Chile...My life now.

As many of you know, I live in Chile. This has not always been the easiest thing to do. You have to learn how to accept different living conditions and habits.Thing is, I'm not the easiest going person in the world, and can be somewhat opinionated. Especially when I know a better way of doing something. So, in the end, I would say that living here has humbled me greatly. That's not to say that I'm humble. Just more humble than I was before I got here. Also, I'm learning how to truly see things from the "other" persons perspective.

When we first got here, we chose to live relatively close to Santiago for convenience and due to all the necessary paper work that comes along with being a foreigner. The first town we lived in was quaint and very humble. I'm not saying that in a negative manner, just explaining the environment of the small town. Most people in this town work as agriculture workers and made somewhere between 10 and 20 dollars a day. This in turn, heavily dictated the local living conditions. We lived in one of the community housing projects. These are not looked at as being bad. It's the norm for most people and was a good way to get to know our neighbors, and integrate ourselves in the Chilean culture. Our neighbors responded well and made sure that we were well taken care of. They helped with all the details of small town living.

These included where to buy fresh fruit, veggies, and meat. Also, we learned how to move around on public transit. Not the funnest thing I've ever done, but none the less very interesting. All of this was vital to us growing as people, and we do not regret our decision at all. However, with everything good comes something umm... less good...?

This "less good" thing was the climate. While the area was absolutely beautiful in it's own right, it came at a cost to us. We come from Georgia and have rain just about every month.

When it's hot, we have AC, when it's cold... central heating. None of which we have in this region of Chile. When it is hot outside, it was even HOTTER inside. Rain...? There is rain, but it all comes down in 3 of the 12 months of the year. Notably, it is quite different from what we are used to.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about where we lived, just explaining the difference. These differences helped motivate us to look for a different area to live. Well...we found it. What do you know, we ended up in the south again. Just on the other side of the world.

Now we find ourselves in the 1oth region of Chile and about 13hrs from Santiago on bus. The climate is a moderate climate. It rains here quite a bit, almost everyday.

There are some weeks however that it doesn't rain at all. These are rare though. Another interesting aspect is that in the summer months, we have about 14 hours of daylight each day. By 6am it is completely lit outside, and it sets at 9:30pm or so. We live between two beautiful volcanoes, and yes they are active. There are waterfalls, cows, alpaca, sheep, horses, lakes, salmon, trout, rock climbing, trekking/hiking, snowboarding, and boating all in a 15 mile radius of our home. On top of all this, there are beautiful rolling hills/forest all around.

Our new house is in the middle of a farm that was settled 150 years ago, more or less, by german settlers. In fact, our little house is one of the original homes on the property.

It has been remodeled and has an addition that brings to the total size to about 785 sf. One portion of the home still has the original Larch tree wood shingles on the outside.

These shingles are interesting because larch tree wood is unique in the fact that when moisture is applied to the wood actually gets harder not softer.

The inside of the house has a "big" (by Chilean standards) kitchen, 3 rooms and a nice size living room. In this post you can see the living room and the outside, but the rest of the house we are still organizing as we just got here Tuesday and I didn't take photos of it.

One great thing about the inside of this house is, it has aged wood flooring in the majority of the rooms and real wood paneling for the walls. This creates a beautiful interior for our style and fits well with my designs.

Another plus is that I have the space to build more furniture and sculptures. Some of what I will be building soon are master and spare bedroom beds, desk, lamps, sofa, occasional chairs, and bathroom furniture and fixtures. So, of course keep an eye open for my new projects. For now I just hope you enjoy the photos of our new house and the surrounding scenery.

So in good Chilean... Chao (pronouced Tauuu...)