Hola from Chiloe!

Hi First Graders,

On Saturday we took a long ride down south to the place where Chile becomes a lot of little islands. We are on the first one, called Chiloe. Say CHILL-OH-WAY.

When we got off of the bus, we had to take a ferry boat. The back of the boat opens up, and the cars drive right on.

We crossed the water, and arrived on the island. The first thing we did was drive around to see as much as we could. There are lots of beaches. This one was pretty empty of people, but had a LOT of shells.

 

These are clam shells as far as the eye can see.

 

The houses by the water are built on stilts to hold them up high. Why do you think the people made them this way?

These stilt houses are called palafitos. Say PAH-LAH-FEE-TOES.

That's right. The houses will stay safe and dry if the water rises. Storms might come and make big waves in the water, but the houses won't flood.

 

 

Where does your family buy food? Aldi? Food Lion? Wal-Mart? We have lots of supermarkets. The cities here do too. But Chiloe is a very rural place. People here buy food and many other things at outdoor markets. The farmers were selling carrots, potatoes, onions, greens, and apples. We bought some apples to take along as snacks.

 

 We had to pay with Chilean pesos. That is the money that is used here. This is what it looks like. The coins in my hand are one peso. They are very small coins, and not round. They have an octagon shape. That has 8 sides, like a stop sign. The other coins are 10 pesos, 50 pesos, and 100 pesos. The bill is 2,000 pesos.

 

These ladies were knitting, and selling the hats and sweaters that they made at the outdoor market.
It was very cool, so they sold a lot of them. It is late fall here. Winter is about to start. Do you know that the seasons are the opposite down here under the Equator?

 

 

After the market, we drove around some more We passed a farm and saw an ox cart at work, hauling things for the farmer. What might do the same job on an American farm?

                                     

                                  That's right. Trucks move big heavy things on farms here.

I love to travel and see the many different ways that people live in other places around the world.
They might speak other languages. They might use ferries instead of bridges. They might not build their homes in the same way that we do. They might use different money or shop outdoors, or use animals to help them work, but people everywhere find ways to make good lives. We may do things differently, but in many ways, we are all the same.

This is my last time to write to you, because school is ending very soon. Have a good summer. Stay safe, and have fun.

Adios!
Your friend,
Flat Stanley