Email received October 7, 2014

Coca Cola wouldn't be a thing if South America wasn't a thing….

 ​Hey guys! This week was pretty laid back, but by no means did we relax. First I'll address the subject of this email. I honestly believe that if South America didn't exist, the Coca Cola company would not be in business. The Chileans (I don't know about the rest of the South Americans) drink SO MUCH soda. It's crazy. Earlier this week we walked way out to this poblacion called Callejones, and we asked this house very clearly for some water, and they came out with ​two glasses of soda. And that happens every day. They have soda with every meal, whenever they're thirsty, and whenever they feel like it. These big soda trucks are always driving around to restock the little almacens and soda stores. Not joking. There are whole stores dedicated to soda.

     So today we went to Pichilemu as a zone, which was awesome. We rented out this guy and his bus, luckily he was a bus driver as well, and he took all of us over to Pichilemu. It's this gorgeous beach that they have world surfing competitions at. In the summer, which is fast approaching here on the other side of the equator, they get massive waves, and it's a big touristy area. But today there weren't hardly any people out, so we had the whole beach to ourselves. We went to this thing called Punto Lobos, which means wolf point, and I have no idea why it's called what it's called, but it was awesome. When we got there this morning, it was pretty cold, but it warmed up pretty soon, and we played frisbee, and football, and of course futbol, and it was super fun. And believe it or not, I actually put on a sufficient amount of sunscreen enough times throughout the day that I didn't get sunburnt! It was aweosme. 

     So everything in Chile is smaller. And I was totally expecting that. But I didn't expect the actual stairs to be smaller. I have had a problem ever since I got here of falling down the stairs almost every time I go down. My massive feet don't actually fit on the dang stairs, so I go down with as much foot as possible on each stair, but that's abviously not enough. I've gotten really good at falling though, but that's about the only good thing that's going to come out of the stair size here in Chile. 

     Later this week I will have been in Chile of a month. On the 9th. Time has flown by here, and I can hardly believe that I'm 4 weeks into my first cambio! (they each last 6 weeks) It seems like each week goes by faster and faster. 

     Well, thanks for wanting to know what's going on with my life! ANd thanks to everyone who writes back!

     Love,

          Elder Hamilton

Here's a picture of me at Punto Lobos. It's those two bigs rocks way behind me. 

And here's another picture of the beachiness of Pichilemu.