A Day of Rest

Unfortunately as soon as we all got back from Argentina, Justin came down with a sever flu, and was bedridden until Wednesday.  For the rest of us, we were out in service all day everyday because as all pioneers know, it is nearing the end of the month :) As a result the whole family took a Sabbath, if you will, on Thursday. We started our day at the feria (an open air market of any kind),or the farmer's market.  Tons of fresh fruits and veggies, and unlike the farmer's market in Madison, it is cheaper than buying produce at the super markets.  Charese usually makes a weekly visit and buys all of the fruits and veggies for all 5 of us for the week, spending about $25.  It really is amazing! Needless to say the locals were surprised to see Americans there because the tourists don't usually venture that far from the beach areas. Brandon and I did some purchasing of our own and got fresh cherries, nuts, olives, and some fresh goat cheese.  Tonight after meeting we hope to enjoy the olives and cheese on crackers with some wine :)


After lunch and naps we took a trip down to the beach.  It was a little chillier than normal, but it was still great to lay in the sun and just relax in the sun.  Hopefully we will get a link up to Justin's blog because he took some cool video while enjoying the crashing waves.

The next stop of the day was the dunes in Concon, which we have mentioned previously.  Definitely a great way to overlook the sea while enjoying the natural beauty that Jehovah has created for us.  I don't know how tall they are, but if you notice the lower left picture, those apartment buildings are at the base of the dune, so maybe we were 14 stories up. There are only two dunes left because the builders of the area insist on developing them since they are all sea front. Many Chileans are very upset that the government just dropped its protection to one dune, so there is protesting to protect the second one. Why you would want to build sky scrappers on top of piles of sand in an earthquake zone is beyond me though, it just doesn't seem like a smart idea.  Plus if the sand blew in once, chances are it will blow in again so I assume the buildings will be covered in 14 stories of sand in the future. After the dunes came pizza night! We of course made American style (with pepperonis, mushrooms, peppers, mozzarella, and tomato sauce) while Andres and Charese made Chilean pizza (sauteed onions instead of any sauce, palm hearts, mushrooms, a local cheese, and topped with fresh avocado). Both turned out great and were much enjoyed even though dinner time got bumped back to 11:30 due to the day's activities.  Short post today because we are going to meeting, and Brandon and I both have our first parts tonight!