Chile

TOO POOR TO ENTER CHILE

Arriving in Chile, what a hassle! I have to laugh just thinking back on it. Our flight from Peru was delayed so we got in at midnight. Delayed is normal and even expected in South America. The airports are so much more ‘lax’ than ours. In Peru when evening rolls around, and the workers want to go home, they just wave everyone through customs and security to speed things up. (Sometimes, towards tourists, they try to mooch as much off you as possible.) Foolishly, Charissa and I forgot that you have to pay an entrance fee before getting through customs in Chile. The fee was $130 USD. Ahhh, We were pretty much down to a few Peruvian Soles, less than $10 in total. At this point in the trip my visa card had stopped working. We were told we’d have to see the police. There we were: no money, no cards that we could pay with, no phone to let the people picking us up know what had happened. Charissa and I looked at each other. The police? The security guards told us to sit and wait in a corner. We waited…. and waited… and waited. Finally the airport was empty. All the lines of people going through customs were gone. We were alone. A guard came over to us. He asked us how we expected to pay. We told him we’d have to go to an ATM machine and get money out. He looked at us for a long time. I guess we did look pretty bad. We’d basically come straight from the Salkantay Trek. We were far from beautiful. Our hair was crying out for a shower. Our clothes desperately needed to be washed. Our back packs looked like they’d been through the war. Our shoes were covered in dirt. Our arms and legs had bug bites all over them. The guard looked us over. “If I take you to the ATM will you actually have any money to take out? He asked. =) We both assured him we did, yet he didn’t look convinced. Charissa and I grinned at each other, apparently we really looked broke. He repeated the question several times. Finally we were taken to a machine. Chilean Pesos was the only currency we could withdraw. Unfortunately, the airport rule is: Visitors to South America must pay the fee in US dollars. From the ATM we had to go to a money exchange place. We were feeling terrible for the friends who’d still be waiting to pick us up. Our guard got chatting with another police. As usual, conversations are never brief. We were dying to get back and meet our friends. Finally we got through security, paid our fee, collected our baggage and wandered out of the empty airport. It was almost 3:00am. Don and Hannah Passi met us. Wow, they’d been so patient.
Moral of the story: Definitely find out about entrance fees before entering a country. =)

SANTIAGO

Shock! The first thing that struck us was we were back to civilization, at least in comparison to our last 2 months. Santiago is quite westernized. People drove like rules existed. Houses and neighbourhoods looked almost European. There is a definite German, French, British, and Spanish influence that you’ll notice in the architecture and the people. I was really shocked to see things that reminded me of Germany. First I thought I was just imagining it, but apparently about 50 years ago a wave of German immigrants came over. Bringing with them a lot of German food, industrial ideas, and habits. For the fist time I could blend in pretty easily. Argentina and Chile actually have people who grow to be taller than 5 feet. Charissa could even get away with being lighter skinned, since it’s so cold down there. August is the middle of winter. Snowboard season for the locals. The city is surrounded by mountains. It was COLD! We were unprepared. Each night we’d fill a hot water bottle just to keep ourselves from freezing. Hot water bottles are amazing, Charissa and I can both become hot water bottle sales advocates now. =) Hannah, our friend, took us downtown to a place she new we could pick up some cheap winter clothes. We jumped on the metro system. It’s amazing. So clean and easy to get around on. It’s a cleaner system than London, New York, and Paris. (I guess it’s also probably newer.) We got to meet a friend of hers who designs her own line of fashion. She is definitely very original. She tries to sort of blend old-fashioned styles with her own new ones. Pretty cool to see, because I love to sew and alter clothes instead of buying clothes. Chilean food is delicious. It is actually similar to the way my mum cooks. They use a lot of olive oil, garlic, onion, salt & pepper, and lemon to spice things. In the evenings we got to meet lots of Hannah’s friends. Every night we didn’t get to bed before 2:00 or 3:00am. That’s because things don’t evening get started till 10:30 or 11:00 at night. If you plan a party or get together you’d generally invite everyone for 10:00pm but if they show up before 11:00 it’s like: they must be really bored. We never managed to wake up before 11:00am. On our first day Charissa and I slept in till 2:00. Neither of us even thought that possible. It was the first sleep-in we’d had on our entire trip. Chile was like a time to catch up on all the sleep we’d lost. What was most exciting for me was suddenly having a break through with my Spanish. I’d heard things over and over again but finally it just clicked. Before Chile I was able to do what I was told and get what I wanted, as well as ask basic questions. In Chile I found the words just starting to flow. I chatted all night on random subjects. My Spanish is far from perfect but at least I can be understood and pretty much understand everything. It was so exciting!

Spanish Quirks:
Spanish in Chile is hilarious. They have so much slang. You’ll almost never hear them pronounce the letter ‘S’. Costa Rican Spanish is so formal and perfect. It’s like they all speak in Old English, even to their kids. Words like: “therefore” are used all the time. You always say ‘Usted’ instead of “Tu” the polite form of ‘You’. In Peru the Spanish is less formal. It took getting used to, to make that switch. At first we were so polite and formal it was rude. We found Peruvian Spanish sort of whiny. Also in Peru there are lots of native languages that are still being used. Chilean Spanish is known to be difficult to understand, yet we actually kind of liked it. It was funny. Argentina was probably my favourite. They speak Spanish with the enthusiasm of Italians. It’s so singsong and expressive. They speak with a funny lisp but it’s just so much fun. Be careful, in each country we found words had different meanings. For example in Chile ‘Lolitas’ means ‘young girls‘. In Argentina it means ‘breasts’. An embarrassing mistake our missionary friend made when preaching in Argentina.

OUR HOST FAMILY

The Passi family are awesome!! We had such a good time at their house. A few years ago when they were visiting Canada they stayed with Charissa’s family and also our friends the Speidels. That was the connection. They offered to have us right away, when they heard we were coming down. Don and Ruth, the parents, felt God called them to be missionaries down in Chile. At the time their three kids were late elementary/early high school age, not your typical time to be moving down to another country to do mission work. Although they had just bought their first house and started to settle down they felt this was God’s call. Their ministry is working with University students (Navigators) - hosting bible studies and get together‘s. It’s been really cool. Ruth was a great role model for me to spend time with. Don is such a fun loving steady dad. Hannah was so much fun to hang out with and chat with. Listening to stories along the way was definitely the highlight of our journey. Everywhere we went we heard great stories of God’s work. I compiled a notebook of amazing stories. A lot of the time you’ll prove God in something that seems really little… yet not too small for God to care about or want us to trust Him with. Isn’t our God an AWESOME GOD!! So often His plan for our lives turns out different than we expected, yet He wants us to just trust Him, thank Him, and praise Him for the changes and challenges that come up. I’ve found in my own experience He’ll surprises us with something so much better than we could have worked out on our own. God wants us to soar on wings like eagles… yet we have to take that leap of faith. I love the eagle’s story. Growing up the baby eagle gets so comfortable in his little nest… all cozy and warm… mom even brings him food. The nest is on the edge of a cliff. Then one day mom starts pulling out the feathers and twigs from the nest. Why would she do a thing like that, it’s not so comfy anymore? But mom doesn’t want her little guy to be satisfied with just being comfy where he is… she wants him to experience the freedom of flying… soaring high into the air. Mom then pushes baby out of the nest and off the edge of the cliff. Baby is freaking out and screaming, I’m going to die! Before he hit’s the rocky ground mom swoops down and catches him up with her wing… he’s carried back up to the nest. Phew… that was close. Wow.. mom does it again and again, is she trying to kill me? thinks baby. At the time baby doesn’t like the unpleasant experience. But eventually he flaps his little wings and learns to fly. All the trials were worth it. It’s like God wants us to soar, just like the mom eagle. To step out of our comfort zone, trust Him… He’ll never let us fall completely and He’s promised that when He begins a good work in us He’ll see it through.

THE JONESES IN SAN FELIPE

Charissa and I jumped on a bus and headed over to San Felipe. It’s a beautiful city right at the foot of the Andes mountain range. From there you can take the mountain pass east and arrive in Argentina. The Jones’s, an older missionary couple, had invited us to come out. The drive was spectacular. Rolling hills spread for miles, covered with vineyards, fruit trees, and all kinds of greenery. Visiting the missionaries was such a refreshing experience. They are the grandparents of some of my pals back home. They’ve been dedicated to spreading the gospel in Chile for over 50 years. It was incredible to see what a blessing they have been down there. We also met another older lady called Margaret, she and the Jones’s are some of the spunkiest old people I’ve every met. Margaret told Charissa and I how she came to be in Chile. She’d been going to Nursing school and had huge ambitions for herself. She realized how all her plans were for herself… she hadn’t really cared to do what God wanted her too. She decided to live her life for God, to surrender her will to Him. Long story short, she felt called to go to Chile. At the time it really didn’t look appealing. Yet she decided it was more important to do God’s will than her own. In Chile she’s been a blessing to those God surrounded her with. She’s such a cheerful person. The Joneses have started churches in many different towns. The Catholic presence is huge in all of South America. Almost everyone will say they are ‘Christian’ yet it’s gone so far from following Christ. You’ll see little shrines with sacrifices below them and the people are so superstitious. God has opened up so many doors for Dave and Evelyn Jones. They are allowed to have 15 minutes radio time. They are allowed to preach in the public square, even the mayor makes sure all the music (That normally plays continually) get’s paused. They teach little kids Sunday schools all over the place. Margaret and Evelyn make a dinner every once and while for a whole crowd of people. They come for food and a bible study. Evelyn is like a mother to the hurting people God puts in her path. A verse they gave me was: John 15:4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”

VALPARAÍSO

Valparaíso is protected as a World Heritage Site. Hannah and Ruth took us down for the day. It’s a port city that almost reminded me a little of Vancouver, at least when you look out to the ocean with the big container ships anchored. Of course the buildings and atmosphere is very different. (Thinking about home made us realize how long we‘d been gone., it felt like a life time. We’d both changed from the experiences we’d had and the lessons learned. For a moment Charissa and I were wishing we could be home… but there was lots more in store for us yet to come. Argentina would be another adventure.) Valparaiso, like most of Chile, is vulnerable to earthquakes. Everywhere you look is a photo opportunity. I got so excited just thinking about the cool paintings and graphics I could do with the pictures. We met a Norwegian Ski Team, who was filming a movie. They were visiting Valparaiso for the day. We got chatting, turned out the photographer and film guy were both from Vancouver… possibly even seen them when I was riding up at our local mountains. Small world.

There’s the nutshell version of my Chile experience. If you ever plan to visit you will surely be awestruck with the natural beauty of the country and fall in love with the colourful atmosphere.