Alpacas, llamas, jellyfish, surfing and head injuries oh my!

Today is our last day in the Zapallar beach area. The boys used their charm and enthusiasm to get the surf instructors to come in early for one last lesson. We have to check out of our rental house at noon- the boys surf lesson was from 10-11:45 so we had to hustle to get packed up and out. The boys had the BEST experience with these Chilean surfers! Towards the end of his lesson, Nash actually got a jellyfish sting on his right hand. With the wet suit on, only his hands and feet are exposed. Of course he took it like a champ and didn’t really flinch! 

After we packed up and left, we headed back towards Santiago for two more nights before flying South to Punta Arenas. On the way to Santiago I had found an alpaca 🦙 farm to stop at and explore. While we were following google's directions, we were led down a bumpy dirt road. We didn’t see any signs or anything that looked like an alpaca farm. As we are bumping along, we passed by three huge tractor trailers parked on the side of this dirt road. Next we noticed a handful of people standing around on the side of the road. All of us thought ‘why that's odd’. We kept bumping along until we came to a dead end. We turned around and as we passed back by the tractor trailers, we watched alpacas being thrown out of the back of this tractor trailer. We immediately stop the car and get out to watch. Hundreds, around 300 to be exact, alpacas and llamas were being delivered to the farm that we were searching for. We stayed around 90 minutes watching this madness.  We also got to help keep the animals from escaping down the dirt road. This is definitely the first time we have ever herded a pack of llamas and alpacas. Paul spoke to one of the farmers and he told us the animals came from Bolivia and have been traveling in the back of the tractor trailers for the past 2 days. Amazing what we were able to stumble upon and experience! There were several kids from the neighborhood hanging around helping out and watching just like us. 

After we got to Santiago, I went out for a walk around the city to explore and do some shopping . Paul took the boys to a large park with a playground by our hotel. When I got back to our hotel room, the boys couldn’t wait to tell me about their adventure. Apparently Finn and Nash were playing on the merry-go-round with several other kids. I guess Nash started slipping and Finn was trying to help keep him on but Nash ended up flying off the merry-go-round and hitting his head on a rock. Paul said before he knew it, all the kids were yelling in Spanish ‘so much blood coming out of his head’!  Another mom went and found an ambulance with an EMT that was parked on the street by the park. An armed EMT comes over and takes Nash into his ambulance van. He does a full assessment, makes sure he doesn’t have a concussion, cleans up his wound and lets us know it’s only superficial - not requiring stitches. Paul says this entire process takes about 10 minutes and when they finish up, Paul ask if he needs our insurance card or how do we pay the bill? The EMT looks strangely at Paul and says ‘no bill, free healthcare here!'  We were amazed! In the USA, it’s a 2-3 hour painful ER process that ends in a huge bill. Trust me, I’ve taken both boys to the ER back home recently and know first hand how long and expensive it is! I was gone for an hour and all this had happened and the boys were back taking a bath in the hotel room. I asked Paul, ‘why didn’t you call me’? He said, ‘I would have if it was a problem but he’s fine. There wasn’t anything you could do.’  Touché Paul, touche.

So all within 24 hours both boys are covered in mosquito bites, Nash got a jellyfish sting, had surf lessons, helped unload llama and alpacas and got a head laceration! We’ve had quite the experience! Finn and Nash are both champs! Although Finn has been complaining a ton about all the itching from his bites. Nash, on the other hand, has a massive whelp on his right hand, giant bites all over and not to mention the laceration on the side of his head, yet he has not complained once! 

School work at the hotel