Farewell Chile

20 february

Today we leave Chile.  We take a bus 2.5 hrs to Punta Natales, have a 3 hr layover, then take another bus, 6 hrs, across the Andes, back into Argentina.  We will stay in el Calafate for 8 days.

We were in Punta Arenas for 5 days.  Greta is currently asleep on my lap, half an hour outside Natales.

The wind here is the noticeable theme.  I had heard that, but as soon as we left the airport it sunk in.  We had to hold our papers tight so they didn’t blow away.  This morning we had to take an Uber from the house we’re staying in to the bus station.  We turned our car in yesterday because the rental car agency doesn’t open soon enough to return it today (our bus left at 8:30.). But the Uber is only meant to hold 4 people, and the driver modified it to fit 5, himself plus 4 more  (just barely).  So I walked from the house to the bus station, about 4 km, my eyes burning the entire time from the wind.  It is mid February here, Southern Hemisphere summer, and we are constantly in fleece with tearing eyes from the wind.  All the trees, everywhere you look, grow at an angle to whatever the prominent wind direction is.  

Arenas was such a lovely city.  The history all around us was pronounced.  Most of the buildings downtown are old, 1750 to early 1900 or so.   Beautiful architecture. Many things named after Magellan: streets, buildings, plaques, etc. Many restaurants and stores in tribute to Shackleton, or Darwin, or the Beagle, or even Sir Frances Drake. Hubs and I had to refresh our memories in the various explorers that came through here and their various accomplishments.  We did some history with the kids; turns out MJ didn’t yet know who Columbus was.  Clearly the history being taught has changed since we were kids.  We went to a museum with replicas of the HMS Beagle and the NAO Victoria (the only one of Magellan’s boats to complete the trip around the world.  Only 18 of his crew of 270 made it, and Magellan wasn’t one of them.). Also Shackleton’s modified life raft that he added a sail to and sailed across the Southern Ocean, clearly in desperate circumstances.

We visited a penguin colony (Magellanic penguins- just another of Magellan’s many name sakes.). The sounds they make startled me.  You’ll need to look at Instagram for that.  

We had planned another road trip onto Tierra del Fuego while we were here, but decided it would be miserable with the kids.  Since we have left the farm the level of fighting has gone up and the amount of listening has gone down.  They now have no other outlets than us and each other.   Patagonia with kids is a different ballgame than most of the travelers around us get to experience.  

Instead we did some day trips to nature reserves. The kids have become decent little hikers, walking up to a couple miles easily.  It has emboldened hubs and I that we can start to take them on longer journeys.

Our devotion to “school” has diminished a bit since leaving the farm.  I’m hoping we do better in Uruguay.

Tales

15 February

We arrived in Punta Arenas yesterday.  We had to wake up and leave the farm at about 6 AM, drive an hour to the airport, return the rental car and board a  plane.  We vastly over estimated how long that would take us to accomplish, because Chileans don’t really seem to get moving until about 10 AM. So even being in a big city, and a big airport, things didn’t really open until about 930.  

We have attempted to adapt to the Chilean time schedule, and have done pretty well. The kids now regularly sleep until 830 or 900 am.  We often don’t eat dinner until eight at night. We have even instituted the idea of a “siesta” instead of a “nap”, which the kids embrace fondly.  I suspect this is some language that will follow us home, because a siesta sounds much less threatening than a nap. The reasons for this are unclear to me.

At any rate, the siesta is strong here. Less so than our brief time in Argentina, but still strong. Shops are often closed in the late afternoon and do not open until five or six. Restaurants sometimes don’t open until eight at night for dinner.

Aaron and I have been reading “In Patagonia”.  Our friend loaned us the hard copy before we left, but we didn’t bring it because we just didn’t understand until we got here. So we bought the e-book. We have been going chapter by chapter, and I am enjoying the travel log style. Though it reminds me that there are some smaller taIes I have not yet shared here on this blog.  In no particular order:

1. A couple weeks ago, at the farm, Aaron was really wanting a haircut. One evening we went for dinner at a buffet style restaurant in Ensenada. I think we were actually part of the lunch crowd, because it was about 530, though we considered it dinner. Our server rushed over a little after we were seated, because he was told “there are gringos here”.  He spoke excellent English, so he must have been the go-to.  He apologized, saying he was in the middle of a haircut, because a hair stylist comes once a month from Puerto Varas to give all the staff haircuts. Aaron joked that he needs a haircut, so he understands, and our server suggested he go sit with the hairstylist as well.  So we ended our meal with the kids playing outside, while Aaron got a haircut in the corner. Of course our children ruined some of this by dumping sand in a pool they found outside. Nothing goes that smoothly.  Not to mention the dachshund that tried to bite our kids in he restaurant who th owner SWORE was 20 years old.
2. Our last week at the farm we met a lovely couple from Santiago. They had three children, roughly 11, 8 and 4.  They invited us for dinner twice in the week they were there.  They both spoke good English and endured our attempts at Spanish.  It was so wonderful to just chat with friendly people about this country we’ve spent the last 1.5 months in.  We could ask all our questions about the education system, health care, poverty, etc.  During our conversation, hubs figured out that the nickname he’d chosen for himself in Spanish class back in high school,Mongo, which he has occasionally used here because the locals find his given name difficult to pronounce, is basically a rude word for “slow one” in Spanish.  Gabi and Rodrigo, our Chilean friends, could barely speak they were laughing so hard while they explained this to us.  We also talked at great length about how odd we find each other’s dinner times, and when Rodrigo talked amazedly about a work trip to the US where there was a dinner held at 5:30, I may have blushed when confessing that would be my preferred time to eat, or even earlier.
3. I’m sure there are more small stories.  Such as when we asked MJ what the branches of the military are and she said “the Air Force,  the Army, the Military and the Life Guards.  I will endeavor to keep writing them down.

Farewell farm

13 February

We leave the farm tomorrow. Our last week has been somewhat sloth-like.  I think we both feel we have done the things in this area we really want to do, and are trying to enjoy our last days at the farm. The last few days the kids have been sick due to some jugos naturalas they had at a local festival.  We have been very relaxed lately with our consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables. I feel mostly lucky that it took us this long to get hit by anything. The kids had some juice, and the three of them got sick, but Madeline got the sickest. After a high fever and G.I. issues for a day, Aaron gave her an antibiotic. I felt very relieved to have him here and not have to take her to local doc.

I am excited to keep traveling, but the kids have loved it here so much and it has felt so much like home. Greta sobbed when she said goodbye to her friends today. MJ, of course, couldn’t quite understand. They feel things so differently.  

This farm has truly felt like home to us.  The kind of place I look forward to returning to at the end of the day, or even the weekend. Our kids have made wonderful friends here which has allowed us to relax in a  way we haven’t elsewhere. And they’re in a safe place where we can let them roam for most of the day without even knowing where they are.

3 February 

After over two weeks of the amazingness of farm life, we decided to take a brief trip elsewhere. We are in Chiloé, the most populated of Chile’s (something like) 4,000 islands.  We are staying in Ancud, on the north east coast of the island. We drove up Friday morning, took a ferry to the island, then drove to see the penguins. I was absurdly excited to see the penguins. Childlike excitement. They were cute, but it was the middle of the day, they weren’t fishing or doing very much. I was a bit underwhelmed. Aaron, who thought the whole thing sounded ridiculous, thought it was much better than he expected. Just goes to show that your enjoyment has so much to do with your initial expectations.  I guess I was more impressed by the cows on the beach, splashing in the ocean.

Ancud itself feels like many of the cities we have encountered in Chile. Too closely spaced, dirty and gritty.  I want to embrace the local culture, but the cities always feel much more impoverished than the countryside. Every Chilean city we’ve been to, I basically just want to go back to the countryside.  Today, though, we drove to Dalcahue. It was also a small city, but charming and clean. We drove there for an artisanal market. We had heard it was lovely, and it did not disappoint. Our travel book said the town was boring and sleepy, but I beg to differ. It was charming for sure, and didn’t feel impoverished.  I’ve come to find that our guidebooks equate any place that is not a gritty city with “sleepy”.  Makes me suspect that the authors did not have children. I love having them in a place where they’re not going to get hit by a car for stepping off the curb.

In general, though, Chile is so welcoming of small children and families. We have found a local bar near where we’re staying in Ancud, definitely a trendy hipster bar, with a small children’s play area. I am constantly worried our kids are bothering other people, but have had servers on many occasions tell us how charming they find our children.  Reminds me of my feelings on Central America, though the last time I was there was pre-kids, so I can’t really compare the two. I can’t help wondering if Catholic countries in general, a.k.a. anti-abortion countries, are inherently more child and family friendly (those of you who have also travelled with small children.... would be curious to hear your experiences.)

The house we’re staying at is fascinating.  We are high on a hillside overlooking the bay.. We watch the tide come and go, and the sun rise and the moon rise. But to get there, you turn off a super busy city street then go straight up the hill, switch back, for a quarter-mile. You would never know we’re in the middle of the city, we are in the weirdest, remotest, place.

Also, this is Teddy.

Teddy would like to share that he found part of a crab shell.

MJ recently died her hair purple (turned out more pink).  The locals seem to find it a bit perplexing.  They don’t pet her like they did before, but do point and stare.  Colored hair does not seem to be common here.  Or, at any rate, everyone’s hair is dark, so perhaps colored hair is harder to achieve.

Non sequiter:  when we first arrived on the island Aaron took us to an oyster place he had read about.  Unexpectedly, it was VERY fancy (but so accommodating for our young children, as appears to be the Chilean way.). I HATE oysters, but indulged him.  BUT, I LOVED these (fried) oysters.  The old man who owned the place explained the difference between these oysters and the oysters we are used to; I partially understood.  Basically, these were smaller, but very sweet, almost caramelized.

Although our side trip has been lovely, I am so excited to return to the farm tomorrow.  Our kids have been lost without their friends and the space to run.  They are basically cut loose for most of the day on the farm, which is so liberating for both them and us.  Our next stop is a plane ride south, much colder, and we accumulated some woolen goods at the artisanal market today.  

3 February

3 February 

After over two weeks of the amazingness of farm life, we decided to take a brief trip elsewhere. We are in Chiloé, the most populated of Chile’s (something like) 4,000 islands.  We are staying in Ancud, on the north east coast of the island. We drove up Friday morning, took a ferry to the island, then drove to see the penguins. I was absurdly excited to see the penguins. Childlike excitement. They were cute, but it was the middle of the day, they weren’t fishing or doing very much. I was a bit underwhelmed. Aaron, who thought the whole thing sounded ridiculous, thought it was much better than he expected. Just goes to show that your enjoyment has so much to do with your initial expectations.  I guess I was more impressed by the cows on the beach, splashing in the ocean.

Ancud itself feels like many of the cities we have encountered in Chile. Too closely spaced, dirty and gritty.  I want to embrace the local culture, but the cities always feel much more impoverished than the countryside. Every Chilean city we’ve been to, I basically just want to go back to the countryside.  Today, though, we drove to Dalcahue. It was also a small city, but charming and clean. We drove there for an artisanal market. We had heard it was lovely, and it did not disappoint. Our travel book said the town was boring and sleepy, but I beg to differ. It was charming for sure, and didn’t feel impoverished.  I’ve come to find that our guidebooks equate any place that is not a gritty city with “sleepy”.  Makes me suspect that the authors did not have children. I love having them in a place where they’re not going to get hit by a car for stepping off the curb.

In general, though, Chile is so welcoming of small children and families. We have found a local bar near where we’re staying in Ancud, definitely a trendy hipster bar, with a small children’s play area. I am constantly worried our kids are bothering other people, but have had servers on many occasions tell us how charming they find our children.  Reminds me of my feelings on Central America, though the last time I was there was pre-kids, so I can’t really compare the two. I can’t help wondering if Catholic countries in general, a.k.a. anti-abortion countries, are inherently more child and family friendly (those of you who have also travelled with small children.... would be curious to hear your experiences.)

The house we’re staying at is fascinating.  We are high on a hillside overlooking the bay.. We watch the tide come and go, and the sun rise and the moon rise. But to get there, you turn off a super busy city street then go straight up the hill, switch back, for a quarter-mile. You would never know we’re in the middle of the city, we are in the weirdest, remotest, place.

Also, this is Teddy.

Teddy would like to share that he found part of a crab shell.

MJ recently died her hair purple (turned out more pink).  The locals seem to find it a bit perplexing.  They don’t pet her like they did before, but do point and stare.  Colored hair does not seem to be common here.  Or, at any rate, everyone’s hair is dark, so perhaps colored hair is harder to achieve.

Non sequiter:  when we first arrived on the island Aaron took us to an oyster place he had read about.  Unexpectedly, it was VERY fancy (but so accommodating for our young children, as appears to be the Chilean way.). I HATE oysters, but indulged him.  BUT, I LOVED these (fried) oysters.  The old man who owned the place explained the difference between these oysters and the oysters we are used to; I partially understood.  Basically, these were smaller, but very sweet, almost caramelized.

Although our side trip has been lovely, I am so excited to return to the farm tomorrow.  Our kids have been lost without their friends and the space to run.  They are basically cut loose for most of the day on the farm, which is so liberating for both them and us.  Our next stop is a plane ride south, much colder, and we accumulated some woolen goods at the artisanal market today.