Day in the life: Chile
Our team is blessed with our accommodations in La Pintana, Chile this month. Although the county lives in poverty, we feel like we are living in luxury. Our packing list includes a tent, sleeping pad, and sleeping bag should our host not have any of those. However, here in Chile we were given two rooms with two bunk beds in each. BEDS WITH MATTRESSES! I guarantee this will not be a luxury we’re afforded in each country. We also have a private kitchen/living room area, hot showers (sometimes), fridge, microwave, and laundry. Praise!!
Mornings begin with roosters crowing at about 3am. Our host has a chicken coop with two roosters and roughly 15 chickens right outside my window. I’m used to the strong, prominent crow of our campus rooster, Pablo. These roosters truly sound like they’re about to day and emitting their final, frail crows. Not exactly the first thing you want to hear in the morning, but I’m learning to sleep through it.
After sliding off the top bunk of my bunk bed, I’m instantly shivering because it’s spring here in Chile and they have no heating in their homes. Morning temperatures are in the 40’s. Our first few nights we were bundled head to toe to sleep (and this girl hates wearing socks to sleep). It’s a gamble trying to get hot water for the shower, but the challenge makes success infinitely worthwhile. Following a shower, I heat water in the microwave to stir in Nestle instant coffee. (Instant coffee is ubiquitous here. The aisle in the grocery store is dedicated to it with only a small section offering ground coffee and a minuscule amount of whole bean). Huddled in my sleeping bag I’ve dragged into the living room, I spend time reading my Bible and journaling as my sleeping teammates begin stirring and dragging their sleeping bags out as well.
We journey to the main home, Casa Esperanza, to cook breakfast. The staple three ingredients for breakfast in Chile is: instant coffee, eggs, and bread. Pan, pan, pan (Spanish word for bread). I thought I would lose it only having those three items, but we’ve been able to jazz it up a bit with avocado, onions, peanut butter, yogurt(used separately, of course).
Around 8:40 we unlock the gate surrounding the property of our home to walk to our morning ministry. Every home has a gate with spikes and barbed wire at the top to keep out thieves and for protection. The streets outside our home have trash littered around despite how many times we pick it up. Watch your step for poop from the street dogs which are loyal to certain businesses or street corners. We’ll pass several dogs on each block; they seem to be everywhere! Graffiti covers most gates and walls. As we walk down the sidewalk, we are quite frequently met with intrigued looks and stares. Some call out to us from their cars in traffic. We always respond with a friendly, confident, “hola!” No one yet has been straight up inappropriate or rude, but it’s definitely obvious we are not from around here. The locals constantly warn us to be on guard because this makes us easy target for theft. I’m always on alert and on guard, but these interactions and people I’m leery of have been incredibly enjoyable and refreshing. People are friendly and eager to greet us. Perhaps they have dishonorable motives or intentions, but I’m content to greet them with a smile and hello.
After a 15 minute walk through La Pintana we arrive at Escuela Las Rosas where we volunteer in the classrooms until 1pm. When we return from school, we eat lunch at Casa Esperanza with the girls who aren’t still at school/work and Tío Jose. (Any adult or older figure can be referred to as Tio/tia. It literally means aunt, but every small child that sees me immediately refers to me as tia). Lunch is the biggest meal of the day where they prepare something substantial. Since Chilean time seems to run always a bit late, lunch is normally at 1:30/2pm. Once lunch concludes we help Tio Jose around the house with yard work, painting, or cleaning. Tio Jose is the house handyman. He’s worked at Casa Esperanza for 5 years and is one of the most gentle, kindest men I’ve met. We’ve painted metal beams for him to use in building a roof over the basketball court. I’ve mowed a lawn (or bits of a lawn) for the first time ever, which happened to be with a manual, non-electric or gas mower. It’s actually incredibly fun and satisfying to watch the blades spin and cut through the grass. And I’ve picked up a large amount of dog poop. (It’s all worth it for Lexi though!).
At 5pm our yard/housework concludes and we have some free time until dinner or once (own-say). Sometimes we use this as time to meet as a team, go to a nearby park to workout, walk to the store, work on our blogs, spend time with the girls, or participate in another ministry. Between 7-9pm through the weekday we have once. Rather than a big dinner, the final evening meal is usually bread and coffee/tea. Sometimes there will be a special cake or a random dish, but the standard is bread. Someone is always in charge of preparing for it. The table is set with mugs, small plates, thermoses of water and containers of tea and coffee. The table transforms into a low-key tea party. At first this meal felt unsubstantial and lacking. As I began to experience once regularly, it has become something I always look forward to. Once is a time where nearly everyone in the house is home and we all meet together to break bread, talk, laugh, and be together. The expectation is bread with some type of topping. When something more appears, it’s exhilarating and creates a new sense of gratitude and appreciation.
Following the meal there is a time for a devotional for the girls. It’s a time where Casa Esperanza is able to tie everything back to their reason for their service and existence, Jesus Christ. He’s the root of why this ministry exists and their deepest desire is for these girls to come to know Him as they do. However for girls with tumultuous, heartbreaking pasts like they have, it’s not easy to trust and believe in God. Casa Esperanza realizes this and is content to plant seeds and model the fruit of a relationships with Christ.
The rest of the evening includes doing stacks of dishes while belting worship songs, helping out with chores around the house with the girls, watching Spanish dubbed Criminal Minds, gathering eggs from the chickens, random dance parties, or just trying to have conversation using broken English/Spanish with a lot of help from Google Translate. Although I’m normally early to bed, the night owl Chileans’ company have kept me up later than usual. Interacting with our ministry is way better than a few extra hours of sleep.
This is what the average day in La Pintana has looked like this month, although no two days here are alike. I wanted to offer some insight into life on the field here at Casa Esperanza. Although we leave next Wednesday for debrief in Valparaiso before heading to Mendoza, Argentina!
