29 july - 22 july

camping


four more weeks left, two in arica and then to a city which is a bit larger and south called acica (sp) from there it's back to pichilemu, where they've been battling the cold, apparently they've had a breathing epidemic in the town, i'm praying things will warm up and folks will be getting healthy again by the time we return there.

the last week has been one of much rest, we stayed outside of arica in a campground. i'm not quite sure if i have the details completely right: the pastor at the second church we visited a month ago is somehow involved in ownership or renting this property (but they didn't come out to visit us) the congregation from the last church we visited was very actively involved with us. they brought us mattresses and bedding, food and water. there was a pool, that was half full of green water, so the guys started bailing it out with 5 gallon buckets. samuel and robinson lead the charge, this was pretty ammusing as the soil here hasn't seen this much water since the last tsunami. the sandy soil just pooled the water. the next day the water was gone in most areas but when we walked over those places the soil caved in. we also had an incident with the loss of electricity in the commodore which is doubling as the guys sleeping quarters. i'm always leery of electricity (even in the states) but things are down right scary here. the area that flooded was also where the subterranean power supply was located. it started sparking and burning later in the day which when i thought about the fact that we'd been walking around that area in the puddled water and sinking into the soggy mud made me conscious of how we were being protected. i did get a pretty good shock trying to turn on an outdoor light switch 220 volts ain't fun.

the rest of the week was spent filling the pool back up and fighting off wild dogs. they were pretty bold, entering our kitchen and eating anything that wasn't tightly enclosed. they also were able to dump over the 55 gallon barrels which held our trash (pretty impressive for a cocker spaniel) i chased them off from day one but someone in the camp was feeding them and encouraging them to come around. i didn't eat for the first 4 days i was there a group of 4 of us were baptized in the pacific, then the congregation threw a party for us. benjamin made ceviche and they brought out a chinese chef (yes, he made chinese food) i went a bit overboard (having not eaten the previous day) my stomach was upset as i ate much and did the heavy spice thing.