Thanksgiving

We hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. We were thankful that the sun came out and we were able to get a full day’s work in! We went into town for dinner at a pasta place. We ate there last month and I was looking forward to something different for dinner. Jake got a 3 pepper steak and roasted potatoes; I took his word for it that the steak was awesome. I got a ravioli dish that was filled with puree pumpkin, cream cheese, and almonds. The ravioli was covered in a cream, butter, pepper, and nutmeg sauce and it was outstanding!




Even though it wasn’t turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, lots of bread, and pumpkin pie, we enjoyed our dinner and talked about all the things we are thankful for. The list went something like this…….

Central heat/air
Standard transmissions
Speedy internet connections
Milk that doesn’t come in a bag
Bagels
Water pressure
Electric stove
A sink that comes higher than your knees
Our bed
TV on DVD
Skype
Family Blogs/Websites
Facebook
McDonald’s(never thought I would say that!)
Being able to do our own laundry
Electric Blankets
Amazon.com (online Christmas shopping and general all around greatness)
Space heaters
Not to be working Retail on a Black Friday
Family
Friends
The gospel
Being able to be in this beautiful place


After dinner we used Skype to make some phone calls and chat with our family members in their various places. Even though the conversations were short it was nice to be able to talk with all of you. On Sunday the District President spoke and said that the rain is supposed to continue until January  Let’s hope he is wrong. It is raining today but it is supposed to be clear the rest of this week and continue into next. We will be finishing up with the first trench this week, if the rain really does in fact stop this week. We haven’t found much in this one, but we are hopeful we will find more in the next trench! Hope all is well at home!


Mandy & Jake

Thanksgiving

Well,

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving to all! We hope everyone enjoys themselves today and eats entirely too much good food. Even though we will be missing out on yummy foods and family funs we are thankful to be in a beautiful place. The sun finally came out today after having been hiding for the past week or so. This has been the rainiest “Spring” in a long time. All the workers, the land owner, people at church have said this is the wettest Spring they can remember. Awesome, just had to be THIS year when we are here trying to get this stuff dug up. Urgh.



Good news. Jake might get to teach a few classes this fall. If it works out it would really be good for our family. One other thing to be thankful for! Here’s to crossing our fingers!

Not much else to report since we haven’t been to the site much these past two weeks. On Sunday we had a strange visitor, or should I say unwelcomed guest. A puppy came right up to the side door of the cabin and started whining and scratching on the door. The puppy is a few months old and kept trying to get in the cabin like it was its home. We had no idea where it had come from or why it thought this was its home but we couldn’t listen to the whining all night so we gave it some bread and went to bed. The dog wouldn’t go away and it was small enough to fit right through the gate so we couldn’t even put it out and just wait for it to go on its way. It didn’t seem to be leaving and we couldn’t let it go hungry. The dog would just jump on the side of the house right outside our window in the bedroom in the middle of the night. It did this for a few hours before Jake had to go outside and yell at it to stop. All other dogs I have seen in this country will run away from you if they even think you are going to throw something at it. This puppy would just wag its tale and look up at you. It was awful, the dog didn’t know any better but we can’t take care of it. We will be gone for 3 weeks next month anyway. After a few restless nights we still didn’t know what to do. The thought of driving it somewhere and dropping it off just made us sick to our stomachs. Yesterday, when the rain let up for a bit we walked down the street to get an avocado for our dinner at the veggie and fruit stand nearby. The dog followed us and we decided that maybe it would go on its way if we got far enough away from the cabin. The big grocery store we go to is just across the street from the fruit stand so we decided to go in and walk around a bit. We went in one door and went out the other on the other side of the store. We walked right across the street and got our avocado and went home. We kind of feel guilty about leaving it, but it isn’t our dog. Well, it worked! We have been dog free since yesterday and we slept very well last night.



Tonight we will go into town and have dinner at a pasta place. We ate there last month to see if it was any good. Jake got a stake and he said it was really good. I got some alfredo pasta which wasn’t bad. They had some kind of pumpkin and cream cheese pasta on the menu that I thought would be good to try tonight. So after work we will head out and enjoy a dinner that isn’t turkey and dressing but will be something different.

So Happy Thanksgiving to all and have a slice of pumpkin pie for us!
Mandy & Jake

Short Update

Today there was rain in the forecast but it wasn’t raining when we got up this morning so we went to the site. We got about 5 hours in before it started to rain. Jake and I were digging today and there were only 2 other workers there this morning. Edwin and Christine were there but Aldo was sick and no one could get a hold of Julio. Aldo came to the sick after lunch feeling a bit better. In the trench I was digging in I found a piece of worked bone, this was the first bone we have found that wasn’t burnt. Jake also found a few pieces of ceramic that fit together, pretty cool. Jake also found part of a wall. He thought that the wall would be in the square he was digging in and he was right! This is the first thing we have found that gives Jake a base of reference. I worked on drawing the maps of each trench until is started to rain.

It is supposed to rain more this week, but hopefully not that much. Jake is going to the Colegio Liahona on Wedensday to talk to a class of students. The Branch President works there and asked Jake if he would come and talk for about an hour or so and that is was he wanted to talk to us about. No talks, no callings of any kind, just wanted him to talk to his students. Yay! The Colgio Liahona is a private school that was founded by church members but is not run by the church or anything like that. Jake will be talking to the high school age students about archeology in general and the work he is doing here as well.
Just a quick update today, hope all is well at home!

Mandy & Jake

Laugh or cry

Yesterday Jake and I were able to get into the trench and dig a couple of squares. In my square, a few feet from the surface my trowel hit something. It was a white ring….what could it be? Jake and I quickly worked to uncover this wonderful possibility and what did we find?........... It was a yogurt cup, no an empty yogurt cup, no wait, it was an entire plastic bag. Someone had a lunch of yogurt, a piece of fruit, (I think a peach), and some cherry jam, and they decided that this place was the best spot for it to live. It was too far under the surface to have simply been left and covered over time, someone had to have buried it for it to be that deep. With all the other crappy archeological practices we have been dealing with since the beginning of the project this didn’t surprise us. It made us question if were digging where the previous project had already been and dumped their back dirt. Since we have found a few pieces of artifacts here and there and the dirt isn’t soft everywhere Jake says that it most likely was just a where someone dug a hole to bury their trash. Ugh. A few more feet down I found another empty plastic bag.

On a different note, the guys working for Jake asked him how old I was. He asked them how old they thought I was and they said 18! I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. The only time I wanted to be told I looked 18 was when I was 16! They thought Jake was 25, not that big of a stretch but for them to say I look 18! When Jake told them I would be 25 next month they said I definitely didn’t look my age. Sigh.

Not much else to say……..

Mandy & Jake

what is that in the sky?

On Sundays we go to Temuco as I have said before. This Sunday we had to go to several different stores to try and find some chaining pins or something to that effect to replace the stakes that were marking the trench, until they fell out of the ground around them. There aren’t that many places here in Pucon to find such items so we tried our luck in Temuco. There was none to be had by the way. We also went to the mall there to eat. We ate at a place called Frizt, which we have had a few times before. I had some cheese empanadas and French fries. A bit later and Juanita’s my head started to hurt and then my stomach started to hurt. I will spare all the details, I had the worst migraine headache I have ever had in my life. I spent most of the night with my head in the toilet. I was sick enough for us to stay the night at Juanita’s. We had to get up and 5:30 the next morning to make the hour and a half drive back to Pucon to get dressed and leave for the site. By the time we got back we were both not feeling well enough to work that day. We spent most of the day lounging about, eating lightly. If I was picky before about what I eat here, I will be terrible to live with from now on, sorry Jake :) For the past two days I have had fresh fruits and veggies, some bread, and rice and beans. I will NEVER eat Frizt again, and will stay away from empanadas in general for the time being. The verdict is still out on whether I got the headache from the food or not, but I don’t care!

Yesterday marked our first FULL day of work. There was this bright light in the sky when we left yesterday morning and to our great surprise it was the Sun! What a wonderful site to behold! It has been so long since we have seen the Sun we almost forgot what it looked like. The site is located on a cow farm. Yesterday the cows were in the field that holds the fenced in site. The wind was blowing nad boy did it carry that smell of cows to us all day long. Luckily they were moved to a different field today but the smell has lingered somewhat. I never had, and still don’t, desired to be a rancher. On a better note as the day went on the temperature rose and I was able to take a few layers of shirts off. I didn’t have to wear my sweater any longer than an hour yesterday morning. So two of the workers dug the trenches while the other two, Jake, and I, sifted through the dirt. Archeology can be very boring and mind numbing, until you find something interesting and yesterday we didn’t find anything terribly interesting. Most of the items we have found so far have been roof tiles (a lot), charcoal, a few ceramic pieces, some Lithics, and a lot of burnt pieces of bone (most likely animal). Jake sent his workers home about an hour early yesterday while we stayed a bit longer to photograph the site and cover it. We enjoyed a dinner of rice and beans and had an early bedtime. I might add the warm weather went with the sun and I was back to many layers by bedtime.

This morning we headed out to the site with some toasted noses and arms, even though we put on sun block. It was the same routine as yesterday, mind numbing and boring until one of the workers found a piece of a pipe. It was carved out of stone and just the handle remains but it was a really cool find. The rest of the day was filled with more roof tiles (a lot), charcoal, a few ceramic pieces, some Lithics, and a lot of burnt pieces of bone, and you get the idea. We came back to the cabin and enjoyed some sandwiches (all veggie for me) and baked French fries. I also made some peach cobbler for dessert, yummy. Now that the Sun has gone down so has the temperature, but it is supposed to get up to 69 degrees tomorrow and I am giddy! Finally, the warm weather is peeking out and it might be here to stay! Hope all is well at home and will send photos hopefully on Sunday.

Mandy and Jake

Ranch...mmm mmm mmm good

Here in Chile everyday is a different Saints Day and today is Santa Sylvia. I think it is an appropriate day to officially start Jake’s excavation of the site which is named Santa Sylvia. The only thing is that it is too rainy and cold to actually do anything. We started digging on the 3rd but he officially got his permits yesterday making today the official day to begin. We couldn’t dig yesterday because of the rain either so we have spent that time in the cabin. It was 34 degrees this morning and the grocery store we go to down the street had up their Christmas decorations already, so I feel like I am at home….sort of.

We went to the store this morning to get some more bread, milk, and a few other odds and ends. While Jake was getting some ham for him and thinly sliced turkey for me from the deli I was roaming around the cheese case and to my great pleasure what did I find? Right before my eyes there were packets of sour cream! Small and pricey packets of sour cream but sour cream no less. Oh this made me so happy for I had brought with me Hidden Valley Ranch dip and dressing packets and to be able to finally use them made me giddy. We returned home and I immediately opened a pack and began stirring them together. The sour cream pack was not enough to make the entire ranch packet but it was enough to last me for a little bit. After having Jake taste it to make sure it wasn’t nasty I began to make my lunch. The only bread that I like to eat from the store bakery is basically homemade hot dog buns. They are really the only soft ones. I sliced a fresh bun open and placed some turkey, some cheese (not Swiss cheese but it wasn’t bad), some avocado, and drizzled some of my precious ranch dressing on top. I closed the sandwich and took a bite. It was good, oh it was good. It had been two hours since I ate it and I am not sick! That turkey was the first meat (I am not counting McDonald’s as meat because it is the same as at home) I have eaten and I didn’t get sick! Oh what a glorious day! Remember, Remember the 5th of November. The turkey, cheese, and ranch. I see no reason why the soft breaded sandwich should ever be forgot.

Hopefully we will be able to go to the site tomorrow and dig up something exciting, but until then we will wait for the rain to stop and watch Firefly. We enjoyed seeing lots of photos of everyone’s Halloween. Hope everyone is well at home.


Mandy & Jake

Halloween

Well,

Since we can't start digging until Tuesday morning and it has been raining all the time we have done little but sit indoors and watch Supernatural on the computer. We have been here a month and have already watched all 4 seasons of it. Like I said, it has been raining a lot!

Last night we spent Halloween watching V for Vendetta and enjoying a nice meal of rice and beans, which we have about 3 times a week here. The rice and beans are super cheat and so are the avocado that we eat on top of them. Avocados here cost about $2 for 4 pounds, not like they are at home either. They are so soft, like butter :)

They do not celebrate Halloween here, so no trick or treaters or costumes. We went to bed at about 10:00 and were awoken at about 11:30 by the sound of a live band. The cabin ins on the outskirts of town and normally is very quiet. Apparently there was a party going on in the barn across the street from our cabin. It continued until after 1:30am. The base was so loud that we could feel it. Needless to say we were both a bit irritated. I tried to listen to my Ipod to drown out the loud crappy music, but it didn't work. Ugh.

This morning we went to church and held our breath to prevent ourselves from smacking a small child. He runs around the room..... and talks..... and sings...... and yells. His parents do NOTHING about it! It was testimony meeting today and there were only about 25 people there today. There was a lot of dead air so to speak that was filled with that little boy's yells. Oh.... After church the Branch President came up to us and asked if he could talk to the both of us. We are going to meet with him on Tuesday evening. I hope that he is just asking us to speak in church and not trying to call us to something. As far as I know he can't but doesn't mean he won't try.

Amanda's little boy had a seizure last week and he is doing fine. He has his appointment to have an EKG in November and to see a neurologist in December unless the appointment can be moved up. He feel on his hands and knees and just started to tense up and not respond to anything. The ambulance shoved up and packed him up and he was just crying until they got to Vandy and then he started to talk to Amanda and stopped crying. Hopefully it is nothing but Amanda said that there are people in her husband's side of the family that have had seizures and one of his cousin's (I think) has epilepsy. Hopefully it is just a one time thing but the tests will make sure.

Hope all is well at home!

Getting ready

We headed out to the site on Friday morning thinking we would be able to start digging once we got the call giving us the go ahead and Jake was ready to go! We got there and saw where the site had been excavated back in the 80's and the trenches they dug were still open to the elements. That is a big no, no but not much we can do about it. It is kind of cool to see what they did though.

We marked where we are going to start digging. We will be doing a few of these trenches in different spots on the site. We will start actually diggin on Tuesday morning, but we will see if that happens.