Tuesday, February 11

I got up around 10 this morning and ate breakfast with everyone (except Oscar and Javi who wake up extremely late every morning). Maxi, Eric, and I went out to buy sodas for lunch and to look around the town. We tried milcao, which is a traditional Chilote (a person from Chiloe) food that is like a potato latke filled with meat in the middle. Then we went into the center of town and saw the cute little green church and the museum of old tools.

It was really noticeable that we were in the south because all of the houses were made of wood to keep the heat in. It had the look of a cute western town in the US. While in the museum, Maxi went to the bathroom and met up with some Canadian tourists speaking English. He tried to talk to them and then brought them to meet me. We talked for a while about what we were all doing so far from home, and I was shocked by how difficult it was for me to speak in English. I kept thinking in Spanish and then having to translate the phrases into English. They told me how cute it was that Maxi called me his sister, and I told them it wasn’t untrue and that I really do feel like his sister. I change my clothes in the car in front of them and we can talk about whatever. I really feel like a part of the family now. We got back to the house just in time for lunch.

This time the salmon had a lot of bones in it and I found it almost not worth the trouble of searching each bite for bones. We then packed all 12 of us into the car built for 8 to go sightseeing in Dacahue.

We went to a historic church made completely out of wood and without a single nail. Then Javi, Oscar, Maxi and I walked along the beach for a while. We could see a bunch of salmon farms out in the water. When we got back to the house, we prepared dinner of completos. After dinner, Yeni, Fernanda, Nancy, Monse, and I played Lota and Karaoka for a while. Then Maxi, Javi, Oscar, and I stayed awake talking about drama in our lives until 5 in the morning. It was cool that we could talk about such heavy subjects and I could understand everything and not ruin the conversation by having to ask for explanations all the time.