Mission Advice for Santiago West

• Sister #1----
  
  

  
  

  **BAGS/LUGGAGE:
  --In my mission they gave us bags to use every day. I just brought three suitcases, a large, medium, and small one. Our bags we carried every day at first were just over one shoulder, and then they gave us other ones that were like backpacks with waist straps. I didn't waterproof it, we would just put grocery bags over our books and then put them in the bag haha.
  
   **BUGS:
  --Haha......bugs......there honestly were a lot of problems with fleas, and I had bed bugs in one area. They bite your legs like crazy sometimes! Haha but you just have to air out your apartment and spray lots of raid, and if you have bed bugs the mission will pay someone to fumigate your apartment.
  
  **WINTER CLOTHES:
  --Just bring lots of layers. I just had a bunch of sweaters and long sleeves shirts underneath. Sometimes I would wear two button up sweaters and then my big winter coat. I just got a long peacoat. It's good if it's at the knee or a little longer. I also brought a raincoat because in the winter it rains a lot there! And rubber rain boots. I would have died without those! I also brought some black leather, lined boots. I wore those every day in the winter when it want raining. They were perfect.
  --I also brought lots of scarves. They're funny, the little Hermanas will tell at you if you don't have a scarf to cover your nose an mouth in the winter haha!
  --I brought lots of thick tights and leggings, but they have these amazing thermal rights down there that are really thick and warm.
  --Bring some thick socks as well. Haha this sounds like so much stuff! I think that's about it for winter clothes.
  
  **SUMMER CLOTHES:
  --I honestly just lived in breezy summer skirts and like short sleeved button up shirts. It was way too hot to even wear an undershirt under things. It does get really hot there. I'm not sure how far south your mission goes, but where I was in Santiago it was very hot! But so fun! You get nice and tan! Chile is amazing, you will LOVE IT!!
  
  
  **MISC. INFO: (Shoes/Hygiene/Gaining weight)
  --I brought a little umbrella.
  --I just bought shoes in the comfort shoes section at Dillard's, and my mom had to send me about two or three new pairs throughout my mission.
  --Hygiene products aren't that expensive. I wouldn't waste space in my bag with things like that. They have them everywhere.
  --It's kind of humid, but mostly it's just hot because the hole in the ozone is right over chile, so the sun is super strong. You get sunburned really easily. I brought tons of sunscreen.
  --I just bought a hair dryer and straightener down there, I think all the Hermanas that brought a converter ended up with their things getting burned out.
  --I always had heating in all my apartments. Sometimes it gets cold in the winter, but they always had a bunch of blankets in all the apartments. My apt. was mostly in the city so we had pretty nice apartments. My last area was more in the country, so it was a little colder.
  --We never lived with members, I don't think they do that anymore in chile.
  --I gained a tiny bit of weight in my first area, I think just because your body has to get used to how much food they give you sometimes haha. I would just eat a little bit for breakfast, they'd give us a huge lunch, and then I wouldn't even be hungry till we got home at night. A lot of Hermanas did gain weight, but just try not to eat when you don't need to, you'll probably be walking a LOT during the day, an then always do your exercise in the morning.
  
  
  
  
  

  ·Sister #2----

  
  **CLOTHING:

  --First piece of advice is stick with your style. if you like pencil skirts, take straight skirts. if you like flowy skirts, take those. the fabric doesn't really matter, but make sure it's heavy enough that it won't blow in the wind. haha. cause it gets pretty windy down there.
  --Second is don't buy anything you're iffy about wearing. if you don't like it now, you'll hate it on your mission because you have such a limited wardrobe. trust me. haha.
  --Third, it gets really cold in the winter and really hot in the summer. so make sure you take stuff to layer, but also stuff that you can wear without a sweater over it. Cardigans were my best friend in the winter.
  --Also take lots of tights. there were days when i wore 3 pairs cause i wanted to be warm enough. haha. i liked the cotton tights best cause they were warmest.
  --Scarves and hats and gloves for sure. and i had a black wool pea coat, but i wish i would have had a different color. you're gonna be living in your coat, so get something you can wear with everything but that won't bore you. haha. the length doesn't really matter. mine was a normal length, and i was fine. i also had a rain coat, which was very needed. it rains a lot during the winter.
  --Last but not least, toms and sperrys are the best mission shoes. don't go buy the expensive ones that they tell you to. i hated them. the bottoms wore smooth and i would slip on stairs and wet concrete... plus they were uglier than crap and they made me taller than EVERYONE. haha. don't get all black shoes either. have some variety. like tan and navy blue and black or something. remember, you're going to be wearing these for 18 months and you don't get new ones. make sure you love them. haha.
  --I just had leather boots that i waterproofed and they worked great, plus they were way warmer than galoshes. i actually didn't have toms while i was down there, but one of my companions did and she loved having them. you can just get the inserts. pretty much everyone does that. haha. Rancagua is just south of where i was, so the weather should be almost exactly the same