Trip to Santa Lucia

 On Sunday the 11th we headed back to the Puente Alto Stake to attend church in the Sotero del Rio Ward with the Hermanas that we just moved there yesterday.  I think they were relieved to see us.  I received a couple of "Oh grandma, we are so thankful that you are here" hugs.  The ward welcomed them with open arms.  I think this whole episode with the threat has been more traumatic than they let on.  They have moved from an apartment to a little house with propane bottles to keep filled.  It is a huge change from city life to the more rural area of Santiago.
     This ward meets in a building that they share with the Los Cantaros Ward in the Gabriela Stake.  First time we have seen two different stakes meeting in the same building.  This ward was very small but with a good mix of old and young.  I was privileged to be able to play the piano for Sacrament Meeting. (thank you Mom for the gift of music)  We decided to stay and attend the next ward.  This ward had no young people.  It was really a quiet Sacrament Meeting.  Elder Keith is in this ward so he played the piano.  We were thrilled when they announced that Elder Peterson would be speaking.  It is so fun to be able to support these young missionaries here.  We are hoping that these two wards will have a combined Capilla Abierta. We got home in time for lunch and then Elder Thompson had to leave at 4 to attend a Sealers meeting at the temple.  He didn't get back till 8.  Well, we had a huge Saturday, a huge Sunday, and its time to begin another week.  We definitely do not have time to get bored here!
     Monday we were on the road again.  The young Hermana's in one of the pensiones called and their "furnace" which is a little heater had blown up.  We just can't stand the thought of someone being cold so we delivered a new one, checked out the empty pension to see what needed done before someone else moved in and met the hermana's from Alicahue to look at a possible new pension for them.  They are in an apartment that is not in their zone and it doesn't have a good bus system to get to their zone to serve.  It is a brand new apartment.  Hopefully we will be able to close on it.  The price is right and the hermanas were so excited.  We didn't get back home till 7.
     As always we loved our day in the temple on Tuesday.  When we got back to the mission office, the young missionaries had taken over our desk and computer.  They were talking to their families so we just came home early.  It's impossible to do anything without a desk or computer.
     We had zone conferences this week so our office Elders had to take snack foods to the office buildings next to the temple Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  We made sure to schedule our service calls so that they could use the truck.  We had to deliver a bed to one of the pensiones as Hermana Robertson is returning to finish her mission after going home to have surgery.
     We have no Capilla Abierta's this week so we decided to do some sight-seeing with the Hughes on Saturday.  We took the bus down to the metro station, then the train to explore the Santa Lucia hill.
     Santa Lucia is a small hill in the center of Santiago.

The claim is that it is a remnant of a volcano 15 million years ago.

The Chilean hero Pedro de Valdivia conquered the hill on Dec. 13, 1540 for Spain.   The hill was used as a point of worship or prayer during the chicken pox outbreak in 1541.  The hill is about 226 feet tall.  When Pedro de Valdivia captured the hill, he captured an 11 year old native named Lautoro, which means swift hawk.  He became a personal servant to Valdivia.  When Lautoro turned 19, he lead the indigenous resistance against Spain

He lead the 8,000 man army that fought against Valdivia in the battle that killed Valdivia in 1553-4.

I borrowed fotos from the internet cause my camera could not capture the whole hill.

In 1816 the Brigadier of the Royal Engineers designed and built 2 forts or castles on Santa Lucia Hill, one on the north and one on the south.

The forts were built of stone and lime and had 8 - 12 cannons each.

Fort Hidalgo was finished in 1820 and used as a defensive point for Santiago.

This fort was once open to the public but not now.

The other side of the hillside terrain was used as a cemetery for the dissidents, or the people who did not follow the Roman Catholic faith and were considered unworthy to be buried at hallowed grounds.

This is a statue of Benjamin Vicuna Mackenna who remodeled and upgrated the hill in 1872.

Neptune

Lots of locked doors to tunnels

We are excited to begin our adventure today, just hope we can still walk when we reach the top of the hill - we have a few more stairs to climb!

Our try at a selfie 

We climbed the whole mountain!  Not bad for a group of senior citizens!

looking down into the gardens and stairways below

Pedro de Valdivia park

About $.50 to use the bathroom

These two staircases were amazing

We climbed up to this lookout

Archbishop Larrain  His monument was right next to the church that houses the remains of  Benjamin Vicuna Mackenna.

The steeple of the church.  It was on such a steep slope that I couldn't get a good shot of it

Loved this tree

The stairs leading to the highest lookout, by the time I got there, my knees were shaking.

The front side

And the back side

We went up and down what felt like millions of stairs

some stairs were in very good condition

And some were a little tricky

                       And once in a while we got to just walk along a path, but not very many

Pedro de Valdivia

Hidalgo castle

the lookout from halfway down the mountain.  The trees are starting to bloom.  Spring is coming soon!

Los Hughes

Several cannons were still around

A homeless persons tent just outside the castle

The gardens were beautiful even if it is winter

Arial view of the lookout that we climbed to

A whole new way to leave your name

Every leaf has a name written or scratched into it

We sure had a fun adventure today.

  We left Santa Lucia, visited a few tourist shops then caught the metro back to Avenida Tobalaba.  We found a restaurant and had dinner then caught the CO6 bus back to our apartment.  We get off right in front of our apartment complex.  You can't ask for better service than that and we didn't have to fight traffic or find a place to park!

We are trying to visit all of the places that the Hughes have on their bucket list before they leave us.  Their mission will end on the 21st of November.

We have had a great week.  You are always in our thoughts and prayers.  We send our love.  Have a wonderful week!  Chao!