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.