washing, and washing, and washing

Thursday we took a trip to Temuco so that Jake could talk to the people at the museum and see if he could figure out what was going on with his artifacts. The Conejo told Jake that he should ask if the museum in Valdivia could take the artifacts for a while. The woman who is the director is Jake’s counterpart here. She said that they could take the artifacts for a while, but that they couldn’t stay there for long. When we got the museum in Temuco on Thursday Jake was able to speak to the woman he had been in email contact with. He found out that their shard artifacts were being kept in one particular building downtown, which due to the earthquake was damaged enough that the building is going to be destroyed. The museum will have to find another place to store all their shards, and until then, Jake can’t give them to the museum. They have no idea when he will be able to. The Conejo hasn’t told Jake where they will go for good, but at least he knows they can go to Valdivia for a while.

On a plus side Jake was able to find some calipers and a scale! Yay! Now he can at least get to analyze the artifacts while we wait. While we were in Temuco we had to drop off the truck we are renting so they could change the oil and check it out. They gave us a white version of the truck that we are renting to drive around town. They washed the truck and vacuumed out all the dirt we had tracked in since January. They also polished the rubber floor boards. They polished them so much that they were soaked when we got back in the truck! Oh, the smell was terrible! We were afraid that if we put the mats in the bed of the truck they might fly out so we rolled them up and shoved them into the back floor and rode back to the cabin with the windows down. By the time we got back to the cabin I had one MASSIVE headache and went to bed quit early that night. Ugh!

Since then, we have been washing, photographing, weighing, and measuring artifacts. Oh, and watching “Lost”. Ah, the good times and adventures we will be able to share with our grandchildren someday.

There was a 6.2 earthquake that hit north of Santiago yesterday. Nothing we felt. Still no massive repeat quake that is being expected… yet. That’s a lot of fun waiting around for let me tell ya. The weather had been nice and sunny the last two days, which has been a nice change from the cold and rain.

We enjoyed some French toast this morning. While finding maple syrup is very hard to do in Chile, we did top it with some sweetened strawberries and whipped cream!
Hope everyone will have a good week!

Mandy & Jake

Funny story

This morning at 2:00am all over the world clocks were rolled either forward or backward 1 hour. Jake and I changed the time on our phones and his watch. We enjoyed the extra hour of sleep and lazily got ready for church this morning. We were quit confused when we saw the meeting was ending when we got there, not about to begin. Turns out that this past week the Chilean government decided to delay the daylight savings time change until April 3rd, 3 weeks from now. The reason in doing this is to help out the people who are still without electricity because of the earthquake that happened 2 weeks ago. Um………ok. Jake and I were not aware of this because the only news we check out online about Chile is to make sure that something hasn’t erupted, no military coup has taken place, or something to that effect. So, even though the electricity has been restored to almost every city (some have been completely destroyed) we have to wait 3 weeks for the time change. Until April 3rd we will be 2 hours ahead of Nashville.

With fingers crossed this will be the final week of the digging part of the project. Jake and I went to Temuco today to get some supplies we can’t get in Pucon. So after missing church we headed out. We went to the Mall to have lunch first and it was in bad shape. There were stores closed all over and the 3rd level was completely closed off. In the food court the only place open was the McDonalds. Some of the stores were closed due to structural damage while some were closed because they had been looted dry. There is a pharmacy by the main floor entrance that was almost completely empty. There were cracks in some of the walls and ceiling tiles missing all over the place. We drove by the hospital but didn’t see any damage to it. Downtown there were a lot of older abandoned buildings that had toppled over or lost big chunks out of the concrete. There were piles of bricks and concrete all over the sidewalks. I am glad we were in Pucon when it happened, I don’t think I would have done very well if we were anywhere else.

After lunch we went to a store called “Easy” which is kind of like a love child between a Home Depot and a Wal-Mart. We wondered all over the store multiple times until we found someone who actually knew where what we were looking for was located. When we were checking out the lady at the register asked Jake for his passport because he was paying with a debit card. We don’t carry our passports around with us and we have never had to show a passport when paying with a card before. Luckily Jake had taken money out of the ATM before we went to the store otherwise we would have had to leave, go get some cash and come back. Very odd, but we had to get the stuff so oh well.

Tomorrow Jake & I will go to the site to finish up recording and digging out the remaining features and site maps. Then starting on Tuesday we will be back filling all 4 of the trenches. There is one more 2 meter by 1 meter pit to dig, but that will be dug and filled back in over the course of a day. After that we will be completely done with the digging part! Maybe by the time we get back home we will have gotten all of the dirt out from under our fingernails!

We are STILL feeling aftershocks! There was one just about an hour ago, and it wasn’t small. I am looking forward to the SOLID ground of TN. Anyway, hope all is well at home!

Mandy & Jake

a taste of home

Jake and I have been waiting for a package from his parents and one from my Mom. It has been a month since the package from his folks was sent. We figured that the mail delivery was hindered by the earthquake. Well, we got both packages today! My Mom sent her package a day or two before the earthquake which has been about 2 weeks. Don’t know why it took so long for the first package to get here but oh well! We hit the mother load with the packages! Thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

From Jake’s parents we got:

A box of brownie mix
2 jars Peter Pan peanut butter
2 jars JIF peanut butter (even though we compromise on some things peanut butter is not one of them)
a bag of Mini Cadbury eggs (my favorite Easter candy)
a bag of Robin Eggs (woppers)
11 Cadbury cream eggs (one of Jake’s favorite Easter Candy)

From my Mom we got:

1 jar if JIF peanut butter
package of sesame crackers (while in the car I opened the peanut butter and crackers…..heaven!)
a package of Almond cookies
6 microwaveable meals
2 Chow Mein microwaveable dinners
2 boxes of Mac & Cheese (ah, mac & cheese finally)
a box of Corn Pops cereal (I hope I don’t eat them all in one sitting!)
2 cans of tuna
1 can of chicken
3 bags of peanut M&Ms
2 bars of soap
a canister of Country Time pink lemonade mix
an Olay body wash (it has almond oil in it and smells really good by the way)
scent free sun block (we are almost out of our current sun block!)
oh, there was a roll of two ply toilet paper, which I think was used for packing material but we will use it!





The packages were too big to be delivered so Jake had to go into the post office. The girls working behind the counter saw the name on the packages "Jacob". In Spanish the letter J is pronounced like the letter h. The girls behind the counter asked "Your name is pronounced Jacob (with the correct j sound) right? Like in the movie?"

Jake said "Yes."

The girls then questioned, "Are you a werewolf?" The movie they were referring to was either "Twilight" or "New Moon", for those of you who don't know these are books in a series about vampires, werewolves, and a teenage love triangle. I will refrain from commenting on their taste in books. Jake replied "Nope, not a werewolf. Thanks for the packages." They asked him "Are you sure you're not a werewolf?"
Jake replied "I'm not a werewolf, I'm too chubby to walk around with my shirt off. I'm just a lowly archaeologist." So, apparently werewolf is higher on the job totem pole than archaeologist. Who knew?

We cannot thank them enough! We love all of it and will surely have enough to eat until we are done here in Pucon! Thanks again!

The work is moving along and we are getting close to the end. We opened a new trench on the other side of the field. This one is going to be much smaller and we should have it finished by Saturday or Tuesday at the latest. We are going to head to Temuco on Monday to get some supplies that Jake has to use for back filling all the trenches. Tuesday we will dig a small 2 by 1 (meters) trench and then start to back fill everything. If all goes well we should be finished by the end of next week or the beginning of the following week!



Attached is a photo of the volcano from a morning this past week! Check out that smoke! Hope all is well at home!

Mandy & Jake

it pays to brush

“Mini” quakes aren’t fun, and neither are aftershocks. We have been feeling them all week. I am ready for this ride to be over so I can get off! Other than that, everything has been going well. The rain has return and is making working a full week hard. There are 3 more weeks before we will be done with the digging part of the trip. After that we will be traveling all over, or at least where the earthquake damage will allow. We have to make a trip to Concepcion, which is near where the epicenter was, so that will be fun.

One day last week a tooth popped out of the dirt Erwin was screening. One tooth, turned into 2, and then 3 and so on. Jake got into the trench with his little dental tools and spent the better part of the day digging out the rest. He found part of a human cranium, crushed and almost paper thin and about 25 or so teeth. The only parts that were left were the teeth, and a few pieces of the skull. There were no other bones found. We don’t know why it is so thin yet. Could be that it is REALLY old, which would be really cool. Could be that the soil effected the bone so much it just decomposed faster. Could have been how it was buried, we won’t know until the bones are tested later this year. The first excavation back in the 80-90’s there were 8 skeletons uncovered, but they mostly intact. Those were found inside the modern fence the landowner had built, but I doubt that 30 years would have done that to the bones, but who knows. Jake doesn’t have any of the notes on those 8 skeletons, and nobody really knows where they are now. There has been some word that they were shipped to a university in Alabama, but no one knows for sure. Finding them will require a little bit of “digging”, sorry about the pun. Anyway, just goes to show that you should really get to the dentist more often!

I am excited for the daylight savings time change on Sunday. With everyone at home springing forward an hour and us here falling back an hour, the time difference will be back to just one hour ahead of Tennessee, and 2 hours ahead of Colorado. It will make communication just a little easier.

It rained all night and this morning so we aren’t working on the site today. I have had a slight fever last night and today, which totally justifies my eating of peach cobbler for lunch. Don’t judge me! Cold, rainy, and sick = peach cobbler for lunch in my world.

My friend Amanda had her baby on Friday the 5th. She was waiting to find out what she was having until she had the baby and she had a little girl! She is 8 lbs 2 oz and 19 inches long. Her name is Brooke Illyana Adcox and they are calling her Lilly for short. She has a full head of dark hair and has cute little chubby cheeks. Congrats!

Hope all is well at home!

Mandy & Jake

more quake stuff

Yesterday it was back to work as usual. It felt very strange just going back to work while all terrible things are happening in the areas around us. Jake was hoping that the quake had somehow opened up the last trench and he wouldn’t have to dig anymore, but no such luck. The site was perfectly untouched. We spent most of the day digging out more of the features that fill this trench. One was particularly deep and once I had dug so far down that my arms wouldn’t reach anymore, Jake had to finish it up. His arms are slightly longer than mine. There are a few photos to enjoy attached.





Jake finally heard from his friends in Talca. Everyone we know there is safe and no one’s homes were damaged. Talca got hit pretty hard, his friend Jessica said that the downtown area is completely gone. Talca is always our first stop and last when we come here. We don’t know if we will be able to stop and stay on our way home if the town is torn up. A little less than 3 months isn’t a lot of time to fix all that was torn up, especially here in Chile. Thank goodness they are all ok.

We still haven’t heard from our friends in Tome yet. The power is still out in that area and should be back on in a few days, but until then we can only pray that they are safe. In Temuco, the town that is about an hour and half away, the hospital was split open. People started looting which caused the Chilean government to declare martial law in some areas, which scared Jake more than the earthquake did. There is a curfew in place to cut down on the looting and there have been a lot of arrest so far, Jake is just concerned that when this is all said and done that the balance of power goes back to the way it was before. It has only been declared in a few areas so far. There is also concern that the earthquakes aren’t over yet. The two plates that separated haven’t corrected themselves yet. If they don’t within about 2 weeks, there is expected to be another massive earthquake. We’re hoping on the “correcting themselves” theory.

Also, come to find out in Chile the drinking water and the sewage water pipes run side by side, and in the event of certain events, like earthquakes, sometimes the pipes can break and mix together. So, even though we have running water, it could be quit yucky. We went to the store and bought a few bottles just to be safe. There has been no bread the last few days so I am having to make it.

We are still feeling aftershocks, which makes for not too restful nights. We talked to Jake’s parents last night and turns out they were on the local news in Palisade. The news crew interviewed them about Jake and what he is doing down here. They Tivo’d the interview and are going to try and post it online so we can watch it. Also, Jake’s Dad is going to have to have surgery again on his arm sometime in the next week or so.

Happy Birthday to Trent yesterday! Hope he liked his present! We’ll keep everyone updated when we can!

Mandy & Jake

Earthquake

Well, we had an interesting night/morning. At about 3:40am Jake and I were shaken, literally, awake. The entire cabin was shaking, we were being tossed around like rag dolls for about 2 minutes. It seemed liked forever then the shaking lessened and finally stopped. We had no power and were a little on edge. Jake took it like a champ, this was his 6th earthquake. I on the other hand did not handle it very well. I think me being scared made Jake more upset than the actual earthquake. It also didn’t help that I was having a bad dream when I was jerked awake at 3:40 in the morning! I was too frightened to move, let alone make it to a door way. I do not like earthquakes! Who does though? The epicenter was about 400 miles North West of us. It registered at 8.8 on the Richter scale and what we felt was about a 7.

It was the 7th strongest earthquake in not just Chilean history, but history in general. After it hit we walked outside and I saw some flashes of light over in the area of the volcano. I was terrified that the volcano had erupted or that it would after the quake. She seems quiet for now and I want it to stay that way. If that wasn’t bad enough we were laying in bed trying to get back to sleep when another smaller (30 seconds or so) one hit about 5:00 am. We didn’t get much sleep and we were still feeling after shock when we got up this morning. We got dressed and headed to the site to pay Jake’s workers and make sure everyone was ok.

We had no power, no phone service, and no internet access. We didn’t know how bad it had hit other parts of the county until Jake was finally able to get a hold of his parents. It was scary not knowing what was going on and not be able to call anyone and let you guys know we were ok. We didn’t even know if the quake had made the news. Little did we know everyone knew about it. There was almost no damage to Pucon, a few broken windows downtown but otherwise untouched. Santiago and farther north is another question. Lots of damage and over 140 people died. A family Jake baptized lives in Tome, on the cost one town over from Concepcion. The epicenter was just off the cost of Concepcion. We visited there on our trip last year. We haven’t been able to get in touch with them and we pray that they are ok.

Even now as I am writing this email we are feeling aftershocks. We were able to make a call to Jake’s parents and to Jennifer to just let everyone know we were safe and sound. We received a call from the Branch President, who was stuck in Santiago, calling to make sure we were ok.

When we finally got power back at about 4:00pm we drove into town to make a few calls and let everyone know we were ok. When we got back to our cabin the Elders from the ward were waiting on us. They were checking to make sure we were ok. Since we feed them a few weeks ago there was a transfer. Instead of having two American missionaries, we have the greenie from Idaho and a guy from Argentina. After talking for a bit about how scared we all were, able to laugh a bit about it by that point I was really hungry. I was planning on making pizza for dinner and was really hungry so we offered to feed them too. They left for about an hour to check on other members before coming back here. The greenie from Idaho had been shook up all day; he had never been though an earthquake either. He was so sick to his stomach I sent him home with a Ziploc back full of Tums.

We are very grateful to be alive and safe. All day the power had been off, and all day there were cars lined up at the 3 gas stations in town and I mean LINED UP! Most people here don’t have generators so they were all just freaking out and “Had” to get gas. We were able to get to the store, all the bread and bottled water, no shock there, were gone. We were able to grab a few candles before that shelf was emptied out too. I had a killer headache and took some benedryl sinus which means I am going to be OUT in a few minutes. I pray that the earthquakes are done and the aftershocks are over. Thank you for all the prays and the phone tree that was taken care of! I don’t down the power the Shafers and Sauers have in the ways of the phone tree!

We wish we could have called and talked to everyone, but internet access in limited and Jake was only able to put some more money on his pay as you go phone. I will send out emails more regularly for the next few days just keep everyone updated that we are still alive.

I can’t say enough how much I DID NOT enjoy that earthquake. I have had the heebie-jeebies all day because of it. The quake shouldn’t disrupt any of the work Jake is doing here; we haven’t been to the site yet. We will see how well it did on Monday. For now, be safe everyone and we miss and love you all.

Mandy and Jake

Valentine's Day

Well, this past week we had some rainy days so we had some days off, which were nice for catching up on sleep and watching Bones. Man, I forgot how much I love that show! We have already made it through to the 3rd season. We are almost done with season 3, and will be sorely upset because we don’t have season 4. L This week on the site we found 2 more pipe steams, and arrow heads. There are about 40 features that have popped up in this trench, twice as many as were in the other 2 trenches put together. There are so many things in this trench that it is hard for Jake to figure out what exactly the stains in the soil are and who they belong to. So he has to dig out soil samples from all of them to test later. He is just a boy digging in the dirt.



One of the guys that works for Jake offered to have him mom make some corn humitas, similar to a tamale. They were freaking awesome! We bought 6, shared 2 of them with the guys, and then we enjoyed the other 4. Jake likes to sprinkle his with a little bit of sugar, oh my goodness! You take fresh corn kernels, chili peppers, salt and pepper, grind it up and wrap it in some corn husks and then boil it for an hour. We will definitely have some more of them before we leave and might even be something that I can make myself!





We were in Chile last year for Valentine’s Day and we went out for sushi, so we figured we would keep up the tradition here in Pucon. There is a little sushi joint near the church building in town so we gave it a shot. Jake got some sashimi Salmon. The salmon itself looked ok, but it had been soaked in some kind of oil and there was a slash of sesame oil on the plate, needless to say he didn’t finish it and that was the first time he has EVER let sashimi go to waste. We got a California roll, an Ebi Cheese roll, and some other roll that had shrimp in the middle and breaded chicken on the outside of the roll. The rolls were the best they could be in Pucon, Chile. They weren’t the worst we have had but they also weren’t the best we have ever had. We are looking forward to a trip to Ken’s, Fulins, and Kyoto when we get home in the spring. We will make a trip to the great sushi place when we get back to Santiago before we come home.





It only took me going to the other side of the world to learn how to make certain things from scratch. This past week I made some cinnamon rolls and put the dough in the fridge so we could have something sweet for breakfast on Valentine’s Day. Behold, the first cinnamon rolls! They were very enjoyable and will not be the last ones I make! Martha Stewart eat your heart out!



We hope everything is going well at home! Hopefully the weather has improved so that Rachel can get ready to fly back to China on the 20th. Happy Birthday to Spencer this week! Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Chinese New Year!

Mandy & Jake