Monday, February 10

Today I got up and took a shower (finally the water was back). We took down and packed up all the mattresses, sleeping bags, blankets, and tents and loaded up the car.

Then we ate breakfast and started the drive to Osorno. In Osorno, we walked first to a huge and gorgeous church, and then into the nearby plaza with dancing fountains in the middle.

There was a big statue of a bull in the middle because Osorno is famous for its meat.

Then we walked through the center of town to the town hall building and the feria that was next to it. I bought a book called Elegi Vivir, which is about a teenage Chilean who fell through a hole in a moving train and had all 4 of her limbs cut off. She was treated and went through all of her recovery in Rancagua, so I was excited to read about it. Then we went to a really nice restaurant called Club Aleman for lunch. I ordered nothing but a salad, and they all thought that was really weird. Here in Chile, a lunch has to consist of salad, meat, a soft drink or juice (can’t drink water like I always do), and a dessert. But they let me do what I wanted anyway. After Osorno, we drove to Puerto Montt, which is a large and famous port city. We walked along the boardwalk and through a huge feria, where I bought some socks made of sheep wool and the obligatory postcard and key chain. Then we went over to a fish market and bought Puerto Montt’s most famous product—salmon ahumado (smoked salmon).

Then we drove up to the edge of the ocean and took a ferry over to the island of Chiloe. It was my first experience in a ferry with a car, and it was awesome. We were able to get out of the car and go up to the second deck to look around right was the sun was setting over the water.

After the ferry ride, we had to drive almost 2 hours more to get to the other side of Chiloe to a town called Curaco de Velez. A friend of my grandmother lives there, and although she doesn’t know any of us except Nancy, whom she only met once, we called her and she didn’t hesitate to open her house to us. That hospitality and openness is something I really love about Chileans. We ate dinner while getting to know Tia Julia, and then her kids, Oscar (16), Javi (15), Yeni (25), and Fernanda (20) invited us to go into the town to a festival that was going on in the school gym. Yes, it was that kind of small town where everyone gets together in the high school gym. Maxi, Monse, and I all went and danced for a while.

It was the first time I’d seen Maxi dance, let alone danced with him, and although we’re both absolutely horrible dancers, we had fun together. We got back to the house around 2, and after talking for a little while, I excused myself to go to sleep.