Archive for the Chile Category
Posted on February 22, 2012 by angela
The weather had been great for a few days, but was starting to turn on us. We jumped on the ferry to return to Chiloe Island and decided to drive towards the town of Castro.
Notable sites in Chiloe are the palafitos - houses on stilts. Normal from the front, stilted in back. Well, these aren’t as charming at low tide. They just look sort of sad… and stinky.
The town square, complete with historic church was nice, though. We drove around, accomplished a few errands and bought some potatoes at the market.
There are over 1000 varieties of potatoes in the world. You would never know it if you grew up in the US, where you are lucky to see more than a couple. U.S. potato cultivation is almost entirely based around supplying the fast food industry. Fun fact: 99% of the potatoes in the world share the same germplasm as the ones grown here in Chiloe. Basically, this is the birthplace of the potato.
More food facts from Castro… We went to lunch at a cafe on the square and realized, after months in Chile, that people here eat sandwiches with a knife and fork. Still, Jason insisted on eating his turkey sandwich with his hands, like a barbarian.
We headed south, and found a little cabana where we could finally unpack from our trip back to the U.S. and see about ferry crossings to the mainland.
More rain, then more rain, and then some more rain. Whenever there was a lull, all the local kids would make a break for the playground. Bode would grab a blanket and some books and head over to start a reading circle with some of the other kids. After a while, they would come knocking at our door asking for more books. Sorry, but none in Spanish, kids.
The ferry? One ferry per week. And, it was booked – way out.
Posted on February 21, 2012 by angela
At Dalucahue, we hopped a ferry to Isla Quinchao. No trouble – we just pulled right on-board and paid while en route. It’s a short ride and only a few bucks round-trip (save your receipt).
The island is chock full of churches on the UNESCO Heritage list. It was damp and cold, so we decided to open up the heater vent. At least a kilo (alot, anyway) of dust flew out of the vents and we were forced to open all the windows and clear the bus. Haven’t used those in a while.
We drove length of island – a couple of hours drive. We were told we’d be able to see the snow-packed peaks of Patagonia mainland from here, but due to the weather we could only see the salmon farms, a big island soccer match and lots of sheep.
We returned to the town of Curaco and found a campsite a block from the town square. It was basically someone’s back yard, but good enough.
The town square had wi-fi, so I was able make some Skype calls home while Bode scootered around and Jason made dinner. We were also about a block from the seashore. At low tide, the tide goes down 7 meters. It is so strange to see the beached boats. Even stranger to see the chickens and cats fighting for the dead fish that are left behind.
Posted on February 19, 2012 by angela
Our friends’ youngest daughter told Jason he was “wearing the hat of an old man.” I agreed – then she said I looked younger than him. I also agreed with that. She said he wasn’t really that old because he didn’t have a lot of ‘crinkles’. I love the stuff kids come up with.
The weather in Chiloe can go from beautiful to foggy and rainy daily, so we took advantage of the clear skies and finally left Ancud.
We drove through the small fishing village in Quemchi. Supposedly, it has the best restaurant in Chiloe, but we didn’t time that right, and there wasn’t enough there to keep us there until dinner.
We continued south along back roads to Tenaun and visited a waterfall located on some private land (about a dollar to go see it). As usual, there were some crazy swimmers, but we decided to stay dry. Probably more of a highlight was in a random field.
Chile has an elusive miniature deer species that lives in the forest. I’ve been keeping an eye out for them since Pucon. Today, a sole pudu bounded across an open meadow right near our car. Rare that we would see one, and even rarer that I could get so many photos (although, not so great). He was about the size of a medium dog. I was ecstatic we saw one. Jason says he was only moderately happy to see it. Bode says, “It would be better if it didn’t look like that. I didn’t even think it was one, at first.”
The day cleared up a bit, so we kept exploring. Just before the town of Dalcahue we noticed cars parked up and down the road and some sort of event . The beauty of not having any plans is that you can stop and see what all the fuss is about. As far as we could tell, it was just a huge fiesta, with a live band, 20 or so stalls selling beer, empanadas and curanto.
We did get to see curanto being prepared the proper way: in a hole. At first, we thought it was a pile of trash. Glad we saw it after we tried it.
We let Bode pick one of the kid activities. Bull riding it was. Although he’s a natural, I’m hoping he doesn’t take this up as a sport.
Posted on February 15, 2012 by angela
Britt had told his daughters a devastating story of a high school school project gone wrong. They were instructed to design a break-proof container for an egg that was launched off the school’s roof. He calculated, he built, he stuffed the egg into his ingenious concoction. It broke.
“Well, I guess that’s why I didn’t go to M.I.T.”
“What’s M.I.T, Dad?”
“It’s where all the winners of the egg-drop competition go to college.”
With an aerospace engineer in da house, the game was on. Jason collected the materials they could use from the garbage, got eggs from the hen house, and gave the instructions to the 6 who designed their egg-dropping vessels. There were 2 prizes. Obviously, if your egg didn’t break, you are a winner. A single award was to be given for best decoration.
The kids were jumping with anticipation while Britt climbed up the side of the house.
“Is this high enough?”
NO!!!!
Finally, he got to the roof of the second story. One at time, he chucked the egg containers down to the ground. Each landing had a distinctive thud which was followed by a look of worry on the creator’s face.
Slowly and painstakingly the tape, string, yogurt cups and other items were taken off. And then the creator had another look, pure excitement, as the egg was unwrapped intact. Except one egg, which happened to be in the container that was voted Best Decorated.
So, everyone was a winner (we already knew that though). Britt better start saving for his daughters’ M.I.T. college-fund.
Posted on February 14, 2012 by jason
So, the next time you build a house… don’t forget to include a secret room with a climbing wall. How cool would that be?
Posted on February 13, 2012 by angela
So, yeah.
My dad died January 23rd, and well, it sucked. There are a lot of emotions going on in my little head. I may write more about it another time, but I may not. I know that I was never any good when the parent of a friend died – I just didn’t know what to say. I still don’t. Many people know exactly what to say. Now, I know that saying something (even if you only know them virtually!) means a great deal. So, thanks to all for their kind thoughts!
After two weeks, it was time to return wherever-home-might-be. Transport back to Chile was fairly easy considering it lasted exactly 24 hours. So far, Bode has won the ‘sleeping awards’ each of our trips between continents. It’s a worthy contest – try it. Somehow, I tend to forget that he’s such a great traveler.
In the end, we landed back with Red Beard, on our new friends’ property just outside Ancud on the island of Chiloe, Chile.
Even though Bode has a newly acquired-Wii (that’s a long story), after a few hours he was able to forget about it completely. Climbing trees, tire swings and friends always wins out eventually. His new amigas had an amazing backyard playground. It’s the island.
Also, a correction. They only have 4 dogs. The crazy neighbors way uphill have 7 wild ones. A few weeks ago, they took down our friend’s female sheep. Apparently, one male sheep is not a good thing. He gets frustrated and butts them.
On a hike through their land, Bode was completely enchanted with dew. It did feel good, but I’m not sure they had to tromp through every bush containing it. Nonetheless, we came back reminded that our shoes are not very waterproof.
We watered and fertilized the green house plants, wandered the the cow’s pasture, and fed on some blackberries at the beach. They built their dream here exactly how they wanted it. They didn’t even have a road to the house until 4 years ago. They had to wait until low tide and drive on the beach to get home… with kids! When I heard that story I knew they were passionate folks.
They have a thriving tour business and burgeoning organic berry farm here. Sandra is an architect, and she designed their separate home, yoga studio, guest tower, and cabin. She and Britt also built a fancy yacht for high-end cruises around the Chiloe archipelago (it looks amazing!). They have great volunteers who run their yoga shala (where Bode joined the kids’ class a few weeks ago) who also made our stay here stellar. Figure out what you want and then go do it – seems simple, doesn’t it?!
We loved it here!
Posted on February 9, 2012 by jason
The day we were to drive north back to Puerto Montt to catch our flight to the U.S., serendipity called yet again.
Angela was packing the bus when someone walked up to her and asked about our California license plates. Sandra and Britt live and work here, and were taking their daughters to a yoga class next door. Of course, Bode signed up immediately and took off to work on his camel pose with the other kids.
Not only did Sandra offer to let us leave the bus on her farm while we were away, drove Angela around for errands, and organized our transportation to the the airport – she even has plans for us when we return. When we thanked her profusely for all her help, she only responded “we were meant to meet.” Incredible people turn up at the most incredible times.
We left Red Beard on their amazing property overlooking the ocean, guarded by 7 cute pups (uh, I mean perros bravos.)
That was two weeks ago. Today, we start the long journey back.
There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth…not going all the way, and not starting.
- Buddha
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