We had been discussing a beach trip. When the kids had a recent Saturday off from choir, we decided to jump on the opportunity and make the hour and a half drive. Since we doubted we would be swimming in the Pacific, I wanted an activity involved so made our destination the Pablo Neruda House […]

Everyone told us Chile didn’t celebrate Halloween or Expats said, “It’s nothing like it is in the States.” So our expectations for October were very low. But honestly, we had a solid few days of Halloween festivities. Wilson’s skateboard class had everyone come in costume. They played special games and brought lots of snacks to […]

When researching our move to Chile, I read many stories about how hard it was to get phone service here. Mark and I decided to sign up for our standard Verizon international service to start since good phone service was needed for work. It was expensive and even more so when we went over our […]

I’ve yet to develop beyond a basic understanding of commerce are made in Santiago. Of course cash and credit cards are accepted, but there are methods of payment and transaction here that I’m still coming to understand or downright avoid. I’ve not gone online to thoroughly research the mysteries in the Chilean payment systems. I […]

As mentioned we often list the things we think we’re going to miss about Santiago. This is a good way to focus on the positives and will also be fun to see if we’re correct in our assessments. Ciclorecriovia We’ve mentioned our love for this program before. It’s such a wonderful gift to a city […]

One of the first things we noticed when we arrived in Chile was that there were no mailboxes at the street, none on the gates of the houses, no big mailboxes on street corners. One rainy day some mail for someone else was deposited under our gate, on the stair, in the rain. “So that’s […]

Sometimes we list the things we think we’re going to miss about Santiago. At the top of that list for Mark and myself is Ciclorecriovia. On Sundays we get on our bikes to ride car free on the usually heavily trafficked roads into downtown Santiago for church. The way there is usually pretty relaxing as […]

Last night I was invited to an English book exchange by a lovely woman I met on our WhatsAPP “gringos chat”. My need for conversation outweighed my social anxiety, and I willed myself to drive to a strangers house to spend an evening at the woman’s house in the neighborhood of Lo Barnechea. It was […]

We had heightened expectations to participate in the family 5k in Lo Barnechea this weekend. However, as we often find in Santiago, we were foiled by our mistranslation of schedules, plans, and other logistics. Road closures delayed our arrival to the parking area for the race, and since we were late, we missed the busses […]

You know how when you send your kids off to school and you wish you could be a fly on the wall and witness their interactions? I feel like I’ve been given that gift this year. Getting to hear the kids participate in their virtual class discussions is so fun. I’m always so proud when […]