Santiago

I returned to Santiago on the Monday afternoon, along with Thalia. She was going to visit some American Missionary friends, whose daughter was having a birthday party and she had been invited. We said our goodbyes on the Metro and I continued on to Paul and Danni’s house. It was good to be back in familiar surroundings. It did not take long for Santiago life to return in full swing. Soon I was playing Little Football or pichunga with Paul and his friends. Each time I played, they said that it looked like I was getting better in my skills. I think that they were just trying to be nice to me and encourage me in order to keep playing. One day Thalia came to visit and went shopping with Danni, as Paul and I played basketball at the local park. There were some typical young guys, who thought that they were the next Michael Jordan, and went a little physical. After being smacked a few times, charged and no foals called, I decided to give a little back. I think I started to do a little WWF with one guy, who realised after about 2mins that he was not going to win. I started trash talking to him in English, “Arrrh you don’t like it when someone gives it back. You can give but you can’t take, can you, little boy.” (That was the nice version). I am not sure if he understood. Mind you he soon shut up and started playing a little cleaner, knowing that the key was mine and he was in my backyard.

My plan was not to stay in Santiago too long, but like other sections of my travels, I stayed a little longer than planned. As Thalia had stayed longer in Santiago, she asked me to join her at church. I went with her to the Anglican Church in the southern suburbs of Santiago, where the American family are now ministering. They had been in Villa Alemana on their previous stint. So I met Russ and Heidi again and shared with them in the service. I also met some new missionaries from Sydney, a husband and wife and their 3 sons. It was great to be able to speak in English and hear a familiar accent, even if they were from the Queensland – Victorian border. The American family asked me back to their house for dinner and a swim, which was great, so relaxing swimming in a pool, with the sun shining down. They asked if I wanted to stay overnight, which was a great idea, as it was late by the time I started thinking about going home. The only bad thing about it was that the following day they asked me to help them move from their current house sitting location to their new house, some 25mins away. Moving cupboards, fridges and making bunk beds. I did not mind this, as it was a sort of thank you for letting me stay and it was a lot of fun, but also tiring. I also enjoyed, to a degree, discussing the differences between Australian/British English and what is called English from the US.

I also spent time preparing for my journey back to the South of Chile. I spent time getting in contact with various people I know, making sure that it would be ok for me to come and stay. I like to be well prepared for a trip like this, especially when in a country that speaks another language to my own native tongue. As I was near completion, Paul said to me that he was going to visit his Dad in the next few days, which changed my plans a little. Also my friend Andres quit his job the weekend I planned to visit him and went to Rio de Janeiro. Lucky guy! Wait, didn’t I do the same? Hehe. Anyway, with plans slightly altered, Paul, Danni, Nati, Majen (Danni’s Dad) and I drove the 10hrs from Santiago to the farm.