A Day for our Mother of Santiago

Madre de Santiago
Inmaculada Virgen María
Nuestra Señora de San Cristóbal
confiando en tu bondad y tu ternura
queremos ofrecer nuestras oraciones

Almost a week ago, Carrie leaned over to me and asked "does it get any better than this?" Well, I'm not sure how much more I can take.

We were treated today, with the help of our most faithful guide, Edu..(have we told you about him yet??) to a most spectacular day starting at the Parque Metropolitano De Santiago, www.parquemet.cl if you want to check it out. This park is absolutely huge, a part of a chain of mountains whose main hills are San Cristobal, Chacarillas, Los Gemelos...
Anyways, the summit is about a 7 km. ride up the side of the mountain. It was very tempting to walk, as there are many sites to take in on the way up; the National Zoo, the Bosque Santiago Environmental Educational Center, Japanese Gardens, a nursery, swimming pools, movie stars......but because it would have taken at least an hour to walk up, then an hour to walk down, and we were on limited time as the Cirque Du Soleil started at 5 PM, and it was already 1, we decided to take a cab up to the top. At the top, we had a panoramic view of Santiago. What an awesome sight! Many pictures were taken, and much breath was held at the unbelievable view of the city below. And thats not all. Just a bit farther up was the Sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin. A very large outdoor sanctuary, with seating on the hillside, continuing up the mountain to the summit where the Virgin Mary overlooks all of Santiago! Unbelievable. After spending some time marvelling and praying in this spectacular place, we came down off the mountain on the "Funicular"...a train-like form of transportation that took us down the mountain in just a few minutes.

Once at the bottom, we stopped to have some lunch, on a street resembling "the strip"....tons of restaurants, bars and out door eatery's, and TONS of people. Had a wonderful meal, did some people watching, and were "watched" by people as well. Some of us thought we might "blend in" amongst the locals but, believe me, blend in we don't!!

It was time to move on to our next treat...Cirque Du Soleil. With the help of Edu, (who?) who navigated us through the deep, dark depths of the Santiago Metro subway system, we found our way to the venue where we were all mesmerized by the Soleil's performance of "Quidam". The wonderful floor acrobatics, aerial ballets, and the sheer strength of the performers was worth the price of admission. Outstanding!!! Only one complaint. Popcorn was on the list of "wants" for most of us. It looked terrific in the box, pure white, drizzled with a delicious golden coating, which of course we thought was butter, but, to our surprise, tasted more like honey. The popcorn was sweet. What a surprise. Apparently, even at the movies, it is served this way. I think everyone liked it though, just unexpected.

Onward...tomorrow its time to get down to business again. Meetings are scheduled, people to meet, the venue to set up....Alpha is afoot. I know you've all been keeping us in your prayers and we love you all for it. We're all excited to roll up our sleeves, so here we go. You're all with us, every step of the way. Our God is sooooooo good.......

Mother of Santiago
Immaculate Virgin Mary
Our Lady of San Cristobal
trusting in your kindness and your tenderness
we want to offer you our prayers.

much love,

Dave