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!

It's A Smoky Problem

Well we've recently found out that Temuco and Lautaro are two of the most polluted cities in Chile. This is pretty much because of all the wood smoke being produced. It is winter now and very cold. It reached -2 degrees Celsius the other morning. In Chile there is no central heating. Most people have wood-burning fires to heat their homes and also another to cook. It's generally wood because it is the cheapest option. Gas and electricity are very expensive here in Chile, as Chile has no natural gas reserves, and to produce electricity is expensive.

So a lot of smoke is being produced at the moment. In the morning and evenings there is thick fog (which is all smoke really) and it can be quite hard to breathe. Me and Amina are both a little ill at the moment, and the smoke really isn't helping our coughs.

The local governments are aware of the problem. In Temuco they're trying to impose a ban, that will stop people from burning wood. This would help clear the air, but people will be unable to cook or heat their houses, and this will lead to people becoming more ill. Some people just can't afford gas or electricity.

The houses here are not very warm either. The walls seem quite thin. I don't think people know too much about insulation and double glazing does not exist here. This means that the houses are little more than ice-boxes if there's no heating available. And the big public buildings are freezing because they are big, concrete structures.

The schools and public buildings also use wood as heating because they can't afford gas. Some teachers can't afford to buy gas for the classroom heaters, and as the school doesn't provide it, they have to work in really cold temperatures. Not surprisingly there are lots of ill people at the moment.

Unless the government reduces the price of electricity, or learns to build properly insulated houses, I can't see how they're going to resolve this problem. We survive by wearing about five layers, drinking bucketfuls of tea and hot chocolate, and lounging in bed with hot water bottles.

Us on a cold morning walk to school

The street in the morning. We follow that one road for 15 blocks to get to school. It's hard to get lost.

Smokey chimney