Hola, 

All is well here.  Time is flying by and in a couple of weeks Ill be home.  I'll  be glad to see my family and friends but I will definitely miss Casa Ursulina.  This experience is too big for words. 

The classes are going well!  Everyone wants to spin the whole class and since we have 4 wheels and 20 or so women it gets a little wild.  They come a little early to get a few minutes extra in and the next day the others come a few minutes earlier and so on... This morning there were actually a couple of women here before we came downstairs and when the front door was unlocked there they were.  We set up a schedule so everyone gets time at the wheel and time to card wool so they can spin the stuff they carded themselves.  They come on days they are not scheduled just in case someone doesn't show up.  At this point that is wishful thinking.  Maybe later some who are involved in too many things will have to choose to skip the class but not yet.  They are also fussy about the wheel they spin on and that gets real tricky.  We keep reorganizing and they keep finding loopholes.

 Chile is interesting.  I really hope I don't need a hospital while I'm here.  You have to take your own sheets etc...  If you're having surgery the surgeon gives you a list of stuff you'll need such as sutures, needles, dressings and anything else you might need.  Mimi thinks the hospital supplies IV supplies but if so she said that is only very recent.  If you want to eat more than the minimal to keep you alive you bring your own food.  If you have 2 broken arms you had better have someone there to feed you or they bring in your tray and set it down then an hour later they come in and say -oh they didn't eat- and take the tray.  They also don't worry about malpractice here.  Jobs are so hard to come by that the staff backs the Dr. up on whatever he says.  If there's a mistake the Dr. just says "I've never seen them before and the records are destroyed.  Like I said I really don’t want to go to the hospital.

 I'm getting use to the buses and taxis.  Just look out the side window and hope you don't see any flying objects that could be from the bus hitting them.  Today on the way home from the market Betsy and I rode the bus.  At one point when we were going down a street lined with cars we heard a screeching noise like we maybe bumped something with the side of the bus but everyone just sat there.  Betsy and I looked at each other but what are you going to do.  Glad I don't have a car. 

 The market (fruits and vegetables) is amazing.  I love walking through looking at all the stuff.  Some of the venders call out for you to buy from them so the sounds are interesting also.  No one says excuse me when they bump into someone which seems weird to me.  I keep saying excuse me and people look at me like I'm nuts which...  Any way I think it's because there are so many people all the time and you would not be able to carry on a conversation for saying excuse me so it is just assumed you didn't mean to run into someone. 

Cell phones are everywhere down here which makes the taxis and cars even more scary.  Mostly the cars are zooming around and in and out of traffic going as fast as can be and talking on the cell phone at the same time.  You definitely have to be on your toes if you're walking at the edge of the street or crossing one.

 I don't know if I mentioned my crib sheet wall.  I've taken the phrases I use most often while teaching spinning and have made a translation sheet for it with both English and Spanish so I don't have to have a translator all the time.  I put them up on a wall and everyone gets a kick out of them.  There are only 1 or 2 phrases on each sheet so if the women catch me looking at them while I'm helping them they look at the Spanish and see if they can figure it out before I say it.  It's getting to be a challenge for all to see who can say it the fastest.   I study them each evening but my brain is not absorbing Spanish.

 Some of the yarns are really looking good and they still amaze me how fast they catch on. The problem this year is that most of the sheep have been shorn and not shorn for spinning so the wool is chopped up.  It's a challenge to find wool long enough and to convince the women the chopped wool is not going to make nice yarn.  They believe in using everything and want to put it all in the yarn.  They want to use wool from the area so they are helping the farmers who usually just pitch their wool.  We're working on teaching them too.

We went to the mountains last weekend and went to the thermal pools. Naturally hot water from the mount and channeled into big concrete pools. The water is changed constantly - going in one side and draining out the other. Only thing is it was sulphur water and smelled like rotten eggs. They consider it therapeutic and I did get used to the smell after awhile. One problem though- the smell stays with you and your closes and hair for awhile. I have washed my hair and showered several times and even used vinegar on my hair and can still smell it a little. Hopefully it will be gone before I come home. I don't think it would be too good on the plane.

I have only seen sheep here. Maybe a llama or 2 but too far off to get a picture of. No alpacas. Those are in the higher elevations and we are not.

The food here is great! No really spicy but just enough. They do use a lot of cilantro tho and While I like cilantro I don't want it on everything. We had pizza at the cabin in the mountains. Well not what we call pizza. They use big pizza dough like stuff already cooked (I've seen something like it in the states) and then put chopped ham, sliced tomatoes, onion slabs and cheese and then cook it a little until the cheese melts. I'm ready for good ole north american pizza with sauce and the whole nine yards. First thing I'm doing when I get home.

I learned they don't spell ciao like that here. Here it is chao so...Chao Susan.

WOW! What an afternoon!  We went to the country to meet some of the women Mimi and  the others have been teaching to spin.  This group in the country basically started as a social thing.  One of the women is really a mover and shaker and got a grant from the municipality to fund the groups move into beekeeping.  This money is available to organized groups for training that will help lower unemployment.  The connection with the group came about through one of the volunteer-instructors at the Casa.  Her sister-in-law (Milsania) teaches at the school which is also the center of all cultural activities.  This school has only 22 students so the families are rather tight knit.  Milsania asked Mimi to come and give a talk to the women´s group about the activities of the Casa so she went and brought many of the crafts made at the Casa.  The response was overwhelming. The women were excited at the prospect of the chance to earn a little extra money and learn something new.  Crocheting was their first desire.  The volunteer-teachers at the Casa were thrilled to share and help so a group started going out one day a week. Attending these classes was no easy feat for the women in the country.  Cars are almost non-existent in the area.  Horse carts are the main mode of transport and the horses were used for more important things during the day.  These classes are very important to the women so they were willing to walk-many for more than an hour to attend. You have to realize that not all the women are young.  This should tell you the importance of the classes to these women. When the organizers saw the response and the willingness of the women to continue they started working on getting the municipality to provide a truck and driver.  The truck picked up the women on a main road so many still had a good walk.

  There are many sheep in the area and the wool is mostly tossed because the method used to process it was too slow.   When Mimi first introduced spinning as a means to use the wool response was poor, they were used to using husos (drop spindles).  When she showed them the difference in using a wheel it was a different story.   Mimi started hauling equipment back and forth each week for class.  In between classes the women sorted, washed and teased the wool to get ready for class. Problem was there wasn´t enough class time.

Hate to stop now but everyone has decided to go some where and are waiting on me.  More to come later I promise.

Chao

Susan

Meanwhile back at the ranch...  I reread my email and it sounds a little scattered which is normal for me especially down here.  Spanish going on around me everywhere and I pick up words here and there and can often figure out what they mean but ...oh my brain.  Anyway to recap and fill in a few spots we´re in the country, the area is called Piedra Lisa,  the town is San Nicolas, the school (cultural center) is about 15 K from the town out in the middle of nowhere with nothing around but open space.  The women are walking to classes at the school.  The volunteers are driving from Chillan, 45min to an hour away.  When it rains the women are tromping through mud an hour or two each way,  In rides help from the municipality in the form of a truck and driver.  Now the volunteers drive from Chillan to the town, park and ride in the truck to the center picking up women along the way.  When they arrive the truck is packed- a 6pass cab plus the back- jammed with people and equipment.  Now remember these women still have quite a walk to get to the main road to be picked up by the truck.

There are 5 women that are really interested in the wool program and 2 are going great guns.  These are the 2 we went to see first. When we arrived at the first house there was someone out front on a porch doing laundry in a big tub with a lot of elbow grease being used.  She had already done quite a bit and it was hanging and dripping (no wringer) on lines and bushes.  Thank God for Maytag.  Erica was in bed with a kidney infection insisted on getting up.    She brought out the wool she had spun, some really NICE nice yarn.  Then she brought out some ponchos that belong to her family done by someone else.  I tried to buy one but no go however she told me of one for sale by a friend who had made it for an order and then the buyer cancelled- lucky me.  Erica had spun some wool to make her son a poncho but it was too thick - remember she´s a beginner.  It is still great yarn and I’ll make something with it.  By the way - all the people I usually get souvenirs for - this year you’re getting yarn so you´d better learn to knit or something.   Erica is using a wheel from the Casa which helps.  She doesn’t have to confine her yarn making to the class time and is able to make much more.

From there we went to Julia’s house. The family (grandparents, Julia and husband and one son) had just finished eating and while we were sitting talking Julia slips off and starts bringing out food so we ate too.  The dining room was like a porch between 2 houses, new and old.  The floors were dirt and there was a young chicken running around.  After eating we looked at the yarns Julia had spun. Some of this yarn is for a poncho for her son but her husband thinks she should sell it and spin more for the poncho. She is also using a wheel from the Casa. After all that we went for a walk to her garden down past the chicken pen, duck pen, under the grape arbor which takes up a good bit of the ¨yard¨, down a hill through a field and across a creek (by way of a little log 10 feet above the water) along the edge of another field and finally to the garden. WHEW. Julia and I are the only ones that crossed the log, the others just held their breath until I made it without falling in.  Then we made the return trip with a big bag of produce which Julia carried across the log.

About the wheels from the Casa...  the husbands of 2 of the volunteers have examined all the different wheels  given to C.U. by various people and are now each making wheels. They work just fine!.  This program is growing and benefits so many people -The farmers that previously got nothing for their wool, the women that spin, the wool then sell or weave with it, the men that can now make and sell wheels.  Some of the older women can no longer spin on a drop spindle because of shoulder pain from years of it.  We are reaching out to those people with spinning wheels so they can regain that lost income.  The big thing now is to find a market for their products.  Handspun doesn´t bring the same attitude by buyers here because everyone does everything by hand.  The hours that go into a product aren´t considered since everyone has more time than money.  We´ll work on it and I´m sure we can develop a market.

Ok enough for now.  My typing is pathetically slow and I do a lot of backspacing so I actually type everything at least twice.  To all you teachers out there - consider any punctuation errors to be typos, besides what´s a little grammatical error here and there amongst friends.  Gotta go.  More later.

Chao,

The sun slides toward the horizon and the stagecoach makes another stop. As we pull into Berta’s the gate is opened by family members leaving. In the country as well as the city all the yards are fenced and gated. Berta greets us from the porch where we then sit and visit. This is also where she works her wool. There is a large pile of wool all washed, teased and ready to spin, her drop spindle her chair and 4 long logs in the corner. She doesn’t work the wool as much because of shoulder pain brought on from years of using the drop spindle but she still does special orders. She is one of the women we hope to reach with the outreach program at Piedra Lisa. It’s a hard sell for the older women until they see it done on a spinning wheel and the difference in time involved. With a wheel she could still work the wool for extra income and hopefully have less pain for the gain.

The subject of the poncho came up and Mimi told her I might be interested in buying it. She brought it out and I was sold immediately. I told her I’d take it and her eyes lit up. I didn’t even negotiate on the price. I knew the work that went into it and it was worth every peso. I knew she had done all the work on a drop spindle but I wasn’t sure about the loom. When I asked her about it she pointed to the logs in the corner and a couple of holes chiseled into the stucco porch walls. I didn’t quite get it so she put stakes in the wall, leaned the two biggest logs upright against them then put the spikes in them and placed the other logs across at the top and bottom. Voila! A loom. She uses tools that were her mother and grandmothers which is appropriate since the loom was also. The yarn for a poncho is very fine, tightly spun and tightly plied and takes a lot of work so no wonder they have a lot of shoulder pain.

A little about Berta’s home… Yards are always fenced and grass is not important but flowers are a nice addition for their beauty and scent. The house is stucco and the front is covered with ivy. The roof is covered with hand formed clay tiles which are formed over their thighs. The area where repairs were done have new (or reused) metal otherwise it was all original. The entire house had dirt floors, well packed and swept clean. Inside the house the floors were smooth but the porch was more like small cobblestone but all dirt. To the left of the house they were clearing a place for a new house. There is some Rural Improvement money available for certain things but indoor plumbing isn’t one of them. Weird. Mimi asked Berta it she and her husband were moving into the new house and she said no it would be too fancy. Well believe me it will not be fancy by a long shot. It may have and indoor bathroom but won’t be functioning yet. It will just wait till there’s money for the plumbing. One of her children and their family will live there which will make it easier when Berta and her husband get older. The children take care of their parents here- no real question about it. It’s not always easy on the family but it’s how it is.

We saw some of Berta’s other weavings and she has done some beautiful things. We talked about the poncho and she was surprised that it was for me and not my husband because they are usually only worn by men and boys. I told her I was going to put pink flowers and lace on it to keep my husband , son and brother from stealing it. Everyone got a big kick out of that.

The sun was really low so we said our goodbyes and headed out. The gate was opened by the family returning in the horse cart.

I was getting tired but we had one more stop before heading home. More on that next time.

Chao, Susan

Subject: Days end

It's been a long day in the country but I'm not ready for it to end. The people I have met truly have a pioneer spirit and their joy, even among their hardships, is contagious.  My face is tired from smiling and I only heard abbreviated translations.

We have one last stop in the country. Sandra's (our volunteer driver and all round good person) great aunt lives near with her daughter and grandson.  She is near 90 years old and loves company.  We stopped at Sandra's Mother’s first then took the "shortcut" to see her aunt.  The shortcut took us through the backyard, garden, sheep pens, 2 pastures past a huge outdoor oven-type fireplace where they make their own charcoal and into her yard.  It was a lovely evening so everyone was sitting outside too dry for mosquitos). Of course, like everywhere else, we had refreshments and the talking began.  A lot of gestures and rapid talking left me in the dust but I could pick up a word here and there and with the gestures and a little translation  I got the gist of the conversations.  They brought out a few things she had spun and woven for her family, some traditional dresses, and some things were more for daily living.  I asked about dyes and expected to hear about natural dye plants but no...  food coloring worked well for her.  She said that even as a small child they used food coloring for the many bright colors, much easier than trying to get the colors she wanted using plants etc..  A practical woman but I didn't get the information on local natural dye plants I was seeking.  It was dusk when we headed for home taking the shortcut back to Sandra's mother’s house and the car. There actually is a driveway to her house from the road but for walking the way we went really is shorter.  Of course we had to have something to drink before we left and visit the facilities (outdoors of course-remember -no indoor plumbing in the country).  During the ride back to the Casa my mind was going a hundred mph trying to absorb everything I saw and heard today.  I know there are places in the world much needier but I feel I was brought together with Mimi and to Chile for a reason.  There are many, many, many, people more talented in fiber arts than I  so I think it's as much what the people bring to me as what I bring to the people.  I am definitely a better person for having spent time with them.  This may not be visible to you all but I feel it inside where it starts and hopefully I can bring it out for all to see.

That's it for my day in the country.  I have stayed busy here at the Casa teaching, repairing spinning wheels, dyeing wool, getting the knitting machine going and adjusted for hand spun, learning new spanish words and phrases.  I have to share this one - Chilean spanish is really different... to say someone is a good swimmer you say he is very dry in the water!  Now you see what I have to contend with when I try and translate with a dictionary.Ai ai ai!

This will probably be my last email since I leave for home soon and typing is a real pain for me.  Some of the women think I should stay a year but that will never happen.  I'm not tough enough to be away from family and friends for more than a month and even that is hard at times. See you soon Chao Susan P.S.  The story about the loo incident seems unimportant after all that I've seen and done so ... sorry!