Mukilteo Musings

We Brought the Rain to Chile

Lucas informs us that the weather is beautiful in Chile now that we have left. We had pouring rain on some days but a couple of days we enjoyed sunshine. The first day we were in El Tabo and after getting settled into our casa, the rain drenched everything. While Dave and Lucas were out scouting around for wood for the fireplace, I noticed a muddy river flowing down the road in front of the cabin. Within a few minutes, a road grader appeared to dig a proper channel for all of the water. Of course, I was fascinated and went outside to watch for a few minutes not realizing how wet I would get. The deluge caused tons of sand to flow over the main road in the village. Many unpaved side roads became impassable. The driveway up into our cabin was so muddy we had to leave our car near the road. It wasn't until a few days later that we learned people had actually died in this storm and that the amount of rain at one time was highly unusual.

When we ventured out afterwards, this is what we found:




Near a bakery.

Actually, there is a funny story related to the above picture. We were returning from San Antonio and spotted a bakery and a little store on either side of this intersection so we stopped. As we went into the bakery, we heard a man screaming and yelling and of course, I did not understand what he said. I thought perhaps he was yelling at his wife. He came to the counter from the back acting somewhat sheepishly and we bought some items. Lucas started laughing when we crawled back into the car because he understood what had happened. Evidently, the man had been watching a soccer game and he had let out some profanities not knowing we were in his store. Lucas translated for us the equivalent in English. Oh my! But since Lucas is the only one of us to speak Spanish, we had no idea.


After the rain the Andes show themselves.

The above picture was taken just outside of Melipilla and very close to Lucas' house. The rains stopped and the skies cleared revealing one of the most beautiful places on earth. It is autumn in Chile so the grapevines have turned a harvest gold. We were driving along a curvy road where Lucas likes to ride his bike and Dave pulled the car over to take this photo. The scenery was breathtaking. I see why Lucas is enjoying Melipilla.