Golf at the Club Naval

Having visited Tumbes on the Talcahuano peninsula for the first time on Saturday, of course we went back for the second time on Wednesday. On our first trip we had passed the Club Naval golf course, and Elder K. was duly impressed by the grounds and expressed a wish to play there. 

We ran into two elders in a stake center we were visiting, and since they had been given special permission, we asked if they would like to accompany us. They said they would.

Our Sunday visit was to the Hualpencillo Ward in Talcahuano South Stake. The members here are dedicated, with firm testimonies.

Wednesday morning, the elders met us at the Self Reliance Center, then we took off for the golf club on Chile's main naval base on the Bay of Concepcion.

Club Naval de Campo Tumbes. The weather was sunny, warm, and breezy -- just perfect.

Elder Kennington and two delightful young missionaries, Elder McAllister and Elder Hoopes.

The greens were immaculately kept, the trees well established, and the golfers were thrilled. We had the entire 50-acre grounds to ourselves.

Some of the holes had spectacular views over the Bahia de Concepcion. We could see Penco, Lirquen and Tome.

Colorful flags at the end of Hole 3, waving in the ocean breeze. 

 

Overlooking the shipping yard and submarine base

Elder Hoopes takes a shot. I am not sure if anyone cared about the score. A few days after this golf outing, Elder Hoopes was made a zone leader in Penco.

Since I don't really golf (the less said about that, the better), I was enjoying the smell of the pines, the cleanliness and beauty of the grounds, and taking photos of wildflowers.

These pretty little birds accompanied us the entire time. I tried to get them to fly to show off their white wings with black markings, but they mostly just ran along the ground.

Purple wildflowers under the pine trees

Weeds along the ground, but pretty nonetheless

 An interesting mushroom. After two hours and nine holes, the golfers were getting hungry and thirsty, so we reluctantly said goodbye to the Club Naval de Campo Tumbes.

 Since Caleta Tumbes was just a few miles down the winding hilly road, we drove there for lunch. Above is a photo of a patient fisherman repairing his nets.

Along the little street we saw several restaurants, and decided on Tia Ely's.

Two happy elders eating cheese empanadas with onions and cilantro. We all ordered the Reineta a la Plancha, a delicious grilled whitefish served with a pile of french fries. 

We watched ongoing ship repairs from the second floor of Tia Ely's. 

A photo of us on the pier

Another goodbye to Tumbes, and a wonderful day out for two hard working elders and for us.

Caleta Tumbes

The first Sunday in November we attended Barrio Cruz del Sur, named for the Southern Cross.

This is a dynamic, well-run ward in the Talcahuano North Stake. One of the hermanas told us this is the ward Area Seventy Elder Zeballos and his family attended when they lived here.

I thought this was Bellis Perennis blooming in a vacant lot near the Institute building, but it is Erigeron Karvinskianus, Latin American fleabane, native to South America. I am thinking we will have to pick a bucket full of these tiny daisies for when the weather gets warmer and fleas become more active.

I finally got a photo of the hermano who makes copper engravings, white beard and all. He comes to the mission office on the day of Cambios, when missionaries whose service has ended are taken to the airport for the journey home, and new missionaries are picked up.

His rendering of the Concepcion Temple, scheduled to be built sometime in the future.

Tuesday and Thursday evening we attended a Planning for Success Workshop for potential Perpetual Education Fund participants, for members of the Chiguayante Stake. The teacher, Hermana Silva, was thoroughly prepared and did an excellent job. It was interesting hearing the different reasons for wanting further education and how the students would go about it.

Saturday we joined the Kauers for an outing to the northern tip of the Talcahuano peninsula on the Bay of Concepcion.

Caleta Tumbes is a charming fishing village complete with its fleet of vessels.

San Pedro, the patron saint of fishermen. As can be expected, this part of Talcahuano was hit especially hard by the 8.8  2010 earthquake and tsunami.

From the pier you could see Isla Quiriquina and the reef along the northern part of the Bay of Concepcion, which blocked some of the worst effects of the earthquake tsunami.

For lunch we went farther down the peninsula to Caleta Lenga, where we knew there were good restaurants. The two farmboys Elder Kennington and Elder Kauer were pleased to come across a Mahindra tractor, which reminded them of their life before becoming missionaries.

We saw a disappointed group of ladies wearing sunhats coming out of the alley in front of the Restaurant El Mono, The Monkey, the owner of which told them it was not open at 11:00 in the morning, so we thought we would come back at 12:00 noon along with everyone else. Plus, it had a bathroom.

In the second floor of the Restaurant El Mono. We ordered a Lomo a lo Pobre and cheese and seafood empanadas, served with onion and cilantro. The Kauers ordered salmon and boiled potatoes. It was all good.

From our view on the second floor, we could see about six red-headed buzzards, Jotes de cabeza colorada, circling over something on the ground.

Two women in a horse-drawn cart.

Hermana Kauer on the promenade along the beach after purchasing another over-the-shoulder bag, since her first one is getting a lot of wear. She is wearing a lilac-colored wool manta she bought from one of the Ecuadorans, since although the day was sunny and beautiful, the morning was still chilly and windy.

I bought a pair of bombachos, baggy pants with pockets and drawstring waist and ankles, which are very comfortable and made with a pretty fabric. The bombachos and the passport case were sold by Ecuadorans from the Otavalo province, where many of the Ecuadorans in Concepcion are from. The copper earrings I bought for more wall hangings I am making. The man selling them called the bird-shaped earrings "Aymara" -- probably the grey-hooded South American parakeet, although it might also be a reference to the Aymara people of the Andes in Peru.

Día de los Difuntos

We are now four hours ahead of Mountain Standard Time, since the U.S. went off Daylight Savings Time early this morning.

Bright yellow anthemis are blooming everywhere in Conce. 

A few more photos from our trip to Lota last week. Our Pulperia tour guide was a gentle soul, another ex-miner. He stands in the kitchen area of one of the miners' apartments.

Dining table and chairs.

The Pulperia, company general store. The roller is for flattening bread dough so it can be cooked in the outdoor oven. The portrait above is of Baldomero Lilli, a social writer who exposed the conditions of miners in his short story "Subterra."

Implements for cooking bread in the adobe oven.

Inside the Cousiño mansion across town.

Stuffed peacock under glass in the second floor walkway. Peacock is translated as pavo real, royal turkey.

Sunday we attended Barrio Esmeralda in the Estaca Talcahuano Sur in Hualpén. We let them know about the changes in the Perpetual Education Fund, which they were not aware of.

This week we had a visit from Mauricio Fernandez, who came from Santiago to give us more training in the CRM, the complex Client Relations Management software used in tracking participants in PEF. While he was there our computers were not behaving well, which is not a bad thing, since he said he will look into providing us with new ones. Hopefully.

I've had my eye on the beautiful Mapuche-style lapiz lazuli silver earrings in the Buenos Aires jewelry shop on Caupolican near Barros Arana. I will probably make two necklaces out of them! Plus I couldn't resist the silver filigree.

Elder K., who does not appreciate earrings like I do, was finally persuaded to invest in a pair of handmade leather shoes by the owner of the Navarro shoe repair shop on Serrano between Cochrane and San Martin. They are based on a pair of leather Bass shoes. He says they fit perfectly and were comfortable from the beginning. Now he is having another pair made in brown leather.

On Halloween Friday, we had a pot luck in the mission office with the senior missionaries and young office elders. Other wandering missionaries of the Concepcion and Concepcion South Missions kindly cleaned up the leftovers of "real American food."

Two of the office elders made a request for my apple turnovers. Seeing the number and size of some of the elders, I cut a few in half so there would be enough for everyone.

 We celebrated Elder Balden's birthday, using all the candles we could find, even if the age wasn't quite accurate. 

My new Mapuche weaving project made with beautiful hand-dyed yarn. (the turquoise yarn is temporary.) Romy says the colors are "melancólica."

On our walk home Friday afternoon, the weather was sunny, cool and perfect.

Photos are not mine, but are of Día de los Difuntos--Day of the Dead--or Día de los Santos, during which Chileans visit cemeteries, clean up gravesites, and place flowers everywhere. This is the quietest day of the year in Concepcion.

Día de los Difuntos, the day after Halloween, is one of the biggest flower days of the Chilean year.