Last, But Not Least!

 We made one more flight to Santiago to finally leave the airport there and visit where Jason actually lived. It was the only place he saw while he was in Chile for his mission, more than 27 years ago. Believe it or not, even after 9 days of traveling, I was still excited and ready for more!

Nayadette (Naya) and her husband Edwin picked us up from the airport, along with their son Manuel. 

*Family explanation: Naya is the older daughter of the couple who hosted Jason as a missionary for 8 months. I actually don't know the couple's first names, but their last name is Varga, and they are lovingly called Mamita and Papito. Naya and Edwin were already married when Jason was serving there. He actually gave Edwim the discussions, and he was baptized by Naya's brother-in-law, David. David is married to Carla, who is Naya's younger sister and is only a few years older than Jason. She's like his sister, and she referred to me as her sister-in-law :). They were also married when Jason was serving and had Rolando, who was 2. Carla, unfortunately, wasn't there while we were, but was in Draper, Ut., with her daughter Sara and her husband and baby girl. Sara was born after Jason left and actually served a mission at the LA Temple, and we met her there sometime before COVID. Luckily, I had already met Carla and David a few years ago when they were in Utah visiting Sara. We had a nice long visit at the park and I got to know and love them. They were so gracious with their Spanish speaking so that Victoria and I could communicate with them for 3 hours. They omitted all the Chileanisms for us! Since Sara and her family live in Uth, we will likely get to see Carla, David, and Sara's family more often. Our first night in Santiago, we FaceTimed with Carla. Her English has improved a lot since I saw her last, and she encouraged me to keep up my Spanish.

Ok, back to our trip. Naya, Edwin, and Manuel took us to the Vargas house, where Mamita, Papito, David, Rolando, and his wife Careen were waiting for us. They all live there, along with Carla, of course. Naya doesn't live far and is often at the Vargas house helping with her parents and sharing meals with the family. 

The reunion with Jason, Papito, and Mamita was so precious! Those hugs were just as sweet as the one with Claudio. Those people are like Jason's Chilean parents. Mamita is suffering from Alzheimer's, but even still remembers Jason. She remembered him enough to be smitten by his wife, whom she had wanted to meet for a very long time. She looked at me with such love and tenderness and wouldn't let go of my hand for a while. She kept saying to me, "Qué linda! Que linda!" 

I wish we had a better picture with them.

We ate Completos for dinner, which is probably one of the best ways to have a hot dog. Jason has always raved about them. It's a hot dog, in the delicious, fresh Chilean bun, with mashed avocado on it, then fresh tomatoes, followed by a drizzle of mayo on top. Delish! They ensured we had our water, even when picking us up from the airport, since the Vargas family is a little more aware of Americans and their water. They also had plenty of soda and juice to offer us with dinner. 

These were Completos from the airport, one of the times we ate there, and were slightly different, but this is the gist. 

We stayed in Sara's old room, which was very comfortable. It has a refrigerator in it, which they had stocked with water, juice, and fruit for us. There were some chocolates for us as well. Across the hall is where Rolando and Careen sleep, including their own bathroom, refrigerator, and even their 2 cats with all they need, because they mostly stay in the giant room. Mamita and Papito aren't fond of cats. Mamita and Paptio's room has all they need as well. It is especially good because it's hard for Mamita to get up and down the stairs now. She is 84 and loves her family dearly, so she will make the trek up and down the stairs for meals.  I could tell that her favorite times were the mealtimes with the family, which was pretty much the only time she was out of her room. She took a very long time to eat, but smiled and soaked in her family during those times. 

The next morning was Stake Conference, and it was another time that Mamita looked so happy, sitting with her family at church. Papito took very good care of her as they entered and left the chapel. Since David is on the high council, he had to be to Conference early, so Papito took it upon himself to bring Jason and me cups of yogurt with grapes and blueberries in it, up to our room while we were getting ready. Suddenly, we heard him call out at the door, "Mercado, Mercado!" which he lovingly called Jason. He handed us our yogurts with a huge grin, and I was so grateful for it because I was really hungry! 

The Stake Center was packed all the way to the back. It was impressive! One of the first speakers was the mission president's wife, and she doesn't know much Spanish; in fact, I think I might know more than her. She gave her talk in English, while her husband translated. She said about 2 simple phrases in extremely slow Spanish, but I was grateful for her talk in English.  After her talk, I was surprised by how much I understood of the other talks. I don't know a lot of the Church words in Spanish, but I must have learned more than I thought from Felipe in Coyhaique.  

David took Jason and me to a Stake Conference not far from the other Stake Center to try to find some people Jason knew. We also stopped by the very first neighborhood Jason served in. We didn't find the people we were looking for, but it allowed Jason to see how much the area has grown since he was there last. 

First area!

Back at their home, we ate some delicious Chilean BBQ with veggies, rice, and ice cream.

Since David had to work on Monday,  he took Jason and me an hour and a half away to see Vina del Mar and Valparaiso, which we hadn't planned on seeing,  but enjoyed so much! 

It's a bustling area on the coast with more houses on the hill than I've seen in person.  David took us up to the top point of Valparaiso, and we made our way down, stopping by important or interesting sights where he always made sure to take our picture. 

Took the train from Vina del Mar to Valparaiso.

We went up a type of outdoor elevator to get to the top.

We went down a slide. 

The electrical wires were insane!

A little art museum. 

There was lots of art outside as well.

We went down many sets of stairs. 

As we were close to the end of the bottom of the hill, we stopped for some smoothies. After that, I felt a little chilly, but brushed it aside because I only had on a thin jacket. 

The ride home took much longer than anticipated with all the tacos on the road (remember, tacos in Chile are traffic jams). We stopped for a quick American-style dinner at Burger King when we realized we would be home late! At that point, I noticed my back hurt a bit, but I assumed it was because I was leaning forward to hear David and Jason talk, as I had been doing every ride!

When I woke the next day, my whole body hurt, and I still felt a little chilly.  I figured it would improve, as I rarely get sick now. I took ibuprofen, ate some breakfast, and was ready for our day riding with Naya and Manuel to see some sights near Puente Alto and Santiago. 

This was a tunnel where someone jumped in front of the train, so it doesn't function anymore. 

This is a huge memorial to the person. 

There were these cairns everywhere in the Andes foothills. They signify direction and were a symbol of the youth theme for the Church a few years ago. 

Up in the Andes foothills: Cajon del Maipo, the reservoir. 

Naya and Manuel with us.

Looks like Southern CA.

We stopped by this Casa Chocolate, but it wasn't made of chocolate.

It alternated wood and adobe.

They have these cool mosaics around the outside of the house. 

I knew when the ibuprofen wore off because I immediately felt achy and nauseous.  I found I couldn't focus on what Naya was saying anymore. We stopped for lunch, and I really thought it would help. But once the food was in front of me,  I took one bite and I was done. I had to lie down in the car, and when we returned to the Vargas home, I went straight to bed. My temperature was never taken, but I knew I had a fever. Jason and Papito walked to a pharmacy nearby to get me saltines and some antinausea medication.  Jason wasn't feeling great either,  but he was able to function a little better than I and even washed our clothes! When David returned home, he determined that I had a fever and was dehydrated,  so he went and got a different type of antinausea medication, something equivalent to Tylenol, and a bunch of bottles of something similar to Pedialyte. He instructed Jason and me to drink a cup of the Pedialyte every 30 minutes, and he made sure to come up each time to help pour or see that we were drinking it. He made us some rice, and it was perfect.  Unfortunately,  in the middle of the night, my rice came back up, and then so did my antinausea medication I took most recently. 

The next day was our last day. It would have been the day that we saw Santiago itself,  but I was in bed instead, trying to get decent enough to be able to fly a red-eye back home. Good thing for us, Santiago isn't the cute city Valparaiso and Vina del Mar are, so we didn't miss much.  Actually,  it was nice to be at home so Jason could visit more with Mamita and Papito. He was feeling a little better, but was still careful with what he was eating.  At this point, we didn't know if we had food poisoning or what. So when I was feeling a bit better around lunchtime,  I ate with the family that was home (my hard-boiled egg and plain rice). I really didn't want to get everyone sick,  but we kind of thought it was food poisoning. Those gut things always hit me harder than Jason. 

I enjoyed my visit with Mamita and Papito, and then Careen took Jason and me out to the local store in Puente Alto to get some dulces for our kids. Afterward, Careen did my nails in her professional nail studio downstairs. 

She did a really good job!

We got a picture in with Careen and Rolando, thankfully. Unfortunately, we missed any more final pictures with anyone else because we weren't feeling great. We never got one with Edwin since he worked, and I was pretty sick Monday night when we would have. That's why you always take pictures in the beginning and not wait, in case something happens!

When it was time,  we said our goodbyes and David took us to the Santiago airport one last time.

I felt good enough to travel,  but still weak. I was still not fully hydrated because I started having the runs by the time we got to the airport. My stomach felt bloated,  so I put on my PJ bottoms for the flight home.  

Let me just say that I didn't sleep well on the flight to Dallas, and neither did Jason. We actually rented a little quiet sleep room at the airport during the layover, waiting to go to Detroit.  After that hour of exhausted sleep, we felt like we were in a time warp. 

Regardless, our reunion with our kids was amazing! They did miss us, and they took such good care of everything while we were away. We were so impressed! The next few days at home, I even played some video games with them since I wasn't sure what was going on with my body, and I really wanted to spend time with them (it was the middle of spring break when we returned). I was tired and nauseous mostly.  Nothing tasted great, not even water.  Jason was better by then,  so I thought maybe I caught the norovirus. I finally called the doctor Friday afternoon, but they never got back to me before they closed for the weekend,  so we called Jason's brother Thomas, who's a doctor.  He told us just to take a probiotic pill specifically designed for travelers outside the US. He made a big deal about us not having taken it as we were traveling there,  so we thought maybe our guts were just messed up from all the different things in a foreign country. 

The probiotics did their job and gave me the runs again to rid whatever was still in my system, though it didn't affect Jason that way; he was fine. Even still, I worked the whole next week feeling nauseous,  bloated, and strained for energy.  The doctor called back, and I finally talked to someone from the office on Wednesday. They thought the probiotics sounded promising,  but they told me to inform them by Friday if things weren't better. Well, by Friday, by the time I noticed that I wasn't better and even starting to get some runs again,  I was on my way to the airport to LA to see my dad inaugurated into the LA City Hall of Fame for his superb coaching skills for the HS swim and water polo teams (see next post). I figured if I could teach preschool,  I could sit on a plane and then relax at my Dad's for 2 days. And that's just what I did! After a horribly uncomfortable flight out, due to my bloating and nausea, I relaxed after a night of some runs at his house. All day Saturday, I sat and visited and relaxed, while listening to some General Conference. Finally,  Sunday,  a full 2 weeks later,  I felt normal again and could enjoy my food and water. 

So I traveled for 2 weeks and then was sick for 2 weeks, but it was one of the best trips ever! Not sure what I had at the end, but I'm so happy to be feeling normal again and for all the memories I have of Chile!