The Copihue (Lapageria rosea),(Ko-pea-way) also known as the Chilean Bellflower and Chilean Glory Flower, is the national flower of Chile. It grows in forests in the southern part of Chile and Argentina…However, the climate here in Paniahue must be just right for it because we see it climbing on the fences all along the street. It is an evergreen climbing plant reaching up to 10 [meters] high among shrubs and trees. The flowers are red, with six petals; the fruit is an edible berry with numerous small seeds. I haven’t noticed that it has a significant fragrance. The roses, wisteria, orange blossoms, and honeysuckle are in bloom right now and smell SOOO delicious. The plant is pollinated by hummingbirds. This is fun to watch.
The first week after we first arrived in Chile, almost exactly one year ago (on October 18) we were greeted with a Relief Society Social. The Relief Society sisters cooked up a bunch of Sopaipillas for us. Some of them were “dry” with just powdered sugar and some were drenched in a brown sugar syrup. Chilean-style sopaipillas are delicious fried rounds of pumpkin-spiced dough drenched in a brown sugar syrup. They make a delicious fall breakfast or afternoon snack. They drink a cereal drink like Postum with these. Sopaipillas are traditionally eaten on rainy winter days in Chile. So we have eaten MANY this winter. They didn’t seem to need to serve them warm, but that was when they were the best! If you can find chancaca, a type of firm dark brown sugar (a byproduct of sugar cane processing), these will taste even more authentic. Sopaipillas are fantastic with their special syrup, but if you're short on time, serve them warm with dusting of powdered sugar. I think I like the “dry” ones best.
Prep Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour, 35 minutes
Ingredients:
1 small sugar pumpkin (for baking)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup dark brown sugar, or grated chancaca
2 cinnamon sticks
3/4 cups water
1 teaspoon cloves
1 small orange
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375 degress. Slice the pumpkin in half, and remove seeds (reserve if desired*) and stringy parts. Rub a baking pan with the oil and place the pumpkin halves cut side down in the pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until pumpkin is soft and can be pierced with a fork. (*The seeds make a great snack, and you can roast them simultaneously wiht the pumpkin. Wash and dry the seeds and toss them in the baking pan with the pumpkin. Check frequently and remove seeds when golden brown, as seeds will roast more quickly. Toss seeds with salt and store in an airtight container.)
Scrape pumpkin out of shell and press through a food mill or potato ricer. You will need 1 cup of packed pumpkin.
Make the syrup: heat 1 cup brown sugar with 1 cup water, the cinnamon sticks and the cloves. Quarter the orange and add to the sugar mixture. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Strain and keep warm.
Stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda, 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar and salt in a bowl. Add the melted butter and pumpkin and mix. Add water gradually, 1-2 tablespoons at a time, until smooth dough forms. Knead dough gently until homogenous.
Roll out dough on floured surface to about 1/2 centimeter thickness. Let dough relax for about 5 minutes, then cut with a 4-inch diameter round cutter. Prick rounds with a fork several times
Heat several inches of oil in a deep skillet or deep fat fryer to 350 degrees. Fry sopaipillas in batches, turning once, until golden brown. Drain briefly on paper towels, then dip each sopaipilla in the warm syrup.
Serve sopaipillas warm, with extra syrup on the side.
Here is a typical dish, eaten at least once a week. Porotos con Riendas, which translates to Beans with Reins. It’s beans, with pumpkin-like squash, a sausage-onion-bell pepper sauted, and spaghetti, thus the "reins". I thought maybe Nelson Leland would love these beans! Also, you can add a bit of tomato sauce. Sometimes these are made with no meat at all, and they are still good! You can make it with ground beef instead of sausage for a change.
This beef and corn casserole is very popular dish in Chile, where it's known as pastel de choclo. Lots of different flavors - beef and onions, raisins, olives, roasted chicken - go into the body of the casserole, and the whole thing is topped off with a thick layer of creamed corn. The creamed corn caramelizes in the oven, and the result is a delicious salty/sweet combination that's reminiscent of shepherd's pie. The following recipe has been "Americanized" in that the olives are chopped and not just inserted pit and all. The corn that we have in the United States is more tender and sweeter than what they have here. I have tried this with some frozen corn that I found here, but I don't like it with the fresh corn which is more like field corn that we fed the cows. How do you like the combination of olives, boiled eggs, and raisins again? It's not just in the empanadas. Hope you enjoy another taste of Chile.
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes
Ingredients:
3-4 medium onions, chopped
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1.5 pounds of ground beef
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
3 cups corn kernels (fresh or frozen)
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup butter
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons finely chopped basil
1/2 cup raisins
1/3 cup chopped black olives
3 hard boiled eggs, chopped
1 cup shredded roasted chicken
2-3 tablespoons powdered sugar
Preparation:
Sauté the onions in the vegetable oil until soft and translucent, 5 minutes.
Add the ground beef, cumin, 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring, until the beef is crumbled and browned. Remove from heat and set aside.
Place the corn kernels in a food processor or blender with 1/4 cup milk. Process for 1 to 2 minutes, until corn is blended and appears creamy.
Melt 1/4 cup butter in a pan, and add 1 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon sugar, and the corn mixture. Add the remaining 3/4 cup milk and simmer, stirring, until mixture thickens, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add the chopped basil and remove from heat.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Drain the liquid from the browned beef mixture. Place the ground beef mixture in the bottom of a 3-4 quart casserole dish. Sprinkle raisins, olives, and hardboiled eggs over the beef, then layer the chicken on top.
Spread the corn mixture over the top of the casserole so that it covers the rest of the ingredients. Sprinkle the powdered sugar on top.
Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, until the corn mixture is golden brown.
We went out to the “campo” or out in the country on Monday, the last day of the 4 day holiday for the Bicentennial. We had fun hiking and flying kites and eating. This is another things we did while we were there. We played the game called Rayuela. Rayuela or tejo is a typical traditional game of rural Chile that has been played since colonial times. The game of Rayuela most resembles the game of horse shoes. There is another game called rayuela played by Chilean children which is really just hopscotch. However, the traditional Chilean rayuela is very different from this childhood version.The objective is to throw your tejo, a disk or marker like a rock or a coin, so that it lands on the target.
The target is a wooden box less than a square meter in size and about a board’s width high. This box is filled with mud and a taut, white string is stretched across the surface in the middle. A player will stand a designated distance from the box and throw the tejo trying to get it to land on the string. The most points are awarded to the player who lands closest to the string or on top of it.
Dad was really good at this game. Must have been all that practice with horseshoes!
This is the drink that we were served for dessert at our Bicentennial Activity in the branch.The expression, “Más chileno que el mote con huesillos,” translated into “More Chilean than a mote con huesillo,” refers to the distinctive nationality of this drink.
Mote con huesillo is a traditional Chilean summer-time drink, known as the “refreshing national drink.” It is a non-alcoholic consisting of a sweet clear nectar like liquid made with dried peaches (huesillo) cooked in sugar and water and then once cooled mixed with fresh cooked husked wheat (mote).[1] The sweet clear nectar is usually made with sugar, but can also be supplemented or replaced with honey. When the drink is served without the dried peaches, it is called a “descarozados.” On occasion, it may also be served with dried prunes, however this is less common. Another modern option is to use peach preserves in place of the dried peaches. Both the mote and huesillo correspond to Mediterranean climates, like that of central Chile. This drink is very popular during summer months and is sold by street vendors on rolling carts or stands. It is also a very popular homemade recipe, for which the ingredients are readily available in supermarkets, small grocery stores and farmers' markets. Bottled, canned or store packaged versions of mote con huesillo are limited and thus, not common.
The huesillos, or dried peaches, are washed and soaked the night prior to preparation in order to rehydrate them. Once hydrated, they are cooked for thirty minutes or more in a sugar and water mixture, optionally with some natural cinnamon sticks. To give the drink its honey hue, sugar is heated in a sauce pan in order to caramelize it and bring it to a rich orange ruby color, which is added to the syrup mixture.While the huesillos are cooking, the mote, or husked wheat, is cooked in water until tender. Once the mote are cooked, they are drained and added to the sweet huesillos drink, and left to cool. This combination is served chilled, in a tall glass with a tall desert spoon for easy serving.
I thought you might like to make some of these so I am including the recipe. Enjoy!
In Chile, the most traditional empanada filling is called "pino". Pino is a seasoned mixture of ground beef, onions, raisins, black olives, and hard boiled eggs. The empananda dough is quick and easy to make, and can be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator. The pino tastes best if made the day before and allowed to rest overnight before filling the empanandas.
Prep Time: 35 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 65 minutes
Ingredients:
Empanada dough (see recipe link below)
3 large onions, chopped
1 pound ground beef
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon chile powder
1 tablespoon paprika
1 beef bouillon cube, dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water
Cook the onions and garlic in the vegetable oil and butter until softened. Add the ground beef, cumin, chile powder, paprika, beef bouillon, and salt and pepper to taste.
Cook the beef, stirring and crumbling the meat, until browned. Add the flour and continue to cook for 5 or 10 minutes more.
Remove the meat mixture and let cool. The beef mixture will keep up to 2 days in the refrigerator.
Shape the empanadas: Separate the dough into golf ball size pieces, and roll into smooth balls. Let rest for 5 minutes. On a floured surface, roll each ball of dough into a 6 inch diameter circle, about 1/4 inch thick. Add 1 tablespoon of the beef filling, a few raisins and some chopped olives, and a slice of hard boiled egg to the middle of the circle.
Brush the edges with water and fold the pastry in half over the filling, to make a semi-circle.
Seal the edges by pressing down with your fingers. Brush the sealed edge lightly with water, then turn the edge toward the middle and press with your fingers to seal.
Mix the egg yolk with 2 tablespoons milk, and brush the empanadas with the mixture.
Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown.
This recipe produces a sweet dough that contrasts perfectly with savory fillings. Empanada dough is less flaky than pie crust (although you can substitute frozen pie crust dough in a pinch) - it has a tender texture that soaks up the filling.
This dough can be used for baked or fried empanandas. If you are going to fry the empanadas, omit the egg yolk and roll the dough out slightly thinner (less than 1/4" thickness).
Ingredients:
4 cups flour
1-2 teaspoons salt
2-3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons butter, chilled
12 tablespoons lard or vegetable shortening, chilled
3/4 - 1 cup water
2 egg yolks
Preparation:
Sift the flour into a bowl. Stir in the salt and the sugar.
Blend the butter and shortening (or lard) into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter or with two knives, until fairly well blended.
Whisk the egg yolks wiht 3/4 cups water. Stir in the 1/2 cup of water/egg mixture, a little at a time until the dough starts to come together smoothly. Keep kneading the dough, adding more water/egg a little bit at a time as necessary (you made need a few tablespoons extra of water), until the dough is smooth. The dough will seem a bit shaggy until it has thoroughly chilled.
Cover the dough with saran wrap and refrigerate for about an hour. (Dough can also be kept overnight (or a couple of days) in the refrigerator) Dough should be soft and smooth, and not elastic - if you poke a hole in it with your finger, the indentation should remain.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface, and roll into desired thickness.
Empanadas are another very typical dish, but not one eaten every week like the cazuela or carbonada. Today we were invited to Marioli and Irma’s house for almuerzo of just empanadas. We had fried ones with cheese. We also had baked ones with meat or chicken or shellfish or dessert ones with fruit filling. On the right are the baked ones. Yum! They are filled with ground beef, onion, one small slice of boiled egg, one olive (with the pit) and maybe a raisin or two. Many times chicken will be substituted for the beef, but they always include the one olive (with the pit). Watch out teeth! They also make fried ones (at the very top) with the same fillings. The fried ones with cheese were the best! I didn’t like the ones made with shellfish. Yuck! They make several kinds of dessert empanadas also. My favorite is pineapple. All Chileans love empanadas. What's not to love?
Throughout Chile there are many stand-up hot dog stands filled with diners wolfing down very large hot dogs. These hot dogs are called completos or completos italiano. The completo can have many toppings,but the real authentic one has avocado sauce, diced tomatoes; and chopped pickles, carrots, onions and cabbage. On top of the avacado sauce is a very large squirt of mayonnaise. They even have a hot dog chain (like a McDonalds) called "Doggies". We ate there once for the experience. Dad said if I ate there again it would be by myself. I guess you can tell from that how he liked the food.
The national dance of Chile is called the Cueca. This dance has rich historical roots in both African and Native American cultures. Even though Chileans have been dancing the Cueca for years, it wasn’t declared the official dance of Chile until September, 1979. The Cueca is a parody of the courtship of a chicken and rooster. The dancers wave handkerchiefs above their heads during the dance. These handkerchiefs can symbolize the feathers of the bird or the rooster’s comb.
The choreography (movements) of the Cueca consists of circles, moving in semicircles back and forth (known as half moons), and turning towards the partner and then away. The dance happens in an imaginary circle, with the man in one half, and the woman in the other. It starts with a promenade where the man invites the woman to join him by offering his arm. This is done while instrumental entry music is played. The couples stand facing each other about three meters apart. Before the song begins, the couple claps their hands in rhythm of the music. The children have been dressing like this all week and will continue until after the 18th of September. I think they look really cute!
This, to me, is the boring part of Chilean food. Here, you see carbonada. Does is look familiar? It should. It is basically the same as cazuela, just all chopped up. This is a tasty vegetable beef soup.
This is, by far, the most typical Chilean dish. Cazuela de Vacuno. Basically its beef and vegetable soup. But, as you can see, all the veggies are in big pieces rather than all chopped up. It has beef, potato, squash, corn, green beans and rice. Often it is garnished with fresh, chopped cilantro.
The interesting thing about this soup is how it is eaten. Americans want to eat a little bit of everything. This is not possible with cazuela. You must, must, must eat the broth first. If you don't, you will splash broth all over everything if you try to eat potato or meat first. Please don't ask me how I figured this out!
Chilean families will eat this at least once a week. It can be eaten as an appetizer or a main course, depending on how much meat you have to put in it. You can also make it with chicken.
I want to share with you some of the traditional foods we have found in Chile. I love good breads and the marraqueta is my favorite bread here in Chile.
The basis of the chilean diet is not tortillas, as many assume, but bread. The one shown above is the marraqueta. This is the most delicious of them all. They are fairly large, each half about the size of a bagle, but lighter. Don't buy them while they are still hot because you end up eating the whole bag!
The most common bread is the one above, the hallulla, pronounced eye-you-yah.
These are good, but I am now sick to death of them! Chileans, however, never tire of them. They are life and breath to them! Give me a marraqueta any day.
Chile has a lot of “dichos,” popular sayings that enrich the language. I came across a new one today: “Nació con la marraqueta bajo el brazo” (Born with a hard roll under his/her arm). Excuse me?
This curious expression is used in the same way English speakers would refer to someone being born with a silver spoon in his or her mouth. In other words, they are born into a family without economic concerns.
A marraqueta(mah-rrah-KET-ta-and don’t forget to roll those r’s!) is a favorite type of Chilean bread made from French baguette dough, but with its own very specific shape. It can be divided into 4 parts (which I would call rolls), although for some reason that I’ve never been able to figure out, 1 unit is actually 2 marraquetas and each has 2 parts to it.
Like French bread, marraquetas are crunchy on the outside and very light and airy on the inside. They are often used for sandwiches, such as the very typical ham & cheese sandwichserved for breakfast (yes… breakfast).
So what’s the relationship between bread and wealth? I’m speculating, but my guess is that it has to do with bread representing abundance, references to “give us this day our daily bread” and, of course, as good descendents of the bread-loving Spaniards, for many Chileans, bread is a must at every meal, so having that problem resolved at birth is a very good start indeed!
We had a fun Father's Day Party in the branch. We served Mexican food of tacos, black beans, and Spanish rice with flan for dessert. We ate popcorn and decorated the table paper while we waited for everyone to arrive. Then we played table games after dinner. We gave the fathers a checker game that we made using silver peso coins and gold 5 peso coins for the markers. Isn't the little girl in the top picture adorable? Their family just moved into our branch.
The last several months we have been in the construction business. We have been helping our branch members to build two room structures called "media aguas". They are a two room wooden structure that can be improved by adding foam "insulation" and electricity. Running water for a bathroom is a luxury that needs to be found in a nearby structure or home.
It is getting colder here now that it is fall and May corresponds with November in the Northern Hemisphere. Since there is no central heating or insulation in the houses, we are adapting some new "styles". We had some polar blankets, so I created "snuggles" out of them. Howard took a picture of me wearing mine while working on the computer. (You'll also notice my gloves with the fingers cut short.)I'm including the instructions for making a snuggle in my post for those of you who would like to make one, if you remember next fall. Here's How to Make a Snuggie Type Blanket 1. You will be cutting the sleeve portion from the three-yard length of fabric 60 inches wide. About two feet should do it. Now you have two pieces of fabric. 2. On the large piece, make two evenly spaced holes (for the sleeves) about a foot from one of the cut ends of the fabric. 3. Folding the material in half from selvage to selvage, not the cut end, will guide you on where to make the cuts from side to side. Allow enough room in the center for the width of your body. Measure the width of your body, add a few inches, cut the number in half and use that to measure the distance from the fold to the center of the oval hole you plan to cut. You can even cut both layers of fabric at one time. The oval should be longer top to bottom. Measure the width of your arms to get an idea of how big you want to make the cuts, but keep in mind that you're going to add a seam that'll take up some room too. 4. Now, cut the sleeve piece of fabric in half and sew each half on the long side. You'll end up with two tubes. These are the sleeves that you'll connect to the holes.
This is a fountain in the middle of the town of Santa Cruz. Since this is wine country, it represents the young maidens from the village stomping the grapes. The process isn't nearly so picturesque now (since it is all done by machine)but the memory of days gone by are captured in this fountain.
Life in Chile changed drastically this morning at 3:34 AM. We had an 8.8 earthquake with the center less than a hundred miles from where we live in Santa Cruz. We had several families in our branch who lost their homes. There was an apartment complex with 12 buildings of 12 apartments each that collapsed. We had 27 families that lived there. We had one sister, who worked in an old hospital who died when a wall fell on her. Now, two weeks later, we are still in the clean up phase and are helping families with food and clothing and tents. We have begun rebuilding a home for one sister. We are happy to be safe. We had part of our house fall down, but it fell to the outside. The rest of the house is strong and repaired now.
Monday, February 22, 2010
We had a fun breakfast with the branch on Saturday February 13. We called it "Piedras y Panecitos" or Rocks and Rolls. The members thought it was a strange idea to have an activity on Saturday morning, but they agreed to do it and it was a great success. We ate rolls (and everything you could think to put on them) and we painted rocks to help us remember to pray in the morning and in the evening.
Tenemos lo que llaman una cocina de la galera. Howard y yo tenemos que dar vuelta de lado para pasarse en la cocina. ¡Ha! El tablero de corte es mi superficie de trabajo. Tenemos sitio para la microonda y tostadora poniéndolos encima del refrigerador. Los misionarios pusieron junto un & agradable del gabinete; aparador que sostiene los platos, pero no mucho. Tan además de los ingredientes extraños, el área de trabajo es un desafío en cocinar. La sala de estar es un tamaño agradable con el sitio para el sofá y una tabla y las sillas. También doy cosí algunas cortinas para las ventanas. Eran cosido ya solamente ellas eran demasiado largas y tuvieron que ser dobladilladas para las cuatro ventanas. Éramos absolutamente afortunados que las barras de cortina fueron puestas ya por los misionarios. La atadura cualquier cosa a estas paredes del cemento es un desafío, especialmente con las herramientas limitadas. No hay suficiente espacio o instalaciones para la lavadora. Pusimos tan la arandela en una losa del cemento fuera de la casa. Howard puso juntas las conexiones para hacer una manguera del agua para funcionar con una línea de la agua fría a un golpecito fuera de la casa. Funcionamos con una manguera de jardín del golpecito en la yarda delantera. Compramos una cuerda eléctrica anaranjada y la funcionamos del exterior a través de la ventana del cuarto de baño al enchufe eléctrico en el otro lado del cuarto de baño cuando queremos funcionar la arandela. Drenamos el agua en la pequeña área del jardín detrás de la casa. Somos muy agradecidos tener esta lavadora rota vieja porque no hay lavanderías en esta ciudad. Los Élderes piden que a diversos miembros cada semana lave su ropa para ella. Esto es difícil para algunas de los Élderes. Ahora hemos estado lavando la ropa para una de los élderes cada semana. Los miembros también suministran una comida al día para los élderes. Esta suele ser la comida de la tarde alrededor de la 1:30. Por lo general, servir la sopa, ensalada, y luego un plato principal (muchas veces se trata de espaguetis). La gente aquí es pobre, y los elderes no siempre reciben la carne. El desayuno suele ser de avena o pan con mermelada. Comen "once" que es una merienda alrededor de las 5PM. Ellos comen una vez más después de las 8pm que suele ser una bebida como el té y el pan y el queso. Tenemos cuerdas para tender la ropa el funcionar de cada dirección de poste al poste debajo del carport. Es un gran lugar en un día como hoy cuando está lloviendo gatos y los perros y el área del jardín trasero no es nada sino fango. Howard dice la tierra en muy fértil y crecería un jardín encantador pero debemos permanecer centrados en nuestro trabajo así que Howard acordados renuentes para no pasar el tiempo que crece un jardín. Esta resolución desapareció rápidamente cuando los miembros comenzaron a traer las plantas de lecho de Howard de tomates, de la lechuga, y de la albahaca. Tan ahora tenemos un jardín. La pequeña yarda de la suciedad se cerca con una alta cerca. Pero sentimos seguros. Es una buena vecindad. No rico sino la gente tome el orgullo en su vecindad y creemos que todos los ladrones están en las ciudades grandes como Santiago. Recogen la basura tres veces a la semana. Apenas colgamos nuestros bolsos de basura en la cerca y vienen recogerla en carros de basura. Tenemos un pequeño parque encantador delante de la casa con oscilaciones y una diapositiva y los bancos a sentarse encendido y visita con los amigos. Howard puso en una nueva cabeza de ducha y tenemos un calentador de agua en línea. Podemos comenzar tan el día con una ducha caliente encantadora. Compramos estantes de toalla, la oficina de la misión nos dio un espejo, y compramos un pequeño sostenedor con 4 cestas plásticas para nuestros artículos de tocador del cuarto de baño. Somos tan muy felices en nuestra pequeña casa. Es muy cómoda y fijada para arriba agradable para nosotros. Tomó más que una semana para conseguir movida adentro, pero ahora pensamos que trabajará bien para nosotros y podemos pasar más foco en el trabajo que vinimos aquí hacer. Caminamos por todas partes nosotros vamos. A veces, cuando tenemos porciones de mercancías a llevar cogemos un collectivo para conseguir el hogar. Era un día de la diversión cuando montamos a casa con ambas ventanas abiertas y el 2X4s que pegaba hacia fuera las ventanas. ¡Ha! Un collectivo es un sedán de la puerta del asiduo 4. Solamente funciona con una ruta del sistema como un autobús. Hay 6 diversas rutas que son identificadas por un número exhibido encima del coche. Usted apenas las agita abajo y le paran y cogen. Usted les dice dónde usted quiere conseguir apagado a lo largo de su ruta. Cuestan 250 Pesos por persona, así que para $1 podemos montar a casa de ciudad. Somos el gasto 3 o más horas por día apenas que caminan adonde necesitamos ir. Nos lleva la media hora (unidireccional) la caminata a la parte principal de la ciudad para hacer compras o para ir a la capilla de centro del districto (estaca). Nos tarda cerca de 20 minutos (de unidireccional) la otra dirección para llegar a la capilla de Paniahue adonde vamos a la iglesia.
We have what they call a galley kitchen. Howard and I have to turn sideways to pass each other in the kitchen. Ha! The cutting board is my work surface “counterspace”. We have room for the microwave and toaster by putting them on top of the refrigerator. The missionaries put together a nice cabinet & hutch that holds the dishes, but not much else. So besides the strange ingredients, the work area is a challenge in cooking. The living room is a nice size with room for the couch and a table and chairs. I also hand sewed some curtains for the windows. They were already sewn only they were too long and had to be hemmed for all four windows. We were quite fortunate that the curtain rods were already put up by the missionaries. Attaching anything to these cement walls is a challenge, especially with limited tools. There is not sufficient space or facilities for the washing machine. So we put the washer on a slab of cement outside the house. Howard put together the connections to make a water hose to run a cold water line to a tap outside the house. We run a garden hose from the tap in the front yard. We bought an orange electric cord and run it from the outside through the bathroom window to the electric outlet on the other side of the bathroom when we want to run the washer. We drain the water into the little garden area behind the house. We are very grateful to have this old broken washing machine because there are no Laundromats in this town. The elders ask different members every week to wash their clothes for them. This is difficult for some of the elders. We have been washing the clothes for one of the elders every week now. The members also supply one meal a day for the elders. This is usually the afternoon meal around 1:30. They usually serve soup, salad, and then a main plate (many times this is spaghetti). The people here are poor and so the elders don’t always get meat. Breakfast is usually oatmeal or bread and jam. They eat “once” (own-say) which is a snack around 5PM. They eat again after 8PM which is usually a drink like tea and bread and cheese. We have clotheslines running every direction from pole to pole under the carport. It is a great place on a day like today when it is raining cats and dogs and the back garden area is nothing but mud. Howard says the ground in very fertile and would grow a lovely garden but we must stay focused on our work so Howard reluctantly agreed to not spend time growing a garden. This resolve quickly vanished when members began bringing Howard bedding plants of tomatoes, lettuce, and basil. So now we have a garden. The small dirt yard is fenced with a high fence. But we feel safe. It is a good neighborhood. Not wealthy but the people take pride in their neighborhood and we believe all the thieves are in the big cities like Santiago. They collect the garbage three times a week. We just hang our garbage bags on the fence and they come and collect it in garbage trucks. We have a lovely little park in front of the house with swings and a slide and benches to sit on and visit with friends. Howard put in a new shower head and we have an inline water heater. So we can begin the day with a lovely hot shower. We bought towel racks, the mission office gave us a mirror, and we bought a little holder with 4 plastic baskets for our bathroom toiletries. So we are very happy in our little house. It is very comfortable and fixed up nicely for us. It took more than a week to get moved in, but now we think it will work well for us and we can spend more focus on the work we came here to do. We walk everywhere we go. Sometimes, when we have lots of goods to carry we catch a collectivo to get home. It was a fun day when we rode home with both windows open and the 2X4’s sticking out the windows. Ha! A collectivo is a regular 4 door sedan. Only it runs a set route like a bus. There are 6 different routes that are identified by a number displayed on top of the car. You just wave them down and they stop and pick you up. You tell them where you want to get off along their route. They cost 250 pesos per person, so for $1 we can ride home from town. We are spending 3 or more hours a day just walking where we need to go. It takes us half an hour (one way) to walk to the main part of town to do shopping or go to the District (Stake) Center chapel. It takes us about 20 minutes (one way) the other direction to get to the Paniahue Chapel where we go to church.
Our bright yellow home (painted yellow inside and out) is very small but enough for us. As you can see from the pictures there is only room for our bed in the bedroom. There is a little alcove for our wardrobe, but it was not big enough for all our clothes. The next room we have made into an office and we use the closet alcove for another hanger for my clothes.One day two we went to the hardware store to find a pole to hang my clothes. We couldn’t find a rack but we did find a “pressure” pole for shower curtains, curtains, etc. We brought it home and it promptly fell down. On day four we went to town again and bought a 2X4 and had it cut into 5 ft lengths. Howard brought it home and cut V’s in the top to hold the pole and now it works just fine. Buying things is a real challenge. We took three trips just to find 5 nails. There is a 3rd bedroom (7ftX7ft) that we are using as a pantry/storage room. It holds our suitcases, tools, ironing board, cleaning tools, and food.
Nuestro hogar amarillo brillante (amarillo pintado adentro y hacia fuera) es muy pequeño pero bastante para nosotros. Como usted puede ver de los cuadros hay solamente sitio para nuestra cama en el dormitorio. Hay una pequeña alcoba para nuestro guardarropa, pero no era bastante grande para toda nuestra ropa. El cuarto siguiente que hemos hecho en una oficina y utilizamos la alcoba del armario para otra suspensión para mi ropa. El día dos fuimos al almacén de hardware a encontrar un poste para colgar mi ropa. Nosotros que del coludan encuentra un estante pero nos encontró un poste del presura para las cortinas de ducha, cortinas, etc. Le trajimos el hogar y cayó puntualmente abajo. El día cuatro fuimos a la ciudad otra vez y compramos un 2X4 y lo hicimos cortar en longitudes de 2 metros. Howard le trajo el hogar y el cortó un “V” en la tapa para sostener el poste y ahora trabaja apenas muy bien. La compra de cosas es un reto real. Acabamos de tomar tres viajes para encontrar 5 clavos. Hay un 3ro dormitorio (los 7ftX7ft) ese nosotros está utilizando como una despensa/cuarto de almacenaje. Sostiene nuestras maletas, herramientas, tablero que plancha, herramientas de limpieza, y alimento.
