A Big Blog Break

It's summer here and vacation time so I am joining the many Chileans leaving the city and heading tomorrow for more rural adventures to the south. In southern Patagonia and especially on the "bare bones" 3-day ferry among the Magallanes archipelago labyrinth, I expect to be colder than my son and kids seem to be in this Utah ski photo! My friend Kathleen from CA and I are excited and will have great photos for you in 2 weeks! Stay tuned!

Summertime in the streets of Santiago

Santiago is full of tourists and locals. I always enjoy walking around and discovering  new places when I have a break from my temple schedule. The temple has been very busy. I love to think of my grandchildren skiing and also performing baptisms at home.  This is at the Payson Utah Temple where the 3 older Taylors: Kelly (14), George (13), and Aaron (12) are able to take the research their mom Emily has done to help deceased ancestors. I am then able to continue the other ordinances here in the temple...

 Plaza de Armas was the administrative center of the Mapuche culture when Pedro de Valdivia arrived to "found" Santiago in 1541. The cathedral is cool and full on a hot day in January. The old firehouse was staffed by volunteers, as is the current fire department.

 The gas company (below) has a beautiful building and an interesting mural of people with gas masks. It reminds me of the blame (now removed from PG&E power company) for the horrendous fires in my home state of California. Almost daily we feel tremors (which would be called earthquakes most places) such as the 6.7 M last Saturday. Gas line breaks are always a risk with earthquakes, so we hope they don't break here. Buildings have strict seismic codes, but of course there are many old buildings at risk. I see that San Francisco, California is making a "recovery plan" for the "big one." 
Be prepared with storage of food, water, blankets, flashlights, etc. I hope we can prepare ourselves as much as possible emotionally and spiritually, too, that we will use common sense, not panic, have faith in God that we will have the strength to deal with hard situations. In most of the natural disaster s we have seen, people rally around and help neighbors and others across the world.
(if we are one (united) and prepared, we need not fear). Santiago is filled with musicians...when I have good music to listen to, I feel peace and calm. (Unfortunately music does not remove my inability to eliminate the duplicate fire stations at the end of this blog...please ignore!) Think of me exploring the gorgeous scenery of Chiloe Island, Lake district, and Patagonia...dream destinations.