Bahai Temple and Quebrada de Macul

Last Thursday, the boys were off of school as it was "Teacher's Day." We decided to use the day off to explore a side of town called Peñalolén, which is about 30 min southeast of us with no traffic. The first place we explored was called the Bahá'í Temple. The temple is a house of worship for the Bahá'í Faith, which "teaches the essential worth of all religions and the unity of all people." The temple is open to all faiths and backgrounds and was inaugurated in 2016 as the continental temple for the Bahá'í Faith in South America. There are many other temples around the world. 

When you're visiting the temple, inside you're supposed to be completely silent. Of course, that's not the case when they have their pray services, which I think they hold every Sunday. But, apparently musical instruments are never allowed. No idea why. 

All Bahá'í Temples are circular and nine-sided. This one has nine entrances as well as nine spiraling paths outwards into nature. It's almost like a lotus flower and evokes this really lovely, nature filled feeling. The founder of this faith wrote "O people of the world! Build ye houses of worship throughout the lands in the name of Him Who is the Lord of all religions. Make them as perfect as is possible in the world of being, and adorn them with that which befitteth them, not with images and effigies. Then, with radiance and joy, celebrate therein the praise of your Lord, the Most Compassionate." Nice. The writing at the apex of the building says "O Thou Glory of the Most Glorious" in Arabic and is the only iconography in the whole place.

View of the temple from above with the lovely spiral paths and gardens. 

After the Bahá'í Temple, we went to the Parque Natural Quebrada de Macul. A quebrada is like a ravine, and the Macul is the name of a creek. It was a nice nature area where you can hike to a few nice creek access points. It is also the trailhead for a few other much longer hikes. Our main goal was to find bugs for Rosie to eat, so we were going slow, turning over rocks. We met another dad and son with a similar mission, bug finding, and the boys quickly became fast friends. The dad was super knowledgeable as well, which was useful as some of the bugs we found we had never seen before and looked prehistoric. 

Itty bitty scorpion! No, we did not take this home.

Can't say I have ever seen a bug like this before. Doesn't bite, just looks bizarre.

The boys had a great time playing around in the river. We also saw a fox right in this same area. Super cool.

They blend in pretty well, but look right in the middle of the photo below, and you'll see 5 friends totally submerged except for their heads in a little pool in the river. The water is pretty cold though, no thermal pools here! 

On a side bar, Drew has decided to grow out his hair into a man bun, since he has no corporate obligations at the moment. He still needs to use bobby pins but he's close. No time like the present!

Just a cute picture of Avery at a recent asado we hosted. 

Camping Chivato and Rosie

October 10-12, so Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon, we went on a camping trip with other families from Avery's Kinder class. The classes are VERY intentional about spending time together, as the kids will be with each other all the way through 12th grade, more or less, so it's very important to the parents that the kids are close, and the parents as well. The friendships made in "colegio" (K-12) are friendships that will last the rest of a Chilean kid's life. So many of our friend of a friend of a friend connections here are from colegio friendships. They are even more important than university friends, because most kids live at home during university, so the bond there doesn't grow as strong. But it is apparently unusual for a class to bond via camping. Our particular Kinder class parents are just a bit more outdoorsy than most, and they like camping. Well, we were all about it. 

Getting to the campsite was a bit of an adventure. Drew had taken the van into the Mercedes dealership three days prior to get the 300km full maintenance done, which, kudos to him for being proactive about that. But 40 min into driving, the oil warning light came on with the message "Hi" being displayed on the dash. We were actually right next to the Mercedes Dealership where the work was done when the light came on, so we took it there and asked what was up. They tested the oil level, said it was fine, took it for another test drive, said everything was fine, and declared it must be a faulty sensor. Drew rightly didn't believe them, so we began using Gemini to figure out what was wrong. Apparently it is a very common problem for Mercedes Sprinters to get a smidge too much oil after an oil change, and the engines are very sensitive to the level being just right. So after another while, when the light came back on after the engine was warmed up again and the oil had expanded, we made our way to another mechanic shop we found on the way, which, at this point we were outside the city, and there were no bigger towns on our way to our camping location, so this meant the mechanic shop was really a guy working out of his house. But, he had legit tools to do the job, meaning a code reader, blocks, and a bucket, jajaja, so we had him drain out a half liter or so of oil and voilá! Problem solved. But it turned our 2.5 hour drive into a 5 hour one. But it was a good practice in patience for both us and the boys, as, undoubtedly, this sort of thing is going to happen on our trip down south this summer. And we need to be able to adapt and relax and enjoy the journey as much as the destination. Because ultimately, we're getting to spend time with each other regardless, and isn't that the whole point anyways? 

This is the view from our campsite (Drew actually took it from the top of the van). You can see the ocean, as well as a fence surrounding the entire property. Chileans are serious about the ocean being dangerous, and they definitely don't allow kids to play there unattended, hence the fence. Each campsite had its own quincho (charcoal/wood grill) as well as a picnic table, electricity, and a shade structure. Behind our site was a bath house with running water, sinks for washing dishes, and showers. This is apparently the preferred way to camp in Chile: tent camping, but at a site with amenities.  We were the only family out of probably a dozen that was sleeping not in a tent. One family did rent a cabaña that was up the hill to sleep in a real bed. It was a very fun weekend, as the kids could run amuck, and we took up an entire row of campsites, so we had an entire section of the campsite to ourselves. There was one main site, the one closest to the water, that was our main cooksite for the group. You were on your own for breakfasts, but each lunch and dinner was a communal asado (BBQ) with all the food provided. Our plug in cooler definitely came in handy for this, as we were the keeper of all the meats.

 

Going to the beach in Chile is definitely a different experience than in other parts of the world. It was a bit windy on Saturday, so between the wind, the springtime temperatures, and the cold water, I was FREEZING, hence why Avery and I are cuddled up under some towels. I haven't actually been to a Chilean beach yet where it was hot enough that I wanted to layout and sunbathe. But I suppose my skin will thank me when I'm older. And the kids still love it, as all they really care about is playing in the sand. 

Obligatory football matches.

Asado. Always salchichas (hotdogs) for the kids, chorizo for choripan, and beef in large chunks for sharing between the adults. 

Friday night we stayed up later than normal for a couple of reasons. One, we didn't arrive til 7pm due to our fun oil level adventure, and they didn't have food coming off the grill until 8pm. 9pm was marshmallow time, which is funny for us, because the concept of a complete s'more doesn't exist here. It's just roasted marshmallows and that's it. By 10pm, we were hauling the kids to bed, the first family to do so. Bedtimes here in Chile are very optional. They don't seem to place the same emphasis on sleep routines as we do in the States. I guess I should clarify; they don't place the same emphasis on sleep routines as I do, because I will admit, I am much stricter than most. Anyways, the boys were for sure grouchy the next day, so we cut out early on Saturday night and had the boys in bed by 9pm. But many parents said the next day they didn't go to bed til 11pm or 12am, and the kids stayed up with them the whole time. To each their own, I guess. 

The final highlight of the trip was that on Friday night, Drew saw a tarantula making its way across the main campsite, so he, of course, captured it in a cup, then transferred it to a box we had, and it became the mascot of the trip. All the kids wanted to see it, and Emerson took great pride in keeping her safe. Well, in a family vote, I lost 1-3 to keep it as a pet, so now we have a pet tarantula named Rosie in the apartment. Welcome Rosie! No, we will not be taking her on the trip South. No, she will not come with us back to the States. She will be a short term pet, and then she will be released back into her natural habitat.

Bradford Cup and Cerro El Carbón

On October 4th, a Saturday, our school held their annual Bradford Cup, an intra-school sports competition. There are three classes per grade, A, B, and C, so each class across all grade levels was associated with an area in the UK. Bradford is a British school, so all activities are UK themed. So Class A was White for England, Class B was Red for Wales, and Class C was Blue for Scotland. They had a fun opening ceremony with a parade across the field where each group got to display their flag and play their anthem. This was just for 1st grade and up, so it was mainly for Emerson, but Avery got to compete a bit too. Emerson is in 1st C, so we wore blue for Scotland. It was funny scenario, because the competition itself was being held at Estadio Italia, which is a sports club for Italian citizens. The Bradford Cup was held at this particular club because Bradford has a relationship with this club, and the older students get bused here several times a week for practices and such, as they have many fields that are much larger than ours at our school campus. If a school is very large, they have their own sports stadiums. But our school is on the smaller side and doesn't have a large footprint, so we use the fields at Estadio Italia for the bigger kids. And the pool too, actually. Starting in 2nd grade, all the kids get to go to the pool once a month for swimming classes. Emerson gets to do this for the first time next week! Anyways, sports clubs in Santiago are huge thing. Most people in our circles belong to one. Some are SUPER exclusive, like a country club equivalent, but you have to be connected to the country, either by citizenship or through work. The German club, called Estadio Manquehue is like this. We toured it when we first visited in Oct. 2023, because it is right down the street from our house and it's one of the few Estadios with a beach volleyball court. Well, we didn't qualify, even with the last name of Kirchner, so we can't join officially. Apparently you can pay a mountain of money and finagle your way in, but we weren't about to do that. There are funny work arounds though. Drew can still pay for volleyball clinics and classes held at the courts within Estadio Manquehue, so he can still play there, which is all he really cares about anyways. I'm assuming he wouldn't be allowed to use any of the other amenities, but once you're in the door, I'm not sure how they'd know. There are other more low key sports clubs that you can just pay outright to join. But since we'll be gone literally all summer, it doesn't make much sense for us to join one. But if we were here for the long, long term, I'd imagine we would. Also, surprisingly there is no American Club. Just not enough US folks here, I suppose. Anyways, it was very funny to Drew and I that the Bradford Cup was a British themed event, held at a sports club for Italians, but within the country of Chile. If that's not international, I don't know what is.  

Emerson's 1st grade team got to compete in rugby, football (soccer), athletics (running and jumping), and finally volleyball! Emerson loved the rugby, and it's clear he's got a better handle on it than most of his classmates. He knows all the rules, and he has decent hand eye coordination and throwing skills. Football though is a different story. The kids here are all amazing. Emerson has certainly gotten better since moving here, but he's definitely on the lower end of the spectrum. But, he's getting better!
 

During the football match, the parents got to play too if they wanted. I'm honestly not sure why the school wanted it this way, as the kids were doing just fine on their own. I think to foster a parent/kid play bond? So Drew went out to play, but not really. But they had fun. Apparently it is a major concern for parents, especially parents of boys, if your kid isn't into football, at least a little bit. Something about how all friendship problems between boys get worked out on the football, and if the kid doesn't like football, it's a bad sign for future behavioral issues. Interesting. 

For the athletic portion, it was much more informal, and whoever wanted to race could race, against whomever they wanted. The kid on the right is Emerson's best friend Sebastian, or Sebas for short. I can't tell you how long it took me to say Sebas and not Sebby. 

Avery was able to compete in the running and the jumping, and he had a blast. He must have competed in the running about 20 times.

The following Thursday, Drew and I did a hike up Cerro El Carbón. This hike is much easier than the last hike we did up Manquehue. It's graded an intermediate/hard difficulty level, and it has well defined trails that are certainly steep in sections, but not crazy. The view was great, but the view from Manquehue is better, as you can see more of the mountains on the backside of the city. But for a less experienced hiker, Cerro El Carbón is a great option. 

That is actually Manquehue in the background there. 

One really nice part of the hike was this entire hillside covered in orange flowers. ChatGPT believes they are California poppies. Can anyone confirm or deny this? I felt like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz.

         

Finally, we saw these two birds of prey, a male and a female, hanging out together. It's October, but it's springtime here in Chile! I'll never get used to that. Halloween when flowers are blooming instead of dying is very weird. 

Valle Nevado

The ski season is coming to a close here, and we still had a couple of passes left for a local ski resort called Valle Nevado. So, we decided to pull the boys from school on Thursday and Friday of last week and go skiing. We wanted to make the trip during the week for two reasons. 1. This is the closest ski resort to Santiago, so it gets very crowded on the weekends, nobody likes that. 2. The drive to the ski resort is not for the faint of heart, especially in our big van. You begin by following a river valley up into the mountains, but at some point you begin the main ascent, and it is 40 hairpin turns on a not wide enough road. So for every turn, if another car is coming, the car that is descending has to stop and wait for the ascending car to get around the hairpin. In an SUV, it would probably feel fine. In the van, it feels daunting. Drew has made this drive before, and he said it was super stressful alone. With a copilot it was better, as I could look out for oncoming cars for him while he was navigating the turns. Choosing to do the drive on a weekday made it far easier as well. Sometimes if there is alot of traffic, the police will intervene, forcing it to flow in only one direction. This is what happened to Drew his first time. He wanted to make the drive on a Sunday afternoon of a holiday weekend so he could ski on Monday, but they had stopped traffic going up from 2pm-8pm, and were only letting people come down. So he had to wait at a traffic stop for hours, luckily he had the amenities of the van to do this, and then make the drive in the dark. Yesh. For drivers who aren't that brave, there are companies in Santiago that will drive you from the city up to the ski resort and back, for like $30. And they drive in Mercedes Sprinters, just a touch shorter than our van. The google maps drive time says an hour and a half. It took us two solid hours for sure.  

 

Spring skiing is definitely fun in Chile. It was 80 degrees in the city when we left, so up at the ski resort it was a balmy 50 degrees in the afternoons. We were skiing in t-shirts with one thin layer over top and were sweating. The snow would turn to absolute mush by the afternoon which was fun for the boys. It allowed them to ski some steeper terrain, a blue and even a blue/black (which here they label as a red diamond), without the fear of getting out of control speed-wise. The mashed potatoes slowed you down severely. Turning in that much slush though definitely wore me out. We skied 5 hours both days and my legs were toast by the end. So would it be everyone's cup of tea? No, definitely not. Did we have fun? Yes.

Another interesting thing about skiing in Chile in general is that many of the resorts are entirely above the tree line. The tree line in the Andes around Santiago, which has a Mediterranean climate, is around 2,400m, or 7,800ft. In comparison, the tree line in the Rockies is somewhere between 10,000 - 12,000 ft, so much higher. Valle Nevado's base was at 9,900 ft with the summit getting up to just over 12,000 ft. So the entirety of this resort is above tree line. It feels like you're skiing in endless bowls. Just white as far as the eye can see. Due to this being the end of the season, all of the official runs had snow coverage, but many of the in between areas did not. But, I can imagine after a heavy snow with everything filled in, it would be super fun because the amount of available terrain would seem endless. 

That high but flatish peak behind the boys in the pic below is El Plomo, which gets up to 17,800 ft. It's the tallest peak close to Santiago. Drew has a dream to climb that while we are here, and I believe that 3-day hike would actually begin from somewhere close to the ski resort. We'll see if he pulls that off. He needs a hiking buddy. Any takers?? On the other side of that range is Argentina. 

On this map, you can see our house in Santiago, Valle Nevado, Cerro El Plomo, and finally the Chile/Argentina border. 

We weren't allowed to camp overnight in the main parking lot of Valle Nevado, so we drove down a couple of curves and camped in an auxiliary lot. On our two minute drive back up to the main lot the next morning, we saw this beauty. It was actually our second one of the trip! Fox in Spanish is zorro, which always makes me laugh. You're saying all the years we were watching the Zorro movies, our only connotation was hot, masked guy while everyone else in LatinAmerican was thinking "Fox Man." jajaja

Until next year, ski season!