Herbs & Murals

This week we visited the Lorenzo Arenas Ward. The members of this ward have an understanding of how the church works, including the priesthood leaders, Relief Society sisters, Young Men and Young Women, Sunday School, and the children's Primary organization. We met five sisters we knew already because they come every week to the weaving workshops. We were able to explain at length the changes in the Centro de Autosuficiencia, and invited ward members to participate.

Hermana Rosita's latest creation, which she gave to us as a gift. Crema Baba de Caracol, for "Acne, manchas, arrugas, cicatrices, quemaduras, estrias, hidratante, etc." (Hydrating cream for acne, spots, wrinkles, scars, burns, stretch marks.) If you put the phrase "Baba de Caracol" in  http://www.spanishdict.com/, the results are "snail slime" or "snail saliva."  Evidently people working with snails discovered their skin problems healed very quickly, and thus the extraction of snail mucus. Hna. Rosa described the process she used with her students to prepare the cream, but she may need to explain it again.

On Thursday, Hna. Dagnig (we checked--this is how she spells her first name) brought her spindle to demonstrate how she combined two smaller threads into a larger one.

Hna. Andrea is explaining mural weaving to this cheerful brother, who attends the Lorenzo Arenas ward.

Here is his weaving of a sailing boat so far.

Very careful, finely woven wool following the drawing behind the warp.

An interesting tree, made with a selection of different yarns, and twigs.

Another tree, more rustic, made using thicker untwisted "vellón," lambs wool fleece.

Monica, a perfectionist who is never happy even when it is well done. She is recreating a photo of a stunning mountain and lake found in southern Chile.

My unfinished Copihue wall hanging. Fortunately I am not a perfectionist. Andrea had me try the yarn-wrapping techniques for the leaves, but I'm not sure I will use it on all of them. I will use it to make twining vines. The warp (vertical) is a heavy olive-green wool yarn, while the weft (horizontal) is two narrow black acrylic yarns woven through with a metal yarn needle. The flower and leaves are rayon and acrylic yarns, covering the canvas like embroidery. All the ladies in the workshop have to check on it every week, wondering what the Gringa is doing now.

Andrea explaining a technique on how to insert natural objects, such as sticks or dry moss, into a mural. She was suffering from the pain of scoliosis, so we gave her our on-hand supply of ibuprofen and combination headache medicine, both of which are dreadfully expensive in Chile.

We were compelled to model the Grinch hat and the black woven bag. The ladies like to say the word "Stingy" so now Elder K. is the "Stingy Grinch." I finally broke down and bought a couple of t-shirts, including the one I am wearing in this photo, at the Lider store on Calle Arturo Prat at 2 mil. pesos ($4) each. The missionary wardrobe tends to be VERY MONOTONOUS and needs a little help now and then.

 On Saturday afternoon, the University Ward Relief Society had a class on herbs, which I attended along with Hermana Balden, the mission nurse. My Cuaderno de Hierbas (Herb Notebook) has an example of each herb pasted in with descriptions. This is Culén, a native Andean plant used for indigestion, diabetes, and fevers. BTW, this is how paper looks in Chile--no lines, only graph paper. The notebook pages are nearly square or extra-long and narrow, so it is impossible to find folders or notebooks to fit 8 1/2" x 11" typing paper, which is also available.

Poleo (Pennyroyal) for gas and indigestion; Matico, antiseptic, for ulcers; Llanten (Plantago, fleawort) for earaches, inflammation, and hemorrhoids, and Palta, the large leaves of the avocado tree, used for coughs and inflammation.

Preparing herbs for drying

 Dry lavanda (lavender) for headaches in the basket along with the leaves of the Maqui tree; Romero (Rosemary)--anti rheumatic, for respiratory problems, stimulant, and sedative; and Ruda, common rue for hemorrhages, digestive problems, and antispasmodic. Next time we will learn how to make infusions, oils and creams.

Parque Jorge Alessandri

Last Sunday we talked to the Pedro de Valdivia Ward's bishop's council about the new Self-Reliance Center, and by the time we left following the Sunday meetings the bishop introduced us to 41-year-old Pamela, a 13-year English teacher who was no longer employed because she needed two years of certification classes in order to keep teaching. She had taken one semester but could not afford to go on. She was thrilled to learn she could get a Perpetual Education Fund loan, and within the week she has made application for the loan and gotten an exception from her stake president since the new rules are not in force yet. She will continue her classes in March.

Today we visited the Laguna Redonda Ward, and invited one of the counselors in the Relief Society  who just separated from her husband and lives with her three daughters in her mother's house, to come to the Centro de Autosuficiencia to see if we could help her find employment. She went from being depressed to hopeful.

Hilda Gutierrez-Arriagada, a coronary intensive care unit nurse, came into the Self Reliance Center this last week.  Because of health problems and lack of steady work, she has not been able to pay back her Perpetual Education Fund Loan. But now she has a steady job, and we printed out coupons for her so she could begin the loan repayment process.

At the week's weaving workshop, one group of women prepared a display as if they were ready to sell their woven articles.

Here the ladies model their wares.

I had several requests to crochet one of the handled baskets. This one is for Romy, of hand-spun and dyed wool yarn. I am attempting to translate the instructions into Castellan.

Fernando Alberto teaching the ladies about marketing. He prefers the name Alberto, but Romy seems to want to call him Fernando for some mysterious reason. He has made a habit of showing up every Thursday.

On Saturday, members of the Barrio Universitaria invited us to a paso--to spend some time--at Parque Jorge Alessandri, on the Coronel Highway south of San Pedro de la Paz. Jorge Alessandri was a forest products magnate who built this park with the profits. It is clean, well maintained, family friendly, has no dogs or trash, and was heavenly to spend the day in. Included on the grounds are walking paths, a pen of fallow deer, a greenhouse of Chilean native plants, a little musem dedicated to wood products, including a demonstration of making recycled paper for children, an art exhibit, music, a snack shop, and a theater. We met other ward members at the parada (bus stop) at Calle Carreras and Galvarino, and took the bus to Coronel at 10:30.

We got there about 11:30. Everyone got out their food. We began eating what we thought was lunch, but to everyone else it was desayuno (breakfast.)  We ate (the same) lunch two hours later. Hna. Andrea's maté was the best I had tasted so far--VerdeFlor brand, with her own mint and a little sugar. Elder Kennington thought the gradually inclining main lawn, which was eventually filled up with picnicking families, would make a great golf hole.

In our exploration of the park, we came upon the theater, where Manuel Mendoza, Andrea's husband, here with Joaquin, another member of the ward, broke into song in a nice baritone. Manuel especially likes Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and The Mamas and The Papas. Occasionally I would join in, especially when Manuel's command of the English language failed him, much to everyone's amusement.

Several of the ladies in the group were plant lovers, so once they found out my predilection for herbs and flowers, they had to show me everything. Above is a picture of the Fuchsia Magellanica, "native to the lower Southern Cone of southern South America." (Wikipedia.) The Mapuches call it Chilco.

Members of the University Ward Relief Society Presidency, including Andrea, on the right.

Tall Hna. Cecilia shows me the leaves of the native Chilean Boldo tree, used in making a strongly camphor-flavored tea which is good for "estimulante digestivo y sedante, nervioso, neuralgias, reumatismo" according to the Parque's educational brochure  -- as a stimulant and digestive system sedative, calming to the nerves, and a help with rheumatism. It is really best taken, according to Hna. Rosa, (and I agree,) with a little orange peel to mask the flavor. 

The leaves of the Aristotelia Chilensis, the Maqui of Chile. The small black berries and leaves are both eaten by the Mapuche, and the leaves are used to dress wounds. The berries are sought after as a source of anti-oxidants, but we were warned that eating the berries will stain your teeth. We were told to watch out for Maqui del Diablo, a poisonous look-alike.

Colihue, the perennial bamboo of Argentina and Chile. 

Margarita

Natre, the Solanum Crispum of the nightshade family, although the flowers of this Natre are white. Hna. Andrea says Natre is used for fevers and headaches.

Andrea calls this plant Tapón, which means stoppered up -- it is used for diarrhea. To me it looks like a betony, Stachys Officinalis, bishop's weed.

I told Andrea I had a Mimosa seedling coming up in one of the potted plants I had bought. I separated it and put it in a pot of its own.. She said, watch out, it might grow into a tree like this one.

Canelo, the source of Winter's Bark used by Francis Drake to prevent scurvy on his voyage around South America. The beautiful reddish wood is used to make furniture and instruments.

Forest of Eucalyptus trees at the top of the hill

From the observation deck, we could see the Isla de Santa Maria, off the coast of Coronel.

It was time to go back. We listened to a very good band singing Bossa Nova, and then we packed up our belongings to get on the bus home. I did get one last picture of a shrimp-pink Copihue before we left.

Chile's National Flower, the Copihue

The week started off with the Feria Internacional de Arte Popular, which runs through February 9th at the Parque Ecuador. It is one of the best we have been to.

Parque Ecuador is not far from where we live, so we've ended up going three times so far. Chile's "informal," or "terreno" economy, which includes barter, streetside, and non-tax-paying small shop owners, makes up 60% of its economic activity. In some areas of the world this can be over 80%.

The west end was given over to baskets. We were greeted by a church member who recognized us by our name tags, and I bought two oval baskets from him. I have not been able to find rectangular baskets I can put papers in.

The booth to the left, from Temuco, is selling silver and copper jewelry in the Mapuche style. I bought a pair of earrings that looked like little silver lilies hanging upside down. To the right is a leather worker from Chillan.

This basketmaker makes sculptures with weaving. Across the way was a display from Rapa Nui on Easter Island off the coast of Chile (and part of the Concepcion South mission).  The tall booth owner greeted us in a booming voice--he knew we were Mormons, and wanted to say hi.

Elder Kennington is looking for a new belt. He did not find one. He is carrying the two oval baskets in the bag.

 We skipped the food court, although Elder K. had to smell the hay bales and check out the baling twine--plastic, this time.

 There was even a display of plants for sale. I had to control myself. I bought a pink and white bougainvillea and a maidenhair fern on different days.

We brought home a pretty ceramic bird, and the lily-like earrings and pendant in silver and coral, which turned out to be in the shape of the national flower of Chile. It is called Copihue, or lapageria rosea, a genus with only one species of vining flower, usually in a dark coral color, but sometimes lighter pink or peach. It is also known as the Chilean bellflower, and is much loved by Chileans.

 

The maidenhair fern, a zip wallet from Peru, some earrings with real flowers in them, and ceramic-lined pottery. Most Chilean pottery is fired hand-molded terra cotta or black clay in the shape of footed individual cooking bowls or casserole-sized oval dishes, not thrown pottery. This was better made than most I have seen.

On Thursday, for the weaving workshop, the ladies were already well into making wall hangings. Since we were in Buenos Aires last week, I had missed the first lesson, so I observed everything I could while the ladies worked. In this photo, the weaving frame is wrapped in string or heavy yarn about 5 cm apart to form the urdimbre--warp--up and down. The green yarn is being used to anchor the threads so the more decorative trama--weft-weaving right and left--will not come loose. When finished, the wall hanging must be cut off the loom and attached by threads to dowels on the top and bottom. Some avoid this step by weaving permanently into a regular picture frame.

The loom is placed over a dibujo, drawing, and the shapes and colors will be filled in with decorative yarns. Some use shuttles and some use yarn needles to fill in the weft.

Someone had finished making a hat in the red, white and blue of the Chilean flag, and wanted Elder K. to have his picture taken in it. (The ladies missed him terribly last week.) He is modeling being a Smurf.

Not having brought my loom or any yarn, at least I could make a wall hanging design. I drew this picture of a Copihue from a photo online. I ended up making a drawing of a lily for a little sister who was a loss for a design. Most of the ladies used pre-printed drawings.

We rectified the yarn situation by stopping at a yarn shop on the way home. Most of this is seda, "silk," which is actually usually rayon or acrylic. The gorgeous unlabeled yarn is from Argentina. I finally got my Argentinian yarn.

One of the ladies who saw my Copihue drawing asked if I had ever seen one growing, and I said no. She called later and told us where we could see it blooming in a yard on Calle Lincoyan, which is conveniently near the Feria. So we took that route home and saw these beautiful hanging bells decorating the side of the house.

Now that I know what to look for, I even saw them for sale at the Feria plant section. But since the plants were 6 feet tall vines climbing on lath, and heavy in a two gallon container, I sadly didn't bring one back for my balcony garden.

One last view of the lovely Copihue, the national flower of Chile.