Sorry for the hiatus

Hi Everyone!

First of all I want to deeply apologize for not writing for so long! The blog was down because of some issue with my gmail account, and I didn't even realize until 2 days ago. Everything is fine, I am safe, no need to worry!

That being said, I have quite a bit of updating to do, but it's going to be more of a summation than usual since I have to go over the last 3 weeks or so.

So I just left the Puerto Montt area 2 days ago, where I had been staying at the Matias Doggenweiler farm. Altough I was there for almost 3 weeks, I really didn't work too much, but traveled quite a bit. I have come to realize that wwoof-ing in the winter is problematic becaus there just isn't that much to do. In Metri, near Puerto Montt, we planted Ajo (garlic), harvested Acelga (butter chard) and zapallo (squash), transplanted lettuces, and moved an invernadero (greenhouse). For 3 weeks, that ain't much. So Priscilla and I decided to take a weekend trip to the nearby island of Chiloé. Well that "weekend" turned into about 5 days due to the amazing landscape, food and people.

Our first night we decided to stay in Dalcahue because we had heard about an amazing fería (market of artesenals). We arrived shortly after dark to the quaint seaside town and wandered around looking for a hospedaje (hostel-style lodging operated out of someone's home, typically cheaper than a hostal). After several stops throughout the desolate town (tourism is not too popular during the icy winter), we found a decent price at a cozy home across the street from the fería. After showers and a 1.5 liter box of wine- the quality of boxed wine in Chile is much greater than in the U.S.- we decided to hit the town. We meandered about looking for a possible discoteque, although the woman at the market had told us that there was no such thing in such a small town. We tried our luck at a different market, asking ¿dónde está la fiesta? (where is the party?) The young woman informed us of a fiesta near the top of the hill in town. First we stumbled across somone's private birthday party- oops- but then saw people pouring into another building that looked like a recreation center. Upon entering the Club Rodeo, we were pleased to find people dancing in pairs to music strikingly similar to traditional mexican music. We were also accosted by many middle-aged men trying to lure us over to their tables with promises of Piscolas (Pisco and Coke). We quickly made our way to the bar and befriended the bar tenders who were much more diplomatic, and of course obligated to remain behind the bar. Still, we were pretty much asked to dance every 45 seconds. We obliged only 2 sets of men, and then spent the rest of the evening dancing with each other. Fun, but overwhelming! I suppose the pueblo of Dalcahue wasn't prepared for an intrusion of foreigners in their party!

Priscilla and I were able to hitchhike throughout the island, and ended up gaining an amazing new friend, John Bayron Francisco. John has lived in Dalcahue, Chiloé for about 4 years and scuba dives professionally for a seafood company. We were on a bus from Achao (on the island of Quinchao) back to Dalcahue, and we accidentally got off the bus in Curaco... because I thought that's where the port was to return to Dalcahue. Error. No problem, except neither of us wanted to pay the bus toll again. So, we decided to try our luck with hitchhiking. Within 5 minutes a suburban-type vehicle pulled up with a group of guys obviously returning home from work. For all of you at home wringing your hands right now, there is something you must understand about Chiloé: not only does everybody hitchhike, there is simply a strong community amongst Chilotes (residents of Chiloé). Plus both Priscilla and I both planned possible escape routes in our minds as soon as we boarded a vehicle. That being said, off we were to Dalcahue with the gentleman in the furgón (van). Within 5 minutes of conversation we realized that these Chilotes were kind, genuine, hard working caballeros. We had planned to head to Castro that evening to take care of administrative needs, but our plans were usurped by good times with new friends. John Bayron was among the group, and ended up letting us sleep in his daughter's room at his very clean and always warm house. The next day he went to work while Priscilla and I enjoyed a pleasant, relaxing morning drinking coffee in a house warm enough to remove our chalecos (sweaters). (Matias doesn't typically keep his house very warm, and the wwoof-er house on his farm was always colder inside than out. Needless to say it had been a pretty frigid experience thus far.)

The other reason we stayed so long in Dalcahue was the cocinería. Basically it's a large building that looks like a boat, with portholes for windows, right on the water. Inside it is full of free-standing, large kitchens. Each kitchen is a different "restaurant" offering a series of typical local food, for example: cazuela, a soup consisting of a large piece of either steak or chicken on the bone, with a chunk of corn on the cob, potatoes, other miscellanous vegetables, and seasoning; fresh salmon with rice; paila marina, a soup of literally just shellfish (not my favorite); and...curanto, a plate piled high with various types of shellfish, a chunk of chicharron (pork), half a longaniza (linguica-?), milcao (potato patty), and chapalele (a patty of potatoes and wheat, with pork in the middle. Curanto is probably one of my favorite dishes in Chile, altough I am not a huge fan of shellfish, the choritos (baby mussels), and almejas were so fresh that it was impossible not to like. Priscilla and I both love food, and trying new foods, so we had to spend at least a few days just to eat!

I am running out of time to write, but the long and the short of it is that we eventually returned to Metri to work a bit, and welcome a new wwoofer- Daniela from Santa Cruz, CA (who also lived in Nevada County for awhile). At this point we befriended a neighbor of Matias, Andrés, who lives in the nearby pueblo of Quillaipe. With Andrés and another friend, Marcelo, we embarked on homemade food adventures such as choritos empanadas and chivo (goat). All of it new and delicious. Before heading out of town we made another trip to Chiloé to visit John and head down to Cucao to see the Parque Nacional de Chiloé- a beautiful coastal rainforest with pristine lakes and lots of greenery.

Currently we are in Valdivia where we experienced the night life at a discoteque 2 nights ago, and attended a demonstration today, fighting against the building of a new dam in Patagonia. Very exciting! We have moved to a new farm run by an expat from Ohio. Again, there is not much to do, so I don't think we will stay very long. Priscilla has to return to Santiago soon to fly to Egypt with her family, and I want to see Francisco play in his band in Santiago on May 3- then thinking of heading north to a wwoof farm in the desert. After that, possibly off to Ecuador to try out some other volunteer work and meet up with Ramon!!! I will try to keep you all posted as much as possible! I am strangely now having to think about my trip home, and VERY excited about it! Love you all!!!