad posing with Jesus...

Whole group!

Everyone always has to get the same picture with their own camera!

Enjoying the view

Esteban graciously agreed to be our tour guide to Viña del Mar and Valparaiso. It wouldn't have been the same experience without him! Harry drove us up the coastline to arrive at Viña del Mar, a beautiful beach city. Esteban recommended a quaint little restaurant (shaped like a boat) on the edge of the sea. Thank You Esteban! Might have been the best fish any of us have ever eaten! We then ventured over to the neighboring mountain city of Valparaiso. Once you make your way into the mountains you stumble upon another beautiful view and a small market of vendors. Mountains and the beach in one day...in South America...can't beat that!

Our view from the restaurant in Vina del Mar

Lunch on the "boat"...Dad thinks this is the best family picture we've ever taken.

View from Valparaiso

What's wrong with this?

AZ couldn't stay away from us!

Santa Lucia. When Pedro de Valdivia founded Santiago in 1541, he did so on the hill now called Santa Lucia. The mound, now a famous tourist attraction, is now home to yet another beautiful view of the city. We climbed the stairs (and more stairs and more stairs) to find a nice little plaza, lots of stray dogs and castle-like architecture.
Santa Lucia!

View from the top

We found a very fitting statue of a dog. I had warned them, but I think all 5 of my American visitors now understand that stray dogs really do rule the school over here.

Plaza de Armas. The main square of Santiago is called Plaza de Armas, but I've been told that most of the people in the plaza are more likely Peruvian than Chilean. We explored a beautiful cathedral and ate lunch at a sidewalk cafe. Side note: It's the weirdest thing...people still eat outside, drink coffee outside and have social events outside during the winter. I couldn't survive here. My social life would die.
Plaza de Armas

Who can resist the urge to take a picture with a 6'5" blonde American man?

La Moneda. The president's office resides in the downtown area of Santiago. Although he doesn't live here, it's still the official building of the president.
The president's place

It's easy to forget you aren't in TX

2010 is Chile's 200 year anniversary

Church! My parents and Bonnie Grace were able to attend two Sundays at Parque Apoquindo. It was fun for me to introduce them to all of the wonderful people I've gotten to know over the past weeks. They enjoyed Spanish services in which they (excluding Bonnie Grace) understood absolutely nothing, but at lest they got to join in with the clapping, singing and bowing of head. After the first Sunday, we all went to a restaurant and watched the World Cup final on a projector screen....GO SPAIN!!!
Susan! (And Noemi in her belly...one more month!)

My mentor for the summer, Bobby Carter

World Cup!

BARBECUE. Saturday brought a barbecue. A freezing cold barbecue. A freezing cold barbecue that nobody else seemed to think was freezing cold besides me who was freezing cold the whole time. My Wednesday night Bible study group got their families together for a barbecue to celebrate the end of the semester. Incredible meat cooked by a rock star chef (seriously, he was dressed like a rock star), kids jumping on the trampoline, me shaking in a chair, and my parents laughing and smiling like they understood the conversations. Really though, it was a very fun afternoon with great people and great food! I would do it all over again...even the cold!

We had a fantastic time not only getting to see the sights of Santiago, but getting to truly experience the Chilean culture and getting to know the people. I thoroughly enjoyed having my American visitors, although my mind is exhausted from translating. I could barely even speak English at the end of each day, but it was worth it! We had lots and lots of laughs, sarcasm as always, good food (Bonnie Grace and I kept a strict schedule of eating every 2 hours), maybe too much togetherness time in the car, saw beautiful sights and scenery and wore ourselves out like expert travelers know they should do! We didn't waste a minute. And oh yeah, we enjoyed good weather. Although a bit frustrating, I guess I welcomed the warmer weather even though nobody believes me that it's actually cold here! Tomorrow (the day after my parents leave), a cold front is hitting Santiago. Whatev.

We also spent an entire day touring three different cities that were devastated by the earthquake/tsunami. I will be writing a separate post about this...tomorrow?

Extra pics!
Taco Bell is ALWAYS a highlight!