¡vuelvo al mundo chileno!

i think i had forgotten how much i love chile. well, let´s just say i´ve remembered. and being gone for a year has only made me appreciate it even more. i´d forgotten how beautiful it is here, how strong my ties are here, how many people i love and how much i love them. i think i forgot all of that to make being away easier, but now that i´m back... it´s all come back to me. i got here saturday evening and in so many ways i feel like i never left. i´ve been able to pick right back up with so many of my old relationships, i remember all the places i always went, i still know how to get around, and my spanish has only gotten better. even though the weather´s been cold and i really haven´t done anything super exciting, my first 5 days here have been wonderful beyond words. and then, on top of coming back to these people and places i love, it´s been so amazing coming back to christian community after not having any in bolivia. the whole experience of coming back has been one huge blessing after another. and it´s not over yet! yay!

so a run down of what i´ve been up to here... i got in saturday and seba (my chilean brother) picked me up at the airport. seba and i were super close when i was here last year, so it was really great getting picked up by him and having the whole ride to valpo from santiago to catch up. after beening so close while i was here, there´s been alot of catching up to do. we first headed to seba´s apartment in valpo where i´ve been staying. i was going to stay at the family´s house where i stayed last year, but my chilean mom has had to bring her parents whose health isn´t doing too great to the house to take care of them, so there´s just not room for me. so i´m staying with seba and his roommates noel and lisette (lisette is actually the director of the program i came to chile with the first time, so we´re good friends) which has been really great b-c they´re all so nice and there appartment is wonderfully located right in the middle of valpo. after dropping my stuff off at the appartment we went to the family´s house in viña. seeing my chilean mom again was a really sweet moment. she hugged me for so long... it´s been so wonderful to really be hugged by people who care for me so much. i missed that in bolivia. after seeing everyone at the house, we went to an asado (barbeque) that they had kinda organized as my welcome party. sunday we went to church and had lunch together with all the family. this week i´ve just kinda been doing whatever as plans present themselves. i´ve gone to the isa office a couple time to see all the ladies there again, tuesday i got to see my friend scott who´s a friend from home who´s here doing a summer program. the rest of the time´s just been spent doing random things in the city or hanging out with seba. today i went to the family´s house to have lunch and hang out with the fam and now i´m at eva´s house (eva´s my brother felipe´s girlfriend and a good friend of mine) with pipe just hanging out. so yeah, that´s been chile so far, nothing too earth shattering as far as happenings go, but to me it´s just been really wonderful getting to be with everyone again.

so, i think i´ll leave it at that. i may update again soon, but i may not have the time. either way, know that i love you guys lots and i´ll be home before you know it!

less than 43 hours left in bolivia!

in 48 hours i will be in santiago, probably going through customs, with my chilean family waiting to pick me up at the airport. i can't even tell you how ridiculously excited i am to be there and to see them again. i have been missing them since the day i left just under a year ago and knowing that i will be there in just two short days is really surreal, but amazing. but going to chile means i have to leave bolivia which makes the whole thing very bittersweet. my time here has been so wonderful. the first couple weeks were definitely a challenge, but i've really found my place here in the last couple of weeks, in the orphanage, in the house, in the city as a whole. i've really come to enjoy being here. and now i'm leaving. i've almost cried a handful of times in the orphanage as i've looked into the kid's face and realized how much i've loved being there. how great it's been to get to know so many beautiful children, play with them, teach them, see them learn and grow. it's be so incredible just stepping into that place and slowly becoming part of it. hopefully the relationships with both the kids and the other people that work in the hogar will continue long after i leave the country. i just imagine getting to come back today and see how much the kids have grown and changed. oh how amazing that would be!



i don't have a lot of time to write this blog because i have a bazillion things to get done in the last couple hours i have her in bolivia, but i wanted to put up a quick update to let you all know all is well and that the next and final bit of my south american journey is about to begin. there's a million things i'd love to fill you all in on, a million stories to tell, but just no time! but i'll be home soon enough (just over two weeks), and i can't wait to see you all in person and hug your necks and share all the amazing things that have happened in this trip. the Lord has been good and His purpose for this trip is becoming more and more clear every day. well, i love you all. i'll hopefully have time to update while i'm in chile, but if not, i'll cya when i get back!

besos y abrazos!

viajes en bolivia

i’m back! after five days, four nights, and countless hours (actually not countless, the estimate is around 25) spent on various forms of locomotion traveling through the jesuit mission circuit which is north, north east of santa cruz, i’ve finally made it back to santa cruz, the place that now feels like home here in bolivia. and man was it an adventure! three of the girls that are volunteering here in santa cruz and i took a bit of time off from volunteering to travel through this circuit of little towns that were there are beautifully restored jesuit churches from the 18th century and get the opportunity to see another side of bolivia outside of santa cruz. i actually almost chose not to go on the trip, but i’m so glad I did because we had a blast, made a ton of memories, and saw some really beautiful (and some not so beautiful) parts of bolivia.

it would takes pages upon pages to type out all of the stories that came out of our little trip, so instead of spending so much time writing out all the probably boring details, i’ll just give you what would be the chapter titles and a quick description if i were to write a book about the trip:

1. journey east on the death train- our journey from santa cruz to san jose de chicuitos on an eight hour train they call “the death train” for some unknown reason that only cost $3
   a really cool picture i took while on the train (i think the train ride may have been one of my favorite parts!)


2. samuel, his classy taxi, and the town of san josé- in san josé we stayed an orphanage called padre alfredo (katie works at the santa cruz branch of the orphanage) for free and then went on a tour of the city with our taxi driver/guide samuel (see picture of him and his car)
   the girls with samuel's sweet car. he jokingly told us that it was the latest model in san josé, but hey, it got the job done!
   


3. three flat tires and a three kilometer hike later…- turns out we missed the only bus out of san josé for the weekend so we had to negotiate a cut rate taxi ride to the next town on the circuit, san Rafael, with our trust taxi driver Samuel. the 130 km bumpy, incredibly dusty dirt road took us about 5 hours to travel, including three flat tires, and finally having to walk the last 3 km into town because we had run out of spares and the car couldn’t drive with all four of us on a flat tire. this was definitely one of the most memorable of our experiences on the trip.
   
4. the screams in hell must sound like roosters- we arrived (walking) to san rafael pretty late, got dinner, and then found a hostel. the hostel was really basic, but it wasn’t too bad… until the roosters started crowing 15 ft outside our door at 2:30 in the morning and didn’t stop until we left to catch our bus at 6:00 in the morning. none of us slept well at all and i now cringe at the sound of a rooster call.
   
5. santa ana: the underrated jewel of the jesuit missions- the next stop was santa ana, a very rustic village with a cool little lake. it felt genuinely bolivian and was one of our favorite stops, but we were only there for the afternoon.
   
6. luxury living in san ignacio… NOT!- next came san ignacio, the headquarters of the restoration project and the biggest town in the circuit were we stayed in a very cheap hostel. but we definitely got what we paid for. the pictures speak for themselves… but the town was really nice.
   super classy place...
   
the church in san ignacio

7. i’m now a bolivian cowgirl- while we were in san Ignacio we went horseback riding around the outside of town and around a big lake which was really fun, and super cheap. a little over an hour for less than $3!
   
8. the first shower in four days!- the church in concepción was one of my favorite b/c it had really beautiful details, but sadly my camera decided to freak out just in time for me to not be able to take pics of it (luckily Aubrey got some great ones, but still really frustrating, b/c it’s still not working). we weren’t in concepción for too long, but highlights of our stay include the nicest hostel we stayed in (where we finally got to shower) and a couple great meals
   
9. a long bus ride home- and then we headed home and all of us were squirming to get off the bus by the time we finally got back
   

so there’s a few snippets of the trip! i can’t wait to tell you some of the full stories when I talk to you in person or when i get home in just over 3 weeks. oh how quickly the time has gone. i only have a week and a half left in bolivia. and in the mean time, the volunteer house has filled to the brim. i think we have 8 people in the house now and i’ve heard 3 are coming this week. a couple are leaving soon too, but still i’m not sure where everyone will go. i hardly know what to do with so many people around, but i think having such a full house will make for a fun last bit of time here. please keep praying for my relationships with my fellow volunteers and for the work that’s going on in the orphanage.

well i love you all and miss you so much. please stay in touch. i’d love to hear how life’s going at home!