Under the Bridge

I have decided that the blog seems to be lacking on an important part of our life here in Chile...our host families. For the last four months, we have felt very pivileged to be welcomed into our new homes with open arms, and over time have come to feel a part of our families. I would be lying if I said it has been a breeze...we have regressed back to teenage years, being sent off to school with our packed lunch, our parents needing to know where we are at all times, dodging off to our rooms when our sibling´s getting a bollocking, and hiding our alcohol stash in the wardrobe. But, for all this it has been worth it to have such a fantastic experience of real life in Chile.







Our families here are very different, mine being a busy and fairly unstructured bunch, and Jonny´s keeping an impeccably clean and ordered household. However, the one thing they both have in common is that you are certainly never short of a meal. On weekends, the feeding seems to up a few notches, and despite Jonny´s abuelita claiming he´s "put 5kg on his round fat face", this weekend was no different. We have come on tough times in my family over the past few weeks with the sudden passing away of our "tata" (Dad/Grandad), and so we all made a family trip to the cementary on Saturday to give flowers and wish him well. This was quite a moving experience, and a reminder to all of us there to our lives with vivacity.


So with this in mind, and needing a bit of fresh positive air we headed for the countryside, off the road, under the bridge, round the trees and into a secret and tranquil little wood, known only to my family. Here we whiled away the afternoon BBQing meat (and veggieburgers) on the asado, playing uno, kicking around the football, making churrascas, snoozing in the sun and chuckling over mate. The Chileno´s value family above all else and this afternoon we felt very lucky to have been part of it.