Vamos a la playa!

View of El Quisco from the beach

The final few days of my trip to Chile were spent in El Quisco, a small city on the Pacific coast.  We used the time to relax and prepare for the transition back home.  Like everything else on the trip, there were delays and setbacks.

The original plan was to take a van and truck from the Sede to the coast, so we were supposed to be at the Sede 9:30 that morning.  As usual, we left the hostel late, but we still beat the van.  It didn't show up until around 11, so we played with the boys for a while and went to get some coffee and snacks for the trip.  While we were gone, the van came, but the truck wouldn't start.  Nathan spent a while trying to fix it, switching the battery with the one from another car, trying to jump it, all to no avail.  After a while, Chen (the ministry supporter who took us to his restaurant earlier in the trip and who rented the van for us) took the van and the people inside it to rent another car for us to take, and apparently pick up some things he had forgotten.  After a really long time that included some singing on the part of those of us who stayed at the Sede, the group came back with a two door sedan, which needed to hold four people and luggage, so it was a little cramped.  It was the same in the van, especially in the back row, which had absolutely no leg room.

Trying to fix the battery

Cleaning off the jumper
cables with Coke

 

Our extra car

 

Becky and I stuffed into the back seat

Before leaving Santiago, Chen took everyone to lunch at a very authentic Chinese restaurant.  Belinda loved it, since it was similar to the food her family makes, and it was really good.

The view from our porch

It rained all day, so we didn't get to see much of the town and spent lots of time sitting around the fire in our cabin.  During dinner, we talked a little about our favorite parts of the trip and what God had taught us through it.  Afterwards, we got to learn how to heat the girls' cabin and turn on the water heater.  Both were rather dangerous, so we had to shut everything off at night and when no one was in the cabin.

The guys' cabin

The girls' cabin

The next day didn't start on time either.  Omar was still getting ready when our meeting was supposed to start, and we heard one of the showers starting up, so we assumed it was him.  Thinking that it would speed Omar along, Nathan decided to turn off the water heater.  Unfortunately, it was Chen in the shower, not Omar.  Nathan tried to relight the water heater, but it didn't work.  It was funny, but we all felt bad for Chen.

Part of Casa de Isla Negra

There was much better weather that day, so we went to visit another of Pablo Neruda's homes, Casa de Isla Negra, which was in a nearby town.  We didn't go through this one, but walked around the gardens, which had a beautiful view of the ocean.  In the afternoon, Belinda, Becky and I went on a walk around the town, looking around and getting a few more souvenirs.  Becky left a little early to meet with Kelly, and Belinda and I went down to the beach and watched the sun set, which was absolutely gorgeous.

Since the trip was about getting us prepared to come home, we had typical American dinners: Mexican and Italian food.  Coming home and how to describe the trip was what we focused on in our meetings, too, talking about how many people we had gotten to talk to at the universities we went to.  I had pictures of this, but they disappeared somewhere.

We went back to Santiago on the 2nd of July, going to the Sede to have one last coffee break with the staff, which included real coffee!  We talked for a while, and prayed for one another after that, then went to the airport.  There, a bunch of our Chilean friends met us to say goodbye.  Juan Carlos had drawn pictures for each of us, so we had everyone write us notes on the back.  We also played a few more games of ninja just before going through security.

 The flight home was pretty good, but it was a little delayed.  The lighting wasn't working, so there wasn't much we could do other than sleep or watch the movie.  I decided to sleep, and got at least a few hours.  Since we left late, a couple of the guys on our team missed their flights home, but were able to get on later ones.  Tanner thought he could make his flight, so he had to run off as soon as we got through customs.  After that, we said our last goodbyes and the Kansas City group left to drive home and Becky went to catch her flight.  The rest of us had a few hours, so we decided to hang out and get lunch.  The rest of the afternoon, we dropped people off as they went to their gates.  I was one of the last to leave, so I got to go all over the airport to say goodbye to everyone.  My flight home was good, and so was the drive back from the airport.

Thanks for reading, everyone, and all the prayers and support for my trip.  I'm not sure what's going to happen with the blog now that I'm home, but I'm going to try and keep it going.  Thanks again!