Leaving the city for the Andes

 Leaving Santiago for the Cordillera (lower Andes Mountains)

Sister Phillips and her new companion

We enjoyed stake (composed of 6-8 wards/congregations)
conference (held twice a year) and the annual temple workers' devotional on Sunday. 

Sisters Umber, Pena (from Calama, n. Chile), de Schweinitz and the new temple missionaries, the Wallaces, from Idaho, at the stake center, where we met friends and listened to stake leaders, including the Brothersons (East Mission President and wife) and recently called full-time missionaries and others.

Claudia and her little boys have been friends but are sadly moving to another part of Santiago.

We took the metro along with Elders Lloyd and Beck serving in our Pocuro ward.

Young temple worker friends (Sisters Paula de Calderon and Daniela Julio, and friend Constanza Pardo) sang (in the special choir, also) for the evening devotional where our Temple presidency spoke. The Castros of the temple presidency are leaving us, which is very sad...we have loved them.

But we were happy to leave Santiago behind on Monday for a day in the Cordillera (pre-Andes).
Monday morning our day-trip Viatur van picked us up before 7  along with 13 others (mostly boisterous, happy Brazilians and Uruguayans and one French guy) and we left the city, with all its bustle of people heading for work, school, its graffiti and McDonald's, etc. behind, and headed southeast for the beautiful Cajon de Maipo, the favorite hiking, level 2 kayaking, and rafting, etc. destination in the central Chile/Santiago area.
Leaving the city behind....

The Maipo River, which is a muddy river sweeping all the rich minerals down to the central valleys where Chile's vineyards, orchards and fields produce fabulous crops, ending in the Pacific Ocean just south of San Antonio (a huge port), joins the Yeso (gypsum) River (a white clear river). We followed the Yeso up to the Embalse del Yeso reservoir at about 9,000'. The whole gorge/canyon was formed by glaciers, not by rivers such as is the case of the Grand Canyon and other places in the US.

For many years the only transportation in the gorge was a train (no longer in use), which took 4 1/2 hours to this point and 6 hours to where the dam was built in the 1950's. It is very close to the Argentinian border (there is a pass to Argentina a little farther up), and there were violent disputes in the 1970's over which country should own it. Originally there was copper and other mining, but now it is all gypsum, which is very white and chalky and used for plaster casts, etc. The camps became deserted once the dam was finished.

Some go up the hard and steep way. The bikers arrived after we had walked around and were having our snack. 

Water from this reservoir provides 60% of Santiago's water

The gorgeous color is result of glacial melt and gypsum (see the white on the far side). There are 3 major volcanoes (always covered with snow as they are hard sedimentary rock which retains the cold), which are not considered active. 

The fresh clean cool air and breeze felt wonderful! I could have stayed a lot longer. Sister Umber agreed!

As we walked along the road we had to step to the edge to let many trucks of gypsum pass.

Falls just below the dam, where we stopped to have a snack.

Do you see some glaciers up high? The Andes are very "young" mountains so are quite rugged/jagged. The most common endangered plant is "hierbablanca" which was always growing along with these pretty pink flowers.

 There are apparently a lot of animals (pumas, llamas, vicunas, condors, etc.) up here, but unfortunately we only saw lots of small colorful birds.

 Santiaguinos Mauricio (driver) and Gonzalo (guide) spread out some snacks, and then after eating, we zoomed back down the canyon, enjoying some waterfalls and more gorgeous scenery, which I always think I can capture, but which usually turns out blurry. 

Orange-juice drinkers on the right. Some of us didn't save our appetite for lunch in San Jose de Maipo, small town down the mountain.

I wonder about the volume of water needed to supply 60% of Santiago's water! I usually buy bottled water, though, as tap water (though safe) tastes like it contains too many metals and minerals

Not California's Yosemite Falls, but pretty! I wanted a nice photo of all the millions of poppies (the guide told us these were "imported from California") blooming in the hills and along the road, making me homesick, but we were going way too fast!

The church on the central plaza in San Jose de Maipo, where we stopped for lunch (Alma and I just found fabulous huge ice cream cones and skipped lunch). Last summer when we were here it was super hot as we hiked to Las Animas Falls.

The town was founded in 1792 by Ambrosio O'Higgins (viceroy of Peru, governor of Chile from 1788-96, and father of Bernardo O'Higgins, who led Chile's war of independence) after silver deposits were discovered in the surrounding areas. There are lots of cherries, almonds, walnuts, grapes and other crops and lots of honey and other products made at home in this lovely area. The town is about 16 miles from Santiago city limit, but feels farther. 

School's original building with extension behind. Children must be brought in from a large area, as this is a very small town.

As at many schools there is mural with Gabriela Mistral declaring the importance of education, that "the future of children is today"

Most of the buildings are of adobe

 Below, a typical school van (I've never seen a larger school bus in Chile). School is out for the summer in a couple weeks, so the atmosphere in our neighborhood will change.

Life-long learning is a wonderful thing. When we got back, we watched a very fascinating, moving, free film at the Providencia Cultural Center:
the very human "Stories of the (Panama) Canal", as presented by 5 directors, showing different eras of the Canal, from before its inauguration in 1915 to the present day. The protagonists are the North American (US), Panamanian and other men,women and children of the region (Antilles) who helped build and were greatly impacted by it in many different ways. 27,000 died in the building, by malaria, accidents, racist violence, and more. 

I also recommend a delightful/intriguing memoir by (at the time a child and young woman) Hildegarde Mahoney, called: Journey interrupted: A Family without a Country in a World at War about her Americanized German family living in NYC (which they love and consider home and where her two brothers were born) who are interrupted in their travels back to Germany to visit grandparents (they wanted to make the trip across US, Pacific, Russia, etc. more of an adventure), but get stuck for 4+ years in Japan as WWII breaks out, living a tough life in an enclave for foreigners, as some are suspected of spying. Then, as the war ends they are sent back to Germany by General MacArthur as the parents and author are German citizens. The parents' resilience, perseverance, resourcefulness, friendliness and strong family bonds are truly inspiring as they strive to return to the U.S.

I love to watch the excitement of my students as they learn English. I love to see the pride of little children as they learn a new song or skill. I hope we all feel joy as we discover new interests, meet new people from different cultures and backgrounds, develop our talents, and especially as we gain greater understanding of spiritual things. After all, we are all still children in God's eyes!