August- Week 1- Chile, Day 6 & 7 (The House and Temple)

Tuesday, we decided we needed a day to relax.  We had been go, go, go, with site-seeing, we decided to take a day to stay home in our PJs. We lovingly called it, "Mandatory Family Fun Day." We had a normal light breakfast, and I tried the chirimoya we bought at the grocery store the first day we arrived.  I didn't like it at all.  :(  However, I don't think it was ripe enough.  It's supposed to be soft enough to scoop out (almost the texture of custard).  This was nowhere close.  I would definitely try it again, but wait until it's much softer.  

11am, we started a game of Liverpool Rummy and did laundry.  We paused the card game for lunch and watched a few episodes of Big Bang Theory.  Then we opened a puzzle.  

We got back to Liverpool around 4pm and didn't finish until 7pm.  Emily won with her husband Justin right behind her by 10 points.  Mom and Mickelle prepared a wonderful meal for us: Pasta Salad, hotdogs wrapped in bacon, pao de queijo (brazilian cheese bread) and peach compote.  My brother Jonathan was in charge of setting the table and got pretty creative.  :) 

After dinner, we packed, FaceTimed with kids, worked on the puzzle a LOT, and then watched the pilot episode of Walking Dead.  It was suspenseful for sure, but not a show I could watch all the time.  Too yucky. We went to bed around 2am.  

Wednesday- we hurried and ate, showered, packed, and were out the door a little after 10 am.  On the way, we passed a 3-bus car accident probably less than 10 minutes old.  The road in and out of the city where my parents live is a two lane road, which leads to often passing many slower cars.  It looked like one bus crossed the middle line, possibly to pass, and hit another bus head-on!  We saw people on the side of the road crying and on their phones.  We even saw the driver of one of the buses slumped over and we thought he was dead.  My dad later read on the news that the driver was flown to the hospital still alive, but I think he later died.  :(  I think we were SO, SO blessed that day!  Had we left the house a few minutes earlier, we could have been involved in the crash.  Had we left any later, we would have been stuck in MAJOR traffic and never have made it to our next destination...the Santiago Temple! We arrived about 30 mins before we needed to.  We changed and got our head sets so we could listen in English.  Mickelle and Jonathan read books and took naps out in the car.  After, we took pictures and changed our clothes.  

Then, we drove to another mall to eat lunch at TGI Fridays.  Because we only wanted my parents to have to drive ONE car home after dropping us off at the airport, we all squished into the Explorer but couldn't fit any of our luggage.  My dad had hired/arranged for a van to stop by the house and pick up our luggage and meet us at the airport.  We called one of my parents' neighbors to check and see if the luggage has been picked up yet.  As it turned out, because of the 3-bus car accident, traffic had been at a stand still for 6+ hours and the van that was hired to pick up our stuff couldn't get through! That wonderful, loyal, and hard-working neighbor (also one of my dad's co-workers), selflessly volunteered to load our bags up in his own truck, and drive to airport by way of the coast, tacking on an extra 30 mins at least.   We weren't really sure if he could make it in time, so we all started to pray pretty hard. :)  We finished "lunch" around 5pm and got to the airport around 5:45 for our 7:30 flight.  We checked in and asked just "how late" our bags could arrive and still make it on the flight?  They said they had to be there by 6:50.  Our luggage arrived by 6:40!  Ten minutes to spare!  We thanked him profusely, and then quickly ran through security and said quick good-byes.  

The weather was very clear the day we left and you can see the huge ANDES mountains so well! 

On the flight to Atlanta, I watched Muppets Most Wanted, MIB 3, and Pitch Perfect.  Still didn't sleep much.  However, the flight from Atlanta to SLC was fairly empty and I got to spread out on Dan's lap and two other seats.  Best sleep I got out of all four flights.  This was taken right when we landed.  Boy, I look rough.  ;)  

So long Chile!  You were amazing!  And a HUGE thanks to my parents for making it all possible!  It was so, so, wonderful to be with all my siblings and parents in such a cool place!