Chilean Summer December 2008 to March 2009 From December 11 to March 10 we planned our first "Chilean cycle" of retirement life to include the South American summer months. Cristián and Mónica greeted us at the airport and brought us to our Santiago apartment.

		Before we even got to the apartment, we could see the changes to the city since we were last here.

Large sky-scrapers were under construction. The two here are expected to reach over 70 stories high. Remember, this is an earthquake prone country. Fortunately, the architects and engineers are world renowned for anti-quake designs.

Welcome back! We were happy to see Mónica's welcome home sign on the door, with Christmas decorations ready for our return.

We had the chance to visit with our friends, Dr. Antonio Yazigi (he's our dentist too), and Claudia, a friend whom Margy helped with her English practice. It felt good to see our old friends.

Before going to Mirasol, we enjoyed a show at Agustín's pre-school.

This was a "grand parents only" event. Can you feel the pride? The paparazzi would be envious! Agustín the Indian.

		At one point, Agustín decided to show his stuff all by himself! They headed home and we left Santiago for the beach house.

A half hour from our beach house, we often stop for lunch at a restaurant called Bariloche. Margy enjoyed a fresh grilled Chilean salmon and a fresh strawberry juice drink on our way to Mirasol.

Nice to be back home again. Well, back at our Chilean home. We are "at home" in many places!

Our neighbor, Clara, gave us a special welcome with an invitation to an elegant dinner at her house. Such a nice lady!

		A few days later, our friends Kathy and Jim from Canada arrived. They used to be students of Mónica's too. After 5 years of retirement, they returned to Chile and stayed with us for a few days in Mirasol. Mónica cooked a Chilean meal, and then took them to Santiago.

Our "son," Cristián, and his girlfriend, Antonia, next stayed with us a few days, enjoying walks on the beach and quiet time together.

		Back to Santiago once more, this time to celebrate Christmas and New Year's Eve. We connected by Skype to Australia and the USA so that Mónica's daughter, son and family could "participate."

		It is amazing to think that Coté, in Australia, could be viewing all the fun and talk with us as we opened Christmas gifts.

Gustavo and Mónica are always great hosts for such family events. We all had a wonderful Christmas Eve together.

From Christmas hats (or antlers?) to New Year's Eve hats, one celebration seemed to run into the next.

For New Year's Eve, Ale and Flaca were our hosts at their house. They cooked a tasty meal on the back yard grill, and we enjoyed an outdoor dinner before bringing in the New Year.

Ale and Agustín eagerly await the New Year, 2009, as Mónica takes a turn at the fancy hairdo.

Artie, Margy, Valentina, Flaca, Jim, Kathy, Mónica, Gustavo, Ale and Agustín all pose for a New Year's photo.

After the New Year, we returned once again to Mirasol. Ale cooked us a nice dinner for us at Mónica's cabin, just a couple of blocks from our house. We enjoyed time with Ale, Flaca, Agustín and Valentina at Mónica's place and ours.

		Agustín, at 2 years three months, and Valentina, at 3.5 months, are so cute. It is fun to see them grow and change. We enjoy being a part of this family and sharing these special times together.

		In early January we had a nice visit by Mauricio (friend, and former work mate) and his family. They were renting a condo with "the world's largest swimming pool" (check it out on Google or YouTube), just down the hill from our house.

Shown above are Ale, Mauricio, Sebastian and Patty (photographer, Natalia, appears in a later photo). Below is a photo from their rental apartment, overlooking the world's largest pool, an indoor pool (the pyramid) and private beaches. Normally you can not "tour" the place, but with them as renters, they invited us to look around with them. What a treat!

In the photo above (left side), what appear to be three large bubbles, are plastic globes in which kids can play.

		The aerial view from this Master Plan model shows the big pool (over 1 km long, i.e. almost a mile), large enough to sail a boat! We can see these condos from our deck. Natalia is now in photo with her folks and older brother.

About 15 minutes south of Mirasol is the El Quisco beach. During summer it is packed with people and colorful umbrellas.

Closer to home, just down the hill from our house, is this beautiful beach. It too is full of vacationers during the summer.

At times we get a strong sea fog that drifts to shore, but after a few hours we normally have clear and sunny afternoons.

Clear and sunny afternoons are typically followed in Mirasol by beautiful sunsets, great for evening walks and starry skies.

We do enjoy our walks. We explore the paths to the sea, the back roads through the hills, and simply walking around the neighborhood. It is inspiring to breathe the fresh air, see birds and at times unique natural wonders, as well as get ideas from the variety of houses in our community. Nearly every day we also do our grocery shopping by walking down the street to the local markets.

Mirasol and the adjacent community, Algarrobo Norte, boast a variety of housing styles from quaint cottages to modern elevated ranch houses. It's fun to discover different homes on our walks.

When was the last time you saw a man who sharpens knives walk the streets with his own foot-crank grinder?

		For that matter, when was the last time you saw a lizard with these exotic colors? You can see now why we enjoy our walks, frequently stopping to take many photos along the way! We saw this little guy on our way to the beach.

		These multi-colored birds (left) we see often at the beach. Not as exotic, is one of Clara's 5 young chicks she had in her yard.

In early February we met Artie's new Mentee for 2009, Gislene, and her husband Eduardo. She lives in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and she and Artie discuss management issues as part of the Menttium leadership development program in which Artie volunteers (see www.menttium.com). Gislene and Eduardo were vacationing here. We took the opportunity to meet them, show them some of Santiago, including the views from Cerro San Cristóbal, and enjoy an evening dinner together.

Through Mónica, we have also come to meet other neighbors in Mirasol, including Chelita, Sergio, Yami and Roberto.

We continue to decorate our Mirasol house and make improvements for comfortable living. These two sculptures were among several beautiful items given as "going away" thank you gifts to Artie when he retired. We proudly display them in our Chilean home.

		The horse was a gift from the Union.
		The condor (the national bird of Chile) was a gift from the Maintenance Department.

In February, we made further improvements to our house with new roll-down security windows.

Before		After (closed)

February 12, 2009 we learned of Constanza's birth, making Mónica a 5 time Grandmother. Her son, Christian, living in Minnesota, and daughter-in-law, Karen, were proud of their new "gringa" born in the USA. All were happy and healthy.
Karen and baby Constanza		Christian, Antonio, Catalina, Karen and Constanza		Proud siblings, Catalina and Antonio

Harvest time! During most of February we enjoyed fresh pears and apples from our garden. We have four pear trees, five apple trees, four almond trees, two cherry trees, and three lemon trees. Margy has made apple sauce, and lots of fresh juice in her blender. Our breakfast cereals have been topped with fresh fruit from the garden too.

By they way, the basket that Margy is using she made by hand over a decade ago, learning how at the John C. Campbell Folk School.

		One of our Mirasol friends, Roberto, is also a paraglide enthusiast. He invited us to join him for an afternoon of fun. Margy was too busy working on our USA income taxes to participate, but Mónica and Gustavo decided to come along. The launch area, about 15 minutes north of our house, is located on a windy plateau overlooking this beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean.

Gustavo and Mónica borrowed protective hats just to keep their ears warm. Artie put his on, so he could fly! Actually, Artie was simply a "passenger." There's a flight instructor who has tandem seats, allowing someone to go along for the ride.

Artie took this photo shortly after take-off. Looking back at the plateau, you can see the cars and people appearing as miniatures amidst the grand landscape surrounding them. What views from above! The photo below shows another person paragliding (called Parapente in Chile) along the same ridge.

Artie made a soft touch-down, with the expert control of Roland, the instructor and flight host. With inspiration from Artie and Roberto, Mónica bit-the-bullet and decided to give it a try: her first time in the air on a paraglide! Before heading up, she took a few moments to contemplate her adventure. The look of confidence!

The launch!		Gliding across the sunset.

In the air, and then back on the ground. Having fun? Just look at Mónica's face!

The next day Margy took a break from taxes, and enjoyed the spectacular views. We walked along the cliff's edge and slope, snapping photos all around.

Roland did some solo flying, while we continued to capture the events on camera. This day, Margy and Artie just watched. By the way, to see more Parapente activity and aerial shots, browse our home-page to 2007, "More About Mirasol."

Roberto, however, was there to fly! He began with getting his equipment organized and did some practice testing on the ground. Note, for ground practice no need for the helmet. The strong wind takes skill to control the sail.

Helmet on and ready: now Roberto's set for the real thing! Starting with his back to the wind, he will turn and then launch.

The "observation crew" relaxes and watches as Roberto takes his turn above. Then he's back and refreshed from flight.

Others gave it a try too. The wind was not the best that day. In fact, both Roberto and Roland landed at the beach, since the wind was insufficient to keep them aloft. Roberto took a swim in the ocean before climbing back up the cliff.

Meanwhile, we just had fun taking pictures of the exciting paraglide activities, and views.

		At day's end, the paragliders were heading home, and we did too. From this beautiful cliff, we traveled the coast road south, towards our house, passing more beautiful scenes along the way. Then we stopped to catch a sunset and a few final photos for the day.

What a fun two days with the paragliding and spectacular views. A beautiful sunset was the icing on the cake!

At the end of our Chilean summer in March, we mostly relaxed in Mirasol, visiting with Mónica and Gustavo (above left), as well as brief visits with other nearby neighbors, such as Mirtha (above), who lives next door. We also took long walks on the beach, often at the end of the day as the sun began to set, marveling at the views, and warmth on our faces.

Compared to the "peak summer season" (January and February), Mirasol beaches now had mostly local fishermen, rather than tourists.

		As always, some of the fishermen are more successful than others! The fish at the left, a corvina, was freshly caught just before we got there.

It's always fun to walk the shore, enjoy the sunsets and breathe the fresh air, while watching the local activity around us.

At times, we had the beach almost to ourselves, so Margy and Mónica decided to wet their toes - and then some!

The waves can be quite rough, and can catch you by surprise!

How's this for having the beach to yourself? Mónica decided to do a bit of wading, but then wished she had worn her shorts!

Wet, cold, but happy!

		Some youngsters were having a great time jumping into the crashing waves, running fast and trying to time their dives just right.

Margy got a bit too close taking her action photos.

At times, the ocean fog rolls up across our community, providing strange views and obscuring even nearby homes.

From our back deck, with such fogs, we can not see the ocean at all. Fortunately, this condition normally occurs infrequently (only at the end of summer), and by afternoon we generally return to clear skies and beautiful views.

Soon to depart Chile, we said "farewell" to our fluffy family members, pictured above. Margy enjoys organizing them differently each day. This variety reminds us of "The Simpsons," who never sit the same way twice on their family couch!

The two days before our March 10th departure from Chile for the USA, we spent in Santiago. We went first to visit the new house that Mónica's son, Ale, and his family just purchased. We toured the rooms, still empty before the move-in.

The unique design has dramatic vaulted rooms, big windows and an interior garden viewed from several locations.

Agustín, shown above at the window, and Valentina, with Ale and then sleeping, will both have a great place to grow up. Ale and Flaca bought a beautiful, bright and cheerful house in a quiet and safe neighborhood. We wish them all the best of luck here.

Later that night, at Mónica's apartment, we once again enjoyed watching the kids play... just before: The Surprise!

Happy Birthday Margy! Mónica had been in the USA February 4th, so she could not give Margy a party then. Margy was surprised to have a birthday celebration in March.

While in Santiago, we visited Artie's old office to say hi to our friends from work. Mauricio was tied up "working" on the phone when we took the group photo below. At least somebody was working during our visit!

It was great to see the team again. From left to right, top row: General Manager, Mario, then Artie, Carolina, Ramón, Benja, Héctor, and Miguel (visiting from the Plant). Seated: Ximena, Matilde, Alejandra, Margy, Viviana, Javiera and Enedina. We missed Felipe and Andrés, salesmen, who no doubt were out trying to make money for the company!

Our three months in Chile, December through March, went fast. It was great to see the country again, do sightseeing (see our trip with Selma and Noel), and especially to see our dear friends. We look forward to our return next Chilean summer.

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