Home At Last

Hi everyone.

Well I'm home. Thought I'd write one last blog about those last few days in Chile.

The rest of our time was spent saying bye to friends and packing. On the Thursday we had a despedida with the English teachers of Lautaro. It was at Margot's restaurant at five. I didn't leave the house til five because I didn't want to be early. I was ten minutes late and I was still the first one there. It was half an hour before more people started turning up. We had sandwiches and swiss roll with an unbelievable amount of manjar. Went home to cake!

On Friday we went into Temuco and did the last of our shopping. It was suddenly very easy. In the past we'd always gone and not known what to buy. Afterwards we went to a friends house and made brownies. They were shocked by the amount of sugar that went in. I find that strange coming from a Chilean who puts about half a packet of manjar on his pancakes! We had capoeira that evening. It was a really good lesson and they did a little leaving roda for us.

Saturday was spent with friends. Capoeira was good. I played the instruments for a while which was fun. It was really sad when we left because it was the last time we were going to see our friends. Me and Amina cried. The bus driver was sweet and waited for us to say goodbye instead of driving off. People must have wondered why two crying gringas were getting on the bus. We came back to Lautaro and were planning on a quick Once before heading back out, but we found all the family gathered in the dining room eating. We were asked to eat and spend some time so we did. I suddenly realised there was a big Happy Birthday sign up and I asked whose birthday it was, to find out it was Rutys! I was so shocked. Then I found out that it had actually been on the Wednesday! I felt so bad. I'd had no idea! I asked her why she hadn't said anything and she said that because Sergio hadn't been there it hadn't mattered to her that it was her birthday (Sergio works away from home during the week and comes back at the weekend). So we ate and had cake that was about 30% pastry and 70% manjar (we were in manjar overload by this point). We went out that evening to what we thought was a despedida with our Lautaro friends. However after waiting in the plaza for half an hour we called one and found out she was in bed! It was quite funny. So we just went home and drank tea with the family.

Sunday was our last day in Lautaro. We went out in the morning to buy mate and manjar and to visit friends. Went home for lunch. It was nice just being with the family. Spent all moments not eating or being out of the house packing. It was a little stressful and seemed to take much longer for me than it did for Amina but eventually it was all done. Ruty came up while we were packing and gave us a huge pile of presents. Mate cups, little recuerdos and Lautaro mugs. So sweet. We went out before Once to Elianas house. She gave us presents of cueca hankies and a little hanging banner that says "Welcome to my house" in Mapudungun. Really sweet. We were asked to stay and eat cake but we had to get home for Once. The last Once with the family was really nice. Ruty made sopaipillas. The whole family was there. We gave the family the present we'd got them. A hanging set of photo frames and we'd put pictures of us and the family in them. They were very happy with it.

Once

Ruty and Sergio

Agustin playing with Panchy

They were very happy with the present

After Once we finished sorting our things and then sat downstairs with the family. It was nice just chilling in front of the fire for the last time. Before we left we took photos with the family.

Panchy

Agustin wanted a hug from Nanito - but maybe not at that moment

Me and Panchy

Us with Lilli

Us with the family

Us and Ruty

Ruth and Sergio gave us a lift to the bus stop. Some friends and Margot had come too so we had a little leaving party. Too soon the bus arrived and it was time to say bye. I broke down pretty much immediately saying bye to Ruty. She's been such an amazing mum for us over the year. She's so lovely. I'm going to miss her. It was sad saying bye to our other friends as well.


We arrived in Santiago at around eight in the morning. We were going to spend the night at Eli and Fernandos house but they weren't going to arrive until later. We could have gone and seen a bit of Santiago but we didn't really want to. We decided just to flop around. Hung around in the station for about four hours before getting the metro to go and meet up with some of the other volunteers. Waiting around doesn't really bother us any more. It's just something that has to be done. We had a nice lunch in an Italian restaurant and afterwards we bought ice cream. Fernando picked us up from a nearby plaza and took us to their house. She dropped off our stuff and went out with Fernando to buy food for dinner. First he took us on a little drive around Santiago. Showed us the poor houses that are directly opposite the rich houses. There is such a contrast in Santiago. It's a bit strange.

Waiting in the bus station with all our stuff

Woke up at half seven on Tuesday morning. Had breakfast and left for the airport. Fernando gave us a lift. He was a bit more relaxed about getting there than me. Arrived with just over an hour to spare before our flight. I probably would have appreciated a little more time but it was fine. We had no problems. We'd checked in online the night before so we only had to drop off our baggage and go through security.

Getting on the plane

Chile is so skinny! From the sea to the Andes, that is Chile!

The Andes

The flight was a bit boring. 12 hours or so. As soon as I got on I just wanted it to be over. It felt like we'd been travelling pretty much since we got on the bus in Lautaro and I just wanted to get home. We chatted. Ate food. Watched the in-flight movies. Us volunteers walked around chatting to each other. It was hard to sleep. We were to arrive in Madrid at 12pm Chile time (6am Madrid time) so we were losing or prime sleeping hours. I think I got around half and hour of sleep in total.

Waiting for lunch

Somewhere over Paraguay

The Atlantic

Arrived in Madrid and we only had to change gate. It was so warm! Even at six in the morning. Waited around for an hour and a half, before getting on the flight to London.

England!

While we waited to collect our bags, Amina bought two chocolate bars that we shared. British chocolate is so much better than Chilean chocolate. We changed our pesos to pounds and then Amina met her dad. It was sad saying goodbye to Amina. It's weird not having her around all the time.  I went off to check in to my flight to Scotland. It ended up being delayed by about 40 minutes. I tried not to fall asleep while I waited. 

I wasn't aware that in Edinburgh airport Arrivals is kind of before baggage claim. This meant that I didn't see mum and dad until they were right in front of me. Oh it was nice seeing them again.

It was weird driving home. Kept thinking "wow I'm so far from Chile." Suddenly being really far away from people that speak Spanish was weird. Got home a few minutes before Dylan. Got mega excited when he got home. Gave him loads of hugs. He's so tall now! Although still not taller than me which he's a bit disappointed by. Haha. Yeh it's strange being home. I've called Amina a couple of times. Miss her.

I've spent the past few days catching up with friends and tidying my room. I had to do a mega clear out before I could unpack my suitcase. My clothes smell of Chile! 

Back with my friends

It's nice being home. I went to the supermarket with mum and people probably thought I was crazy, walking around looking at the food going "wow look at it all!" 

Just like to say thanks to everyone for all the support over the year. It was the most amazing time I've ever had. Can't wait to go travelling again! I would recommend it to anyone! Now it's on to "The Next Big Adventure" as mum calls it: university.

A World Of Lasts

Everything has become the last time that we're going to be doing something. The last week in Lautaro, the last Tuesday capoeira lesson, the last day at school, the last time seeing so many people. It's really quite sad. It's a good thing everything is spread out because if I had to say goodbye to everyone at the same time it would be awful.


The rest of the winter holidays passed really well. We spent lots of time with friends and did lots of capoeira. Over one weekend we did three capoeira presentations, to raise money for the event in December. They were in this big posh house near Temuco. They wanted the presentations because they were celebrating the Mayan New Year and I guess we provided some extra energy. It was fun. There was the cutest puppy there.

We started back at school last Monday. It was a bit of a shock to be up so early but it was nice to be back at the school. Amina was ill for most of last week and so I was alone at school with Pamela. Amina had the force of everyone we knew against her as they all said she should go to the hospital. But Amina didn't want to. If she'd been ill for much longer I think they would have come and dragged her to the hospital, but luckily she did get better. She's as right as rain now, although she is using it as an excuse not to eat meat.

It was cute telling the kids that it was our last lesson with them. Received lots of big awwws and hugs and kisses. Kids asking why we were leaving. So sweet. Last Friday the doorbell rang and Ruty answered it. Then she rushed through the living room and said "girls I need you! Answer the door for the gentleman". We were really confused because we had no idea who it was. When we opened the door we found it was the director of escuela 6 and another teacher. They'd come to give us an invitation to a leaving cocktail for Monday. So sweet!

On Saturday after capoeira we had a despedida (leaving party) with some of our capoeira friends. It was at our friends house. We cooked choripan over the barbecue and sat with family and friends. It was really nice. Stayed the night there and spent the next day watching films and eating lots of food. Our friends mum is crazy about giving us food. She piles our plates high with pasta and sauce and then sporadically shouts "PAN" thrusting the bread at us.

The leaving cocktail at school on Monday was really cute. They set up the tables with tablecloths and lots of glasses and flowers. They made us sit at the head of the table with the director and Pamela. They invited our old English teachers Ingrid, who is now retired. It was so nice to see her again! The director made a speech about how happy he was that we'd come and given something to the school, and said that we always had a home at escuela 6. Really sweet. We ate lots of little food before being presented with certificates and presents by Ingrid, from the school. All the staff had given money and they had bought us earrings. They're so pretty. Lapiz Lazuli in the shape of the national flower of Chile. We said a few words (jokingly beginning in English) just saying thanks for everything. People are so sweet there. They all really seemed to be sad that we were leaving.

Staff

Us and Pamela

Ingrid giving me my certificate 

Us and Ingrid

Yesterday was our last day at school. Saying goodbye to all the teachers, assistants and janitors was quite sad. So many people in a short space of time to say bye to. And the kids as well. Triste. We had lunch at Eliana's house. She offered to make us cueca dresses but we said we wouldn't be able fit them in our suitcases, so she's going to make us little cueca hankies instead. So sweet.

Eli and the kids arrived last night. It's nice to see them again. I think we're going to stay with them in Santiago the night before we leave which will be nice because they'll make sure that we get to the airport fine and they live close enough to the centre that we can still meet up with the other volunteers on the one day that we'll be in Santiago. We've begun to put things in our suitcases and sort through clothes. So weird to think that this time next week we'll be home.

I realised that throughout this whole year, there has never been a moment when I have seriously wanted to go home. I was never to homesick or anything. I guess it's because things have just been so good here and I've had so much support from people here and family and friends at home. And now that it's coming up to the time to leave I'm sad but not too much. I'm looking forward to being home and seeing people. Yes it's going to be really sad leaving family and friends here and there are some things about Chile that I'll miss, but I'm super excited about starting uni and everything else that's coming up.

Don't know if I'll blog again before coming home. Very busy with lots of despedidas coming up and packing. The flight is on Tuesday and I get back on Wednesday afternoon in Edinburgh. Look forward to seeing everyone when I get home!

Until next week! Chau!

The First Goodbyes

Well it's been a pretty busy first week of holidays. Had a really good weekend of capoeira. Teachers came down from Santiago and we spent lots of time with our friends. Aww I'm going to miss our capoeira friends so much! On Tuesday we went to a friends house for a capoeira lesson. Afterwards we cooked some choripan which I quite like. They're always the first thing on the barbecue and are pretty good. I really like how it was just a reason for everyone to hang out together.


On Wednesday we went on our last overnight trip with our two Lautaro friends. We decided to go to Lonquimay because we've been meaning to go there since we arrived. Everyone talks about the volcano that's there and in winter it's a ski resort because of all the snow that falls there. We wanted to go and play in the snow so we were looking forward to it. Got on the bus from Lautaro and three hours later we arrived there. We had to pass through a mountain to get there. Sadly when we arrived there was no snow. So we got back on the bus and headed even closer to the cordillera. Two hours later we arrived at Icalma which is literally at the border with Argentina. Still no snow! There was some in the hills but none to play in. But it didn't matter. We found a cabana and first job was to get the fire going because it was so cold! It was so late by the time we got there we just bought some food for dinner.

The next day we walked and ate more. We always eat a lot when we're with our friends. I think it's because they're Chilean and eating is just like what should be done. Had a really nice time. I should probably mention that my friend is a photographer and has a really good camera which is why the above photos are much better than usual.


On Friday we had our last class with our capoeira teacher. He's going to an event in Brazil and he gets back the day after we leave. He's a really good teacher and a good friend and we're going to miss him a lot. However we did see him again on Saturday as some of us met up to do a presentation. We went to an old people care home and played some cueca music before doing some capoeira. I think they enjoyed it. One guy was blind and really enjoyed the music. One guy tried to dance cueca which gave us all a bit of a fright as he nearly fell over!

Our capoeira teacher, Instructor Remo

On Saturday evening there was a capoeira party. It was to raise money for the group so we helped out a bit. Me, Amina and Alvaro made sopaipillas. I made the salsa. I'm now a whiz at cutting up tomatoes. It was also when we said goodbye to another capoeira friend because she's going to Brazil as well. It's weird, saying goodbye to people individually isn't that bad. I think when we have to say goodbye to everyone at once it will be so much worse.

                       

Marcela

It was so cold on Saturday. We ended up huddled around the fire that we were using to cook the sopaipillas. We left around two to go to a friends house and warm up. Spent the day there yesterday just chilling and eating lots of food. When I left his mum asked me why I was leaving. Apparently just wanting to go home isn't a good enough reason.

Alone in the house. Ruy is up in Santiago with Agustin visiting his mum. Lilii is on holiday and Sergio is in Villarica working. I was told that I'm the doña of the house. Managed to get the fire going and I think it'll survive. I hope so. I could see my breath when I woke up this morning. 

Such Fun

Wow, I've been so busy I completely forgot about this blog. Things have been pretty rainy here. Winter in Lautaro is cold and lots of rain. What's strange is that if you go up to Santiago it'll hardly ever rain. We're now officially on winter holiday. Two weeks off. We have a big list of things we want to do so that we can make the most of our time. Lots of volunteers aren't going back to their projects and are off travelling now until the end. However we felt that we just want more time here! So we're spending the holidays here with our friends and then we'll go back to school for two weeks before getting a night bus up to Santiago on the 11th August. We'll have one day in Santiago before our flight on the 13th! How little time is left...

So a couple of weekends ago our friend Hector invited us to his house in the countryside. A short bus journey away from Lautaro. We could have walked but it was raining quite a lot. The lady sitting next to Amina on the bus was proudly clutching her new rooster. He didn't like Amina much though. Made lots of angry clucking noises the whole journey.
Houses in the countryside here are really spaced apart. Where Hector lives there is the house that he lives in with his mum and brothers and the house next door is where his grandmother lives. Then there isn't anything really close by but on the next hill over is where his auntie lives and he has some other aunts and uncles that live within walking distance. But other than these few little houses there is nothing but countryside. The land is owned by his grandmother and Hector already knows where he's going to build his house, about 20 metres away from his mums house.

We had a really nice lunch of fresh chicken (literally one that had been in the garden until that morning) and then we were served mountains of fresh bread and cake. We escaped outside with Hector and our other friend Viktor as it wasn't raining anymore. We walked around for a bit. Saw all forms of farm yard animals. The sheep, chickens and dogs. When we went to his uncles farm we saw horses, one very happy pig and cows. We also saw a dead cow. They'd just killed one and gotten it up on a cart as we arrived. There was to be a barbecue the next day for all the neighbours. The head and feet were up on the shed roof, out of reach of the dogs. Country life eh.

It was a really great day. It started raining again and we could see the clouds coming towards us. Big bright rainbow.

Monday saw our last after-school English workshop with the kids in escuela 7. We decided to do something fun so we took in the ingredients for banoffee pie and got them all to help us make it. It went surprisingly well. Not too much chaos. And the kids all really enjoyed it and thought it was tasty. We did forget the tin to make it in, but we found a washing up box and that worked well. They all gave us big hugs when they left. It was really cute and a bit sad.

On Tuesday we went to the gymnasium to watch the show that was being put on. The schools were showing off what the kids had learned in the workshops. So there was dancing and folklorica music and singing. The little kids were SO CUTE in their little Mapuche outfits and ladybug costumes.

Yesterday was a day of utter loveliness. One of the nicest days we've had. Just because of the people. We went to the muni to get our money and the two guys in the personnel department were so sweet. We'd never really talked to them before but they suddenly realised that we are leaving soon. They asked us if we'd had a nice time here and hoped that we would have a good flight home. One of them even wrote us a little letter and asked us so send him a rock from Britain so that he could have something of our country. So sweet!

Our friends brother painted this and we see it every time we walk to the muni

Last period was a party because it was the last period before the holidays. We were with octavo A and two mums brought in all the ingredients for completos (think hot dogs but better as they're filled with tomato and avocado as well). Once the kids had had their fill we were given one and juice as well. We'd just bought empanadas for lunch so we weren't really that hungry but we ate them anyway. When offered another I accepted but Amina didn't. Then one of the mums came over and gave her another one anyway. Amina's expression was so funny because she was so full. But there is no excuse not to eat here. They just don't accept it if you don't want to eat. We chatted to them and they were so lovely. They said we were really pretty and could speak really good Spanish. Then they gave us really big hugs as we left.

The second completo

The end to yesterday was just as nice. I sat downstairs in front of the fire writing up my community project pretty much all evening. We had a really nice chat with Ruty during Once. Afterwards Amina told her that from working on her project she's realised how much she loves Chile. Aww poor Ruty looked like she was going to cry! She gave us both huge hugs and asked if she was serious. Then she said that Chile's going to like our second home-country and that this experience is going to make us stronger for the rest of our life. Aww Ruty is so lovely!!!

This weekend is full of capoeira as there is an event on. Should be fun! Yey holidays!