Nunca Olvidar

Today is our last day in Santiago. We’ve done it all, ate it all and spent it all. The cupboards are bare, suitcases are full, and farewells have been said. I don’t think we’ve forgotten anything. It’s time to come home.

I’m ready to go, but not ready to say goodbye. I long for the mountains of Colorado, but don’t want to leave the Andes. I’m looking forward to the warmth of summer, but don’t want to pack away my new Chilean poncho. I anxiously await the company of good friends, but will miss being a stranger in a strange land.

Somehow, we’ve managed to fit everything into the suitcases we came with. It was challenging because I forgot about some of the souvenirs we bought. But I remembered I married an engineer who can make anything work. We thought about forgetting the girls, but then realized we really needed their luggage allotment, so they’ll be coming home too. (I hope they forget I ever said that).

So fire up the asado (BBQ), our flight leaves tonight. We promise to not bore you with endless stories or boring pictures. We want to hear about your year. I personally have no more words left. They’ve all been said, here in these pages, written down for our benefit so we remember even the small details that made our lives here so large.

It won’t be long now. We’ve left behind no time, money nor regrets. And we’ll never, ever, forget.














Jacqueline, Keith, Rebecca and Samantha Molenaar

When God created the world he had a handful of everything left - mountains, deserts, lakes, glaciers - and he put it all in his pocket. But there was a hole in this pocket you see, and as God walked across heaven it all trickled out, and the long trail it made on earth was Chile.
-Chilean Folklore