Horse Round-up

There were about 50 half wild horses in the open fields around our house. The horses were part of the property when the company purchased it a few years ago and nobody has done much with them since. They have started working the ground in front of our house so these guys herded the horses into the hills behind our house to get them out of the way. Mando and Neto were excited to have a reason to ride a horse instead of sit in an office.

Mando is third from the right and Neto is on the far right.

 Paul feeling awesome on Mando's horse.

 

This guy has worked on the property for a long time and knows all the hills. I think he's some sort of horse expert too. He's wearing the typical Chilean cowboy getup which includes a rustic poncho and a flat brimmed hat.

 

I didn't get pictures of the actual roundup because I was busy making my kids learn times tables or something. Mando said it wasn't much of a roundup because the horses saw them coming and took off. When I am ambitious enough to walk across the yard with my camera I will take some pictures of the horse herd to post. I don't know the breed but they are huge and all sorts of different colors. There are quite a few colts in the herd that are fun to watch too.

 





Santiago Zoo

Mando and I had to go to Santiago to sign some forms for his work visa this past week so we decided to take the kids to the Santiago Zoo afterwards. The trip to the lawyer's office ended up being a lot longer and crazier than we expected but luckily Neto was there to help us keep the kids in line.

Walking around downtown Santiago while trying to get Mando's work visa. Netto had Paul and Izzy, I had Sam, and Mando ended up with Becca, Joseph and the pink backpack!

Then we asked for directions from like 10 different people and drove all over Santiago for about an hour, but after consulting google maps we finally made it.

Why are pink flamingos so stinky? Okay maybe this whole zoo was stinky.

Mando and Becca strolling along in one of the brief shady areas.

 

 

Above: Checking out a stinky hippo. Neto kept pretending to talk to the animals which was very entertaining, especially with the monkeys.

A nice Zebra family and a crooked Giraffe because otherwise I couldn't get his whole head in the picture. All your typical zoo stuff.

Joseph put your arm down. Ann go on a diet, or at least quit wearing horizontal stripes and carrying your baby in a baby carrier like a nerd.

 

Paul and Neto, Best Friends Forever.

This picture was taken by the Grizzly Bears, which is a bad memory for me. It was here that I was cornered by a bunch of teenage school girls who loved my little white bald baby and kept asking me questions all at once in Spanish. Luckily Neto came to my rescue and started talking to them in Portuguese.

 

Left: I think this camel is pondering whether or not little brown boys taste delicious.

Right: Some very hot penguins trying to stand in the shade.

Left: "Hey guys, which way to Africa?" Did that make you laugh? It made my kids laugh really, really hard. They need to get out more.
Right: After walking all over the hot zoo with nothing to drink the little vendor had only two bottled waters left to sell. So Mando the germaphobe poured them in everybody's mouth like a momma bird feeding her babies.

Honestly the coolest part of the zoo was that it was on the top of a hill in the middle of Santiago, which is a huge city (over 6 million people). You could see how far the city reaches and even see the peaks of the Andes mountains in the distance.

But in the future, don't ask a Chilean for directions.

Las Mejor Empanadas

We asked around and this was supposed to be a really good place for fried cheese empanadas so we stopped there for dinner one day. We ordered plain cheese and shrimp and cheese. They weren't bad, but it was kind of heavy and greasy to eat on an empty stomach.

 Gotta love Izzy's face!

Mom and chubby-pants

Fútbal

Chileans love their fútbal (what we call soccer). But it's not the same kind of soccer we have back home. There it is a great way for kids to learn teamwork and get exercise and then have a capri sun and fruit by the foot to commend them for their efforts. In Chile the adults play and it's pretty competitive, even at a casual gathering. The fields are called "canchas" and I see them everywhere. The men on the farm play soccer every Thursday night and it's very entertaining to watch. There are very few rules, very few shin guards, and yet somehow very few injuries.

 Mando racing someone to the ball.

 

Mando catching his breath after running.

(Most of my pictures were of Mando catching his breath.)

 

Mando and Neto dancing. 

Mando taking a really, really big breath. Who knew physical exercise could be so taxing?

 

Sadly they don't have city leagues here and my brilliant idea to pack cleats and shin guards in our already overfull bags has proven pointless. Live and learn.

Paul's 9th Birthday

Paul turned 9 on October 14th. We don't know a whole lot of kids here, but we invited a few of our friends over for tacos and yogurt cake to make it feel a little more like a party.

 

Becca is saying something like, "See Paul, I told you I got you a volcano."

She doesn't quite understand the concept of presents being surprises.

 

 Sonja and Nestor - Nestor is a BYU-I intern here for the fall. Their baby didn't make it into the picture.

Eladio and Yoyo - These two are our greatest source of information concerning all things Chile. Eladio works with Mando and is in the branch presidency and Yoyo spends a lot of time at the house helping my kids and me with Spanish.

Neto - a family friend who came to the United States from Brazil a few years ago and lived with my dad while learning English. He then went to BYU-I and interned at different operations on his school breaks. He is in Chile for a few more weeks and then he'll return to the Ranch in Brazil. We will miss our friend Neto!

 

Val and Marge - the missionaries at the learning center. They teach the employees English on their lunch break as well as visiting some in their homes. We go visit them at the learning center on Wednesday afternoons and they always have a fun activity for the kids. They leave in mid-November.

 

 

Inhale. Exhale. The candle is out and Paul is officially 9!

"A Pokemon handbook! You are so lucky Paul!" We have a bunch of Poke-nerds over here.

 

 Oh there you are Sam. Don't look so worried. I am right here behind the camera.

One brown and one white Caballero having a little siesta after too much partying.



Nestor's Chancho

This weekend our friend Nestor decided to cook a chancho (Chilean pig) in the ground by our house for his birthday. Nestor is also named Isaac, and is from Venezuela, but his family lives in Mexico. He is a man of many identities. Nestor/Isaac is an intern from BYU-I and is here with his American wife Sonja and new baby who is also named Nestor (just to make it more confusing) for a few months.

 So you may be wondering how one cooks a pig in the ground. First you get a really big tractor and dig a big hole in the ground. Then you build a fire and if you are Nestor you pour lots of gas on it.

Then you tell a funny story about an owl flying out from a tree right behind you while you were hunting and you were so scared that you almost pooped your pants.

Then you fan the fire and get it really, really hot.

 

Then you wait for a long time.
 

When the fire has burned down and the coals are good and hot, you put the chunks of chancho in the ground with some moisture and cover it with something like tin. Finally you put dirt on top.

The next day you uncover the hole and you have a cooked pig!

We didn't get pictures of the lunch Nestor had because the camera battery was dead and sometimes a girl just wants to sit and eat pig cooked in the ground, but he invited a lot of employees from the farm and it was quite the fiesta. Thanks Nestor!

Museo Interactivo Mirador (MIM)

This past Saturday we went to the Museo Interactivo Mirador (MIM) in Santiago, just under 2 hours away from us. It is basically a huge, awesome children's museum that costs almost nothing to get into, but puts the much more expensive Museum at the Gateway mall in Salt Lake City to shame.

Making bubbles and giggling like the minions in Despicable Me.

I really wanted to try out the piano but it was only for kids Becca's size. Rats.

This mirror room was lots of fun. You could make it look like you were floating. It made Paul laugh very hard.

Joseph getting bossy with his multiple personalities.

The coolest room by far was the bubble room. Mando is trying to make himself very small.

Then my battery died so no more pictures, but we had a lot more fun.

 

Here's some pictures from Mando's phone:

 

Giant bubbles and giant nail mold machines. Good times.