Chile!!!

I haven't been updating you on my blog. I'm now in Chile and have stayed in three different places. Right now, we're staying on a lake by an active volcano with smoke coming out of it. Unfortunately, you have to be 15 to climb the volcano, because the snow is up to my chest. But, even has hard as it may be going up, I imagine that sliding down on the chutes that they've made, would be awfully fun. Since I cannot go, my dad has offered to take me on a fishing trip on the lake later today. My sisters, with my dad, are climbing the volcano tomorrow. My mom has offered, during that time, to take Elli and me horseback riding in the mountains.

I finally found a nice leather hat! I'll show it to you on this blog post.


Villarrica Volcano with smoke coming out of the top


My hat with the view out the window of our cabana

Moving Again!

We had been thinking for a while about giving the people here a "Thanksgiving", but we couldn't do it unless we moved to a new house, so we moved and are now next to a river.  It's very cool, and there's an island next to the house, a beach with sand just down the way, and so we think it will work out perfectly for Thanksgiving.

We found out after we moved that there were miniature ants that were crawling into our food.  We did all that we could to stop them.  Still, the cereal I eat has them in it.  My dad just recently got back, about three days after we moved. Everybody at the church we go to here knows us quite well.  Hope to be back soon.

Sincerely,

Chris

P.S.  You can see my hair is getting quite long!

Argentina is Great!

We have been staying in a cabaña in Alta Gracia, which is near Cordoba, for a week and a half. It’s been easier now that we have two cell phones so that if one of us is one place and another is in another place, we can contact each other. The cabaña is quite nice, but the creek that we’re staying next to, has leeches, so that prevents us from swimming in it. However, there’s a park close by where there’s a bike-jumping course, and I’ve just made a new friend, named José, who has an extra bike I can use. I slipped today on the course, but didn’t get too badly hurt.

I’ve been writing a story in my spare time and think I should post it. It’s not completely done, I’ve only finished chapter one. (Hey, that rhymes) Well, here it is, what I have of it:

The Falcon

A long, long time ago, in a solar system far from earth, lived a captain called Derik…

Hi, I'm captain of the Falcon, a simple battle ship. Oh, by the way, my name is Derik. Not much for a crew - a copilot I call Co, a gunner, that’s it.

Chapter 1: A Fight and Problems

"Co...Tell the gunner to shoot a round of 1's off the left flank."
"Roger, captain."
“No!”
“What?”
“My power drive just crashed, and Goldleader wants us to come in.”
“Now what, captain?”
“Don't know.
BANG!
“Have we been hit, gunner?"
“Yes, sir”
BANG!
"There, they've hit us again, captain!"
“We're going to have to make a run for it, Co..Start the engine.”
Vvvvvvvvtttttttddddbrrr!
“Full speed ahead!”
Pcheoopoo!
“Whoa! We just made it! Where is Gunner?
Uhooo….
“Hurry, Co!
“Water, some water!!!
“Co, head the ship towards the nearest hospital.”
“Roger.”


“Is he going to be all right, Doc?”
“I don’t know.”
“Ahhu Ahhu…”
“Gunner?”
“I think he's pulling through, captain!”
“Hey, wha…?”
“No, you mustn’t talk Gunner. I’m very shocked that you are still living.
Buzzz, “Hello?”
“Co, it’s Goldleader.”
“Hey, Derik, what’s the matter? You should have been in two hours ago.”
“We’ve had an accident, sir. Gunner got shot two times by some 3’s.”
“OK, take your time, then. Just be back before tomorrow.”
“Thanks, Goldleader, this will always be in my memory, and hopefully I can repay you someday. Bye.”
“Thanks, Derek. Bye”

To be continued….

I know my sound effects aren’t very good, but it’s hard to know how to write coughs, groans, and engine noises. Got to go.

Sincerely,
Chris

My sister´s birthday

Argentina has been great. My sister just had her birthday and we had a great time. Mom went back to Piriapolis for a bit. See u later. 

Three Cheers for Argentina!!

When we arrived in Argentina, we rented a car and drove to Lujan from Buenas Aires. When we got there, they were setting up a band stand. Then we got to hear a Argentinian band. They were quite good and two of my sisters purchased a CD. After that, the mayor of the town pronounced that there was going to be a hot air balloon and fireworks. In the middle of the plaza there was an awesome tree that was hallow on the inside and it was a bit slanted so everybody wanted to climb up the tree and slide down like a slide. Then, these nasty old men who were guards, came and yelled at us and told us to get down from the tree. We got back on after a new band of children had come. Then, when another guard came, I had to get off and my dad would not allow me to climb the tree again since the guards had said no. There was lots of stray dogs and I named every single one. While we were going to church, one of them bit Elli. The nice ladies in the ladies bathroom called the doctor and she came and said Elli would have to get a tetanus shot. So right now, that is just what Mom, and Elli are doing. Dad promised that we would have ice cream later because it is a rule in Argentina that, ¨you have to have ice cream after you get a tetnus shot,¨ but I think he just made that up to be nice. On my next blog post, since I don´t have my camera with me, I will post pictures. See you soon, Chris.

Another Post

The town of Piriapolis is a cute town and we’re within walking distance to the beach. We’re staying in a two-story house right now, with a view of the ocean. Since we got to Piriapolis, I’ve had a horrible ear infection.

There have been a lot of interesting thunder and lightening storms here. We can watch the lightening strike over the ocean. Every night we hear these frogs, which I haven’t actually seen yet, which sound like screaming cats. Later this week we are going to go whale watching and I hope to see a few. There are lots of stray cats and dogs around here, and they’re all very nice.

Ever since I got here I’ve been looking for a small remote control car to play with, but they’re very expensive here. I’m missing everybody at home and I’ve still found no baseballs.

Almost 3 Weeks in Uruguay

We arrived safely in Uruguay after having the problem of getting stuck because of canceled flights and mechanical problems. Everything is going great here. I've been studying Spanish for the past two weeks, although I haven't learned very much. I haven't encountered anyone on the streets who speaks English. They all talk very fast in Spanish and I've had a hard time picking up anything they're saying.

On the streets we've seen lots of horses with carts because that's how they recycle here. (Here is a picture we took out our window of a horse and cart.) I'm looking for a gaucho knife, but haven't found one yet. I also haven't been able to find any baseballs. It has been extremely cold for the past week.

I've made a new friend. It's the dog next door. He's a small white dog with a green collar and I think that he's a rat terrier. I also have a different new friend named Tori. She lives about 15 blocks away, she speaks English and comes from Utah and West Virginia, but lives here now. I haven't been able to play outside much, because we are in the city right now, but the roof makes a great climbing course. There's a great view from there. I've discovered a tree with balls that are great for target practice. It's hard to get enough exercise here, although we do walk everywhere except when we catch a taxi. Taxi's are very common here.

It's very interesting here because there aren't big stores like Target, but there are a lot of small stores around where you can buy just about anything (except baseballs). The biggest store I've seen is the local supermercado called Disco, but it's a lot smaller than stores like Albertsons and Food-4-Less. They sell a lot of penny candy here. A lot of stores have candy in the front. They cost about 1 peso each but they don't have the same candies we have in the U.S., like laffytaffy. My mom has lots more pictures on our family blog if you want to see them. I've got to go. I'll blog more later. Chris.