Bienvenido Pearl!

Saturday, February 14

Pearl arrived this morning from Santiago after an overnight bus ride. She is a good friend of both me and Lily from Harvard. She has spent the past couple of months shadowing doctors in Santiago and now will be doing a stint in southern Chile to get a more rural medical experience. We cleaned the apartment in anticipation of her arrival and setup the futon bed in the living room.

When she arrived we grabbed some lunch at Da’Alessandro’s Express down the street and had a picnic on the beach. The empanadas were average, but this was some of the better pizza I have had since being in Puerto Varas. The empanadas were average, but this was some of the better pizza I have had since being in Puerto Varas. I brought my new fishing rod to test it out on the lake. After some minor assembly mishaps and tangled line I began casting away. I didn’t catch anything, but I loved it. For some reason there is something about fishing that really excites me. To make the experience even better, Lily took some casts and looked like a pro. Her form and technique was awesome and it was good to see that we can have another outdoor sport to share.

In the afternoon we met Pearl’s doctor mentor named Pato Guerra (aka Dr. War). He took us on a quick tour of Puerot Varas in his car and then we stopped in town to enjoy a drink overlooking the lake. He was extremely kind, and Pearl seemed really excited about her time working down here. We parted ways with Dr. War, and made our way over to the supermarket to restock our kitchen in the apartment. We pulled out all the stops and cooked a delicious steak dinner and grilled zucchini dinner to welcome Pearl. I can’t get over how good the steaks taste with a little seasoning of merken. It can’t be beat.

Chile Trivia: Ojos de Salado is the highest mountain in Chile

Valentine’s Day

Friday, February 13

I hopped in Nati’s red Toyota pick-up with Lily and we drove to Frutillar to check out an entrepreneur products fair. I love Nati’s truck. It looks just like the truck Marty McFly got at the end of Back to Future only red. Also, the Toyota truck model down here is called the Hilux instead of the Tundra or Tacoma. Anyway, at the fair we saw a little bit of everything, but most products were homegrown and homemade items like honey products, marmalades, meats, veggies, & wines. One interesting product was sod that grows without soil as the roots intertwine to produce a connective mat along the bottom. The purpose of this sod is to place it in areas where grass can’t grow like on concrete & indoors for parties and things. It is quite amazing, but also a weird concept, like why would you need grass in your house?

After a quick lunch, I rode my bike back to the apartment, but first I snipped a rose from one of the many rose bushes lining the streets of Puerto Varas. I’m pretty sure it’s not allowed, but they were perfect for Lily’s Valentine’s present. They were 3 pink roses off of a single stem. I got home and immediately got to work on the card. I bought all kinds of construction paper & red see through wrapping and put together a very nice card if I do say so myself. Inside I wrote a little note on one side and a poem on the other.

While I was making the card I experienced one of the scarier moments in my life when an older man unlocked the door and walked into the apartment. I thought it was Lily and had glue and construction paper everywhere & didn’t want her to see her gift prematurely, so as the door swung open I was yelling, “Don’t come in, don’t come in.” An old man entered and was just as shocked at my presence as I was at his entrance, so he quickly shut the door and rang the doorbell. I was mortified, but went and answered the door only to find out that he was a broker and was showing the apartment to a prospective renter. Lily and I had just informed the landlord that we would be moving out in April because the rent was too expensive and apparently he already put the apartment on the market. Now that I had scared the crap out of both men and most likely ended the possible sale of the apartment they did a quick tour and scurried out….how bizarre.

Lily came home a few hours later, and we made our first batch of homemade pisco sours. We had a martini shaker in the apartment and the drinks came out perfectly with a little meringue foam on top. After the drinks we got changed and headed to A Fuego Lento for our Valentine’s meal. The restaurant was amazing and very reasonably priced. It was buffet style with high quality food and great service. Unfortunately, we were so excited about the all-you-can-eat that we both over-stuffed ourselves. Luckily, the restaurant is next door to our apartment so the walk home wasn’t bad. At home I set up Lily’s gift on the bed with a plate of chocolates and hearts along with her card and the flowers. She loved it. And for me she gave the most thoughtful gift ever. A fishing rod! I have been wanting to go fishing down here, and had even been invited by many friends, but couldn’t go because I didn’t have a rod. Lily fixed that problem with the best Valentine’s gift…a fishing rod with love.

Chile Trivia: Pichilemu, CL is internationally known for it’s waves and surfers from all around the world flock to its beach Punta de Lobos.

Imperial 605

Thursday, February 12

Woooooohooooo! Torres del Paine is official. Lily and I bought the tickets today after booking yesterday. We had to collect passport numbers so that we could buy the tickets for Daniel and Pearl. This trip is going to be so much fun, and a true outdoor expedition. I have never been hiking/camping before, and I’m breaking the ice at one of the most famous hiking destinations in the world. Nothing like setting the bar high.

With so many projects going on, Valentine’s Day kind of snuck up on both Lily and me. We decided on celebrating Valentine’s on Friday instead of Saturday because Pearl would be arriving on Saturday, and this would give us a little more alone time. So on my way home I stopped in the supermarket to pick up supplies for my Valentine’s day gift. My plans were simple with an emphasis on a personal touch, so all of my efforts were put into making a Valentine’s card. More to come on this tomorrow.

Tonight was a bit out of the ordinary. We ate out at a restaurant up the street from our apartment called Imperial 605. They were having a special sandwich & cerveza night, so Lily and I decided to take advantage. The restaurant was empty when we arrived, which explained why the owner was running a special food and drink night. Despite the lack of activity the food was very good, and the beer selection was the best I have seen in Chile. Also, the servers were great and they were able to secure a beer bottle cap that I had yet to add to my collection. I am up to about 7 new Chilean beer caps to add to my collection at home. Unfortunately, most of the beer caps down here are plain gold caps with no logos or anything.

We made a dash for the apartment due to the rain that started to fall when we left the restaurant. Jaime greeted us at the door, who I thought would be ready for his third lesson, but instead had to cancel as his duties as doorman required his full attention tonight. So we postponed the lesson for Monday and Lily and I took advantage with an early bed time.

Chile Trivia: Easter Island is also known as Rapa Nui

Work Begins

Wednesday, February 11

Jimmy and I had our second meeting regarding development of the magazine. We went into some more details about how to gain readership & advertising revenues. I met his friend, Manuel, who is the director of marketing. We postulated some ideas before laying out concrete next steps on my end. I am charged with development of the business plan, and with Jimmy’s help will hopefully be able to put together a document that highlights the strengths of the magazine while detailing the financial outlook and costs to be incurred. Hopefully, this project in addition to the work already done on Patagon Journal will provide incentive to financiers to give money and business to buy advertising space. If nothing less it will be a great learning experience.

After the meeting I met with Lily to schedule an additional English lesson with her friend Felipe. We met him at the birthday asado a couple of days ago when he approached us for English lessons. Our English tutoring business seems to be growing…hopefully we can get the discussion group concept off the ground.

Later we made our way into el centro to book our flights for Torres del Paine. Our team for the trip had grown to 4 with the additions of my brother and our friend Pearl from Harvard. Pearl had been working in hospitals in Santiago for the past couple of months and is coming down to live with us for a couple of weeks to gain some medical experience in a less urban setting. We are very excited for her arrival and couldn’t be happier that she will be joining us in Torres del Paine.

After a quick empanada dinner I made my way to the front desk in our apartment building to start my second lesson with Jaime. The lesson went well, but I feel like we are spending too much time on pronounciation than on practicing the vocab & verbs. It will be something I can monitor over the next couple of weeks, but I think it’s important to stress proper pronunciation in the beginning.

During our lesson, Lily was making a panqueque cake with layers of manjar between the panqueques. It was partly an experiement, but turned into an excellent congratulations gift for her co-worker Nati who just found out she is pregnant with her fourth child. People down here are always preganant and have so many babies….it’s incredible. With the extra panqueques Lily brought apples with manjar rolled up in the panqueque as a snack for me and Jaime. What a treat! Lily is turning into quite an accomplished chef in the kitchen.

Chile Trivia: Puerto Williams is the southern most city in the world.

Keeping the Ball Rolling

Tuesday, February 10

I know I have reported on this a million times already, but my brother booked his ticket from Boston to Santiago today and is officially making the trip down to Puerto Varas. I couldn’t be more excited about this news.

After a day of following-up on yesterday’s meetings, Lily and I met her friend Natalia for a beer at her office. Natalia is 28 and runs an event planning business. Her office is directly above a restaurant on the lake shore and we sat enjoying the sunset over some beers. We met her friend Rodrigo and discussed the endless possibilities for business and entrepreneurial ventures in Chile. We set up plans to start and English conversation group to be held during the week at Rodrigo’s restaurant in the city center. It will be a great way for us to make some extra cash and teach English in a comfortable setting. I can see this being a great side project. We also discussed the endless untapped potential with the lake & watersports, as well as the lack of tourist infrastructure. These are all things to think about and hopefully capitalize on during my time down here.

We walked home as the sun was setting to prepare a meal of sausage, peppers, and onions Fenway Park style. They turned out perfectly, and we both went to bed with visions of opportunity in Chile.

Chile Trivia: Because the thickness of the ozone layer increases and decreases steadily, Punta Arenas operates on a light system in which a red light indicates almost no ozone protection, an orange light indicating a dangerously thin ozone layer, a yellow light indicating when the ozone is thinner than normal, and a green light indicating normal ozone protection.

Professional Progress

Monday, February 9

Monday was packed with potential. I began with a meeting at the Tompkins House to offer my services for Parque Pumalin. The woman Lily and I met with was extremely nice. We spoke a bit about the park and my background as well as my willingness to help and take on a new project. She seemed very receptive and I am optimistic in hearing from her soon. There are so many possibilities with Parque Pumalin including land conservation in the park itself (a couple hours south of Puerto Varas), the capital campaign in raising funds for the park, as well as their all-natural merchandising business.

Next Lily and I made our way to el centro to meet with Jimmy Langman, the founder of Patagon Journal. We met him at Café Barrista over coffee and discussed his planned publication of a new magazine centered on life in Patagonia. This project is extremely interesting as this magazine intends to offer a greater variety of coverage for Patagonian & environmental enthusiasts. Also the magazine is scheduled to be offered in both English and Spanish, which is not yet offered by any magazine in this area. We spoke about ideas for the magazine and Jimmy asked about our thoughts on his plans and intentions. Everything sounded very promising and I ended by offering my services to help him prepare a business plan for the magazine to aid his effort in procuring financing for the project. This project will be a great use of my time and a great learning experience, and hopefully I can help them get the magazine off the ground and become the next big publication in Patagonia and abroad.

Unfortunately, our meeting ended on the worst note possible as Jimmy’s $2000 Nikon camera was stolen while we were having our meeting. He left his camera under his chair and somehow someone grabbed it while we were distracted during the meeting. None of us could believe what had happened as we were tucked away in a corner inside a café. It was so bizarre and disheartening, and of course Jimmy was crushed because high quality photography was such a huge part of the magazine. He had been financing the whole project himself, and providing much of the initial photography, and now the instrument responsible for the initial blossoming of the magazine was stolen. It was a huge financial loss for Jimmy and a devastating setback for the magazine. I hope this doesn’t destroy my promising involvement in the magazine.

The night ended with my first English lesson with our doorman Jaime. He was so excited to learn and I was so excited to teach. His motivation to learn was quite noble as he plans to work with people in English at a local drug rehab center. Much of the first lesson was spent with very introductory words with extra emphasis on pronunciation. Learning how to properly pronounce English words for a native Spanish speaker can be quite difficult and I knew it would be a challenge for Jaime. However, he is giving his best effort and is very motivated to learn…both good things!

Chile Trivia: The Atacama Desert, located in northern Chile is only the 18th largest desert in the world, but is the world’s driest desert.

A Day in the Life with Leon’s/Happy Birthday Mum

Sunday, February 8

Lily and I met Nati and her family at Dane’s for an empanada lunch. I spoke with her husband who is a very interesting guy. He works in the salmon industry down here, and is extremely athletic and active. We spoke about sailing and cycling and before we knew it they invited us for an afternoon bike ride with their family to Llanquihue (one town north on the west side of the lake). We obliged and hit the dirt paths that followed the lake shore. The bike ride was absolutely beautiful and great exercise as their whole family is obsessed with athletic activity (my kind of people). Even their 4-year old riding with training wheels was keeping as we rode for almost 1 hour.

We made a pit-stop in Llanquihue to for helados (ice cream) before making the return leg to Puerto Varas. The kids were great fun going off jumps and over curbs while we hung back with Nati and Martin to converse some more about our time in Chile. Everyone keeps telling Lily and I to stay, but I don’t think they comprehend how far Chile is from the northern US. A move like that is not in my decision-making abilities, but it is nice to know that Lily has made such a huge impact down here.

We returned home and all I wanted was a nap…shocking. We threw together a quick meal of hot dogs Chilean style with palta & tomatoes, before I got on the computer to wish Mum a happy birthday. I wish I was there to celebrate with everyone, but it was good to be able to catch up with her and give her birthday wishes live over the internet. It’s hard not to feel homesick on days like this. But, I couldn’t be more excited for tomorrow and all of the meetings I have scheduled. It would be great to have some solid projects to concentrate on during the day.

Chile Trivia: Due to the lack of consistent ozone protection in Punta Arenas, CL, it’s inhabitants are 3 times more likely to get skin cancer

Asado de Compleaños

Saturday, February 7

Lily and I hopped on our bikes and hit the road along the lake heading north to Playa Hermosa. We were on our way to my first “all-day” asado that was being held as a birthday celebration for Lily’s friend Sebastian. Our 30 minute bike ride was the perfect wake-up call to prepare us for the party festivities. The sunny was shining brightly and a cool breeze played with the wheat fields as we sped by. The weather couldn’t have been better.

Playa Hermosa was beautiful. The beach was situated on a small cove tucked into the forest surrounding the lake. Directly behind the beach was a large camp ground with BBQ pits and picnic tables and our friends set up the asado directly overlooking the beach revelers. We started with drinks of Pisco sours, Piscolas, wine, and beer and I got to know this new group of Chilean friends with whom Lily had gotten to know over the past 6 months. No surprises, they were extremely nice, well traveled, some spoke English, but I also got to practice some Spanish.

For the meal we started with a yogurt & veggie cake on layers of panqueque. It looked weird but was scrumtrelescent. Very light, but packed with taste…a great antipasto. Soon the antecucho’s were unveiled. Antecucho is the Chilean version of shish-kabobs. They are extremely popular down here and they are amazing. The meat is such good quality and the antecucho is a great way to enjoy grilled meats without the mess of having to use plates & utencils.

Before I knew it, we had been there for 7 hours and I probably crushed about 8 antecuchos not to mention the endless supply of drinks. The sun was starting to set and Lily and I still had a long bike ride home, so we said hour good byes and made our way back to Puerto Varas.

Upon arriving home we remember the Kuchen Fest in town! We continued into the town center and caught the last bit of the festivities, but missed the all important offerings of Kuchen. The dessert dishes in Chile are outstanding and omnipresent and Kuchen is right at the top of the list for both me and Lily. Luckily we found a local vendor who hadn’t closed up shop yet, and enjoyed a slice of Kuchen together in one of the public parks. Nothing beats Kuchen under a full moon with my Lily.

Chile Trivia: 80% of Chile is covered by mountainous terrain

Jobs on the Horizon

Friday, February 6

I spent much of the day organizing my professional situation in Chile. Since I had little to build off of, I had no where to go but up. I had been making many contacts throughout my first couple of weeks here through all of the friends and contacts of Lily. We knew people from a variety of backgrounds who were working in every business imaginable. So today I began managing the contacts and making progress with a number of possible projects.

First, down the street from Lily’s office is the Tompkins House which is the managing headquarters for Parque Pumalin. Parque Pumalin is a huge national park land reserve in southern Chile Patagonia that was started by and American named Doug Tomkins. He bought large pieces of land to prevent development in Patagonia and eventually was able to connect all of the purchased land and make it into a nationally recognized land preserve and conservation park. This seemed like a great place to which I could offer my services because it overlapped both with my studies at Harvard in anthropology and with my professional experience in business development. Lily and I set up a time to meet with the director of the office on Monday, and I had begun my march towards gaining professional experience in Chile. While this was no guarantee by any means it was at least a step in the right direction.

I continued the momentum from Parque Pumalin into the scheduling of another meeting on Monday with a man named Jimmy Langman. Jimmy is correspondent and journalist for Newsweek in South America who had begun plans to start a magazine dedicated to Patagonia. I met Jimmy at the Superbowl party hosted by my new Canadian friend Russ. The purpose of the meeting on Monday was to discuss my possible involvement with the development of the magazine and getting the project up off the ground. Jimmy was interested in my experience in business development with the Patriots and wanted to learn more about it to see how I could be used as an asset for his magazine. 2 possibilities knocked off in one day….not bad.

In addition to the two meetings I had scheduled for Monday, I had also scheduled my first English lesson with one of our doormen Jaime. Monday will be an action packed day. It has a lot of promise, and hopefully I can capitalize on the potential.

In the evening, Lily and I took a stroll through Parque Phillippi, which is located just up the road from her office. Parque Phillippi is a small wildlife park in Puerto Varas where the large crucifix over-looking the city is located. It was about a 30 minute walk through the park to the top of the hill, and the views of the city below were breathtaking. We had a crystal clear day and could see everything. After snapping some pictures, we made our way down on a different path and found the most spectacular view of Volcan Osorno through the thick brush and trees. I know I talk about how remarkable the scenery is in just about every entry on my blog, but in all honesty this place never ceases to amaze me. Every day we find a new vantage point and a new natural landmark that seems more amazing than the last.

As we made our way home we got a call from our friends Russ and Karem, who invited us to an asado at their house for dinner. We met some of their friends who were in town for a perma-culture class. Perma-culture, I learned, is a self-sustaining lifestyle in which all aspects of these people’s lives revolves around making, growing, and recycling all of the materials they need/use. It’s a little hippy for me, but they have great intentions and do good things for the earth.

Running Around

Thursday, February 5

It was about time to start sending postcards. Lily and I rode our bikes into the city and grabbed a number of postcards from our destinations over the past couple of weeks. While at the tourist information center we also did some research for this upcoming weekend. We settled on a day hike in Petrohue on Sunday to start training for Torres del Paine, a huge national park in southern Patagonia that involves a 4 day hike though some of the most beautiful terrain in the world. And now since my brother will be visiting hopefully he can make it down in time for hiking journey in the south.

We returned home and felt a little sluggish, so we laced up our sneakers and went for a run to Ensenada (the next town north along Llanquihue Lago). It was nice to run with someone else…not as boring. We got home just before some evening showers and found that the restaurant they were building directly next to our apartment was now opening. While studying Spanish in the apartment over the past couple of weeks I have been watching this construction crew go at the renovations on the house next door in preparation for the restaurant. The speed at which they went about renovating this house was sluggish to say the least. One afternoon it took the six hours to shingle and area of the wall no bigger than 8 sq. ft. Somehow, they pulled it all together and go the job done way before Lily and I thought it would ever be finished. The good news is now we have a new restaurant to try right next door.

We threw some steaks on the grill for dinner and Lily made a corn salad on the side. We seasoned the steaks with merken tonight and they were delish. Earlier in the evening before our run we stopped in a market and I found stracciatella ice cream. I haven’t see this type of chocolate chip ice cream since I was in Italy. Obviously I bought a carton and we dug in after dinner. With a glass of ice cream and my computer we sat in bed watching Lost. Awesome!

Day of Rain

Wednesday, February 4

Today was a miserable day of weather. It was extremely wind and pouring rain all day. Lily made her way home for lunch while there was a break in the rain. We threw together some sandwiches, and now that we had internet at home we could avoid the poor weather and work from home. On the bright side the rain was badly needed as many of the fires were getting out of hand.

For dinner Lily wanted to try a new recipe so we prepared some chicken breasts and she put together a delicious meal. Chicken in a white wine sauce with diced tomatoes and onions. Chef Lily won the night. It was definitely a success and it was a great way to back on the cooking track after last night’s disaster. Our lazy day ended with an early bed time and a major success with LOST. I found a website where I could watch the episodes for free called surfthechannel.com. I was back on track and started catching up on Lost ASAP.

Living the High Life…Internet!

Tuesday, February 3

Today was huge. After a week of jumping through hoops and waiting, we were finally going to get internet installed in our apartment. Lily came home from work around 3pm in anticipation of the installation that was scheduled for 3:30pm. 3:30 came and went as we sat waiting. Finally we got a call from the installation-man who said he would be arriving at 4:30pm with a verbal reminder that we were in Chile and not the US….which basically meant who knows when he’ll actually show. He came to the apartment around 5:30 and messed around with one of our phone jacks for 10 minutes before saying he needed to go turn on the phone jack. Lily and I thought he meant in the apartment building, but he was gone for an hour. Apparently he had to go into the city to turn on the phone jack. He returned with a wireless router and finished up the installation before registering our computers to the account. After a 4 hour process we finally had internet and the digital world at our finger-tips. The first thing I checked was abc.com to see if I could watch LOST, but it can’t be viewed outside the US…bummer.

A bit behind schedule, Lily and I walked to the supermarket to go food shopping. We took our large empty hiking backpacks so that we could carry the groceries home. Shopping went well, but our bill was a bit more expensive that the previous week. Not stressing about it because we were at a different supermarket we loaded up the backpacks and made out way home. Later that night I looked through the receipt and realized they had charged us for something we didn’t buy and it was expensive…4707 pesos which was about $8. I was so annoyed at this and at myself for not catching the mistake while we were at the supermarket. We got screwed, but not much we can do about it.

We got home to grill the lemon pepper chicken I had been marinating since 4pm. I lit the grill and grabbed the chicken when I realized it was partially cooked already. I had left the chicken in the marinade too long the citrus from the lemon began cooking the chicken. To compound the issue the grill would not get hot enough and it wasn’t cooking the chicken. As a last resort we cooked the chicken on a frying pan and it turned out to be kind of chewy and sour. This dinner ruined our streak of great dinners, but we finally had internet so I couldn’t get too upset.

Sloan!

Monday, February 2

Monday was a day like any other. I spent some time in the apartment before meeting Lily for lunch. Kevin left this morning to go hiking in Ralun about an hour south of Puerto Varas. After lunch I met Lily’s other co-worker Nati. She, like everyone else I have met down here was so nice and hospitable. In fact, she invited Lily and I to her youngest son’s birthday at her house that evening.

Prior to the dinner, I checked my e-mail quickly at Lily’s office and got some spectacular news. My brother was accepted to the Sloan School of Business at MIT. What a huge deal in a year when literally everyone is applying to business school because everyone is getting laid off. He rose to the cream of the crop and was selected to attend one of the smallest and one of the best business schools in the country. Unbelievable! I couldn’t be more proud nor happy for him. Maybe now that he has some free time he can come down to visit me and Lily in Chile.

Nati picked us up from our apartment for a hot dog dinner and cake to celebrate her son, Tomi’s, birthday. Tomi was turning 4 years old and, like any 4 year old, couldn’t have been more excited to receive presents.


Nati’s house was very pretty and very open. The floors were a dyed smooth concrete of different colors varying by room with wood pillar designs molded into the floor. I had never seen floors like that, but I like them very much. We arrived early and I met all 3 of Nati’s kids who were little balls of energy from the get-go. They loved playing games and Lily and I played matches of fusball and ping pong with all three. Soon it was dinner time and the hot dogs came out of the kitchen on a huge platter. What makes hot dogs in Chile different is the variety and quantity of condiments for the dogs. We had diced tomatoes, ketchup, mustard, diced chilli peppers, onions, and of course lots and lots of palta (mushed up avacados with different seasonings). Everyone loaded up their dogs and we chowed down on a meal that I thought was typically American, but apparently occupies a large segment of Chilean cuisine. They love hot dogs, which is good because I’m a big fan too.

It was time for the cake and emerging from the kitchen was a Power Rangers manjar cake. Manjar is a very typical Chilean caramel-type spread they they put on tons of their desserts. This cake had about 15 paper-thin layers of cake and manjar and was absolutely delicious. The night ended with a lot of conversation in Spanish in which I understood about 70%, but didn’t really add too much to the conversation. It was great practice though. I’ll need more nights and days of complete immersion if I want this Spanish thing to work out.

Bierfest and the Superbowl

Sunday, February 1

It’s hard not to get excited when going to a beer festival. We gathered our group of 6 (4 Americans, 2 Argentines) en el centro to catch a micro to Llanquihue one town over. Micros are small blue buses that run between all of the cities and towns throughout southern Chile. They are great because they run all of the time at great frequency and they are relatively inexpensive. 400 pesos for a ride to Llanquihue is pretty good.

We made it to the Bierfest around 2pm and got started by grabbing the table front and center in front of the live performance stage. A band of 4 was playing traditional German music in front of a backdrop of 2 giant German and Chilean flags. We ordered 6 beers, which we thought were Kunstmann but turned out to be Cristal, and 6 antecuchos which were German shish-kabobs. We ate and drank for a bit before Lily came back with a huge plate of German deserts including kuchen, strudel, and a meringue cake with raspberries.

Soon the fun began as members of the crowd approached the dance floor for a round of musical chairs. It was so bizarre to see a group of old men prance around a circle of chairs with the most competitive and intense looks on their faces. They were serious about their musical chairs. In fact, two men broke a chair because they were tussling over the spot when the chair exploded into splinters of plastic.


We took the party outside to enjoy the beautiful sunny day and to experiment with some new beers. Both Lily and I had envisioned stands of various beer companies with samplings of each offering, but instead there was one beer tent with 2 kinds of Cristal. It was a little disappointing especially because Cristal is the crap beer down here, but we had fun nonetheless.

Lily and I left the group around 6:30 so that we could make it back in time for the Superbowl at Russ’s house. We bought some drinks and snacks for the game and made it just in time for kick off. There was a group of about 12 people seated around a 35” flat screen in Russ’s house. There were Americans and Chileans alike all cheering and jawing at the TV. Two things about the game really stuck out to me, besides it being a fantastic game (barring the Steelers win. I hate them). The first, was not seeing any Superbowl commercials. We were watching the broadcast on ESPN deportes so everything was in Spanish including the commercials. They were all normal commercials for central and south American companies. It was kind of a huge let down especially because I wasn’t a huge fan of either team that was playing. Second, the commentary was so different in Spanish than English. There was less story telling to fill time, which is the standard during US football broadcasts. It was much like listening to a foreign soccer commentary, where they let the game do the talking and added light commentary every now and again. It was different, but refreshing. The game ended and we made our way home for the start of a new week.

Canyoning

Saturday, Jan 31

I woke up Sunday morning with my game face on. We were going canyoning. If you, like most people, don’t know what canyoning is, take a look at this link. This is the company with whom and the location at which we went canyoning. (*More pictures to come from Lily's friend...like the one below of Lily cliff jumping. We also have a DVD of the trip which I'm attempting to burn and then will post instead of having this link)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=hpqcfWFCwSo

It was absolutely ridiculous. After an hour drive from Puerto Varas to Rio Blanco on Volcan Calbuco we suited up in the parking lot. Everyone looked they belonged on the Star Ship Enterprise with the wetsuits they gave us. All I needed now was a Jordi LaForge eye protector for the massive rock slides and cliff jumps.

We hiked up the volcano on an unmarked path through thick rainforest. It was pretty hard with the restrictive west suits, but after about 40 minutes of climbing we made it the launch point. We approached a decent size pool at the bottom of a 15 ft. waterfall and everyone strapped on their helmets and scuba gloves and jumped in. After some quick “safety” instruction which loosely translated to “do your best not to get injured” we started with a small jump off of the 15 foot waterfall. From their we did a toboggan-style slide down a natural rock shoot over the next waterfall. This series of rock water slides and medium sized cliff jumps continued through the next several pools down the river, with variations of backwards first and head first slides.

Then we came to our first mother-sized cliff jump. Two guides jumped off of a 30 ft. rock face into a pool with a diameter no bigger than 10 ft. and another rock face directly opposite them. Everyone in the group was quite impressed and applauded and we were all ready to move along when they asked who of us wanted to do it. Everyone looked at each other in astonishment as nothing of this sort would be tolerated anywhere outside of Chile. Especially because they never had us sign a waiver or release form before we started the trip. Well, neither Lily nor I could pass up the opportunity, so we, along with some others, climbed up the rock face and plummeted off of the ledge. What a rush! We both made it unscathed. Then we followed up that jump with a 35 footer a bit further down the river. What an amazing adventure.

We approached the rivers end when the guides pulled out repelling harnesses. We had no idea what for until we stood on the edge of a 200 ft. waterfall. It was absolutely breathtaking to see the river cascade 200 feet down over a lush green and moss covered rock face. I know I have said this before, but this place is literally straight out of Jurassic Park. Then came the time to actually repel down the cliff parallel with the waterfall, and I crapped my pants. This was so high and seemed like such a budget operation I was pretty sure all of us were going to die. In fact the guy right in front of me was from New Zealand and as he hung on the edge of the cliff receiving instructions he turned to me and said, “I am on the edge of a cliff getting instructions in Spanish…and I speak zero Spanish. Well see ya later!” Lily and I laughed so hard until it was our turn and the only reaction you can have is… “well see ya later”.

I slowly crept over the edge and lowered myself down as the waterfall rushed past me over my left shoulder. Then I started to slowly rotate as I dropped down and I crapped my pants for the second time. I was facing outward with nothing in front of me as a security blanket. I had a great view of everything, but I was literally making a conscious effort to breathe I was so scared. I made it to the disconnecting point, which was still a good 30 feet above the water, when the guide asked if I wanted to jump off the ledge with Lily to the left of the waterfall or climb up another 5 feet and jump into the waterfall. I had done pretty much everything else that day so I decided to end with a bang and jump through the waterfall. I’m hoping Lily’s friend Fran got a snapshot of that one.

After making new friends during the canyoning adventure we decided to meet up at the Garage (another bar) when we got back. We got along great with a Canadian named Russ and his Chilean wife Karem. So well in fact that they invited us to their house on Sunday for a BBQ and to watch the Superbowl. Imagine that…watching the Superbowl in Chile.

The Night of Firsts

Friday, Jan 30

Friday was very unexciting. I spent much of the day catching up on e-mails and straightening up my life. I really need to continue progressing with my Spanish and find a job both here and for when I return home. Tonight, however, we met up with an American named Kevin who Lily had met a week earlier at a land conservation conference in Valdivia. He had been teaching English in Santiago for a year and was now traveling through the southern part of Chile. He stopped through Puerto Varas on Friday night to stay through the weekend so we invited him over for and asado American style.

There were a lot of firsts tonight. We used our grill for the first time. We purchased lighter fluid “gel” the night before and tried to use it to ignite the coal. Unfortunately this stuff is literally the flammable gel that they put in the centerpieces at the Kowloon to create a small bluish flame. First of all, the gel didn’t ignite anything. Second of all, I’m pretty sure if used enough of it to act as an ignition propellant we might as well have nuked our steaks in the microwave and saved ourselves the trouble and potential hazard of dealing with a fire on the small enclosed patio.

Luckily, I learned the volcano technique at Rodrigo’s asado a few days earlier and was more than eager to give it a shot. As most of you already know I’m a closet pyro, and any excuse I can use to make a giant flame, I take it. So I made 7 or 8 newspaper rings and stacked them one on top of the other. I stacked the coals around the newspaper ring and made a mini-Osorno in our $15 BBQ grill. I rolled one more piece of paper to use as the ignition stick, lit the bottom, and stuck it down the center of ring stack. Immediately the entire grill ballooned out in an impressive ball of red and orange as if the real Osorno awoke from its 150 year slumber and began to rain molten lava into Lago Llanquihue. The flame was short lived and so was the BBQ fire with only a few of the coals got singed by the newspaper explosion. The good news was I had been watching Bear Grylls religiously for the past 2 years and finally got to use one of his survival techniques in a non-life threatening capacity. I started to blow through the bottom of the coals and coaxed the faint glow into a full blown BBQ of red hot coals. Finally we were in business for the first time with our grill.

We grilled thin steaks, red bell peppers, and longaniza sausages, which I’m pretty sure are the Latin America version of linguiza. Washed down with Austral and Cristal beer we had a great meal. A new friend, a new beer, and a new challenge overcome…I would say we had a pretty good night.

Nonna’s Sauce

Thursday, Jan. 29

I had a big undertaking today as I made my first attempt at cooking Nonna’s zugo con carne. I had built up my culinary confidence over the past couple of days with various meals at dinner time. Also, I really wanted some pasta. So, I was off to town to find a pot that would be big enough to cook Nonna’s sauce. In the apartment we only have small pots for soups and rice and things like that. After a quick lunch in town with Lily I made my way back to the kitchen. I started putting the first wave of ingredients into the pot to sautee before adding the meat when I realized I had forgotten to defrost the ground beef. It was frozen solid in the freezer and with the process of cooking already started, the only quick fix that came to mind was the microwave. I nuked the beef for 3 minutes which was a bit to long because some of the outside pieces started to cook and got all gummy and brown. It was kind of disgusting, but the rest of the meat was fine so I started crumbling the good meat over the pot.

With the meat cooked in with the vegetables, I reached for the tomato sauce and poured the packed into the pot. It wasn’t enough. So I had another small can in the cabinet and added that with some water…still not enough. As a last resort I added a half used packet of sauce that Lily left in the fridge that was about 5 days old. I had no choice I was already in too deep with the rest of the process. Fingers crossed I hoped the sauce hadn’t gone bad. I added some salt and pepper and let it simmer for a bit before tasting.

Lily got home soon after and immediately reached into the pot for a taste. I still hadn’t given it a go and was extremely nervous when she turned to look at me. To my surprise, she said it tasted great. So, I walked over and her assessment was confirmed. Although it didn’t taste exactly like Nonna’s sauce, it was delicious. It was almost a mix between Nonna’s sauce and Mum’s sauce. Not too shabby.

I was so excited and we still had about 3 hours of light left that Lily and I decided to head down to the lake for a quick sunset kayak. We borrowed a kayak from her co-worker Carolina and shoved off into Llanquihue. The lake was like a pane of glass as we sliced through the calm waters in our orange kayak. The water was so clean and visibility to the lake floor was amazing. You could see through to the bottom in over 20 feet of water where the floor was covered in volcanic rock and fresh water muscles. We paddled along the shore looking back at the Puerto Varas city center as the sun tucked behind the rolling hills beyond the cityscape. Michelangelo couldn’t have painted a better picture.

Home again, we sat down for our pasta feast. Lily threw together a quick salad and we poured ourselves a glass of wine. In my humble opinion, this was the best meal yet. The sauce was great, the salad was delicious, and the Chilean wine was excellent. The streak of culinary success continues. Now I just need to get my Spanish up to par.

Chilean Asado

Wednesday, Jan. 28

I woke up this morning with Mr. Choco and a glass of peach juice again, and spent most of the morning catching up on journal entries. After a quick lunch I worked on some Spanish and then thought it was about time to get back on the horse and go for a jog. My legs, and to be honest whole body, were still extremely soar, but past experience has told me that the only way to tackle the aches is to lace up and hit the pavement. I ended up having a great run, and got home just in time to hop in the shower before meeting Lily in town.

Tonight we were invited to my first asado in Chile. Asados are all day BBQ’s that commonly take place on the weekends, but this one was an abbreviated version. Lily’s friend Rodrigo, the host of the asado, picked us up at her office to drive us to his house. We met his American girlfriend Naomi who was visiting for a week all the way from Shanghai, China. She grew up in Tacoma, WA but has been living/working in China for the past couple of years.

At the house we were greeted by the rest of the Chilean crew, and I was immediately blown away by the views of Rodrigo’s back yard. A vast lawn and garden of hydrangeas ran of into a small drop off down to the shores of the lake. Staring straight at us was the snow-capped summit of Osorno with a deep rosé color from the setting sun. It was absolutely stunning.

We cracked open some beers and got the fire going with the local “volcano” technique that requires only charcoal and newspaper…no lighter fluid. Basically you take sheets of newspaper and roll them into rings before stacking the rings on top of each other until you get about 10 rings high. Then the rings are surrounded by the charcoal and a lit piece of newspaper is placed into the empty cylinder created by the rings. What ensues is a massive flame encouraged by the air flow out through the center of the ring. Basically you have make-shift chimney that lights the coals to cooking temp in no time. This technique came 2 hours too late as Lily and I had purchased lighter fluid for our small grill, because I couldn’t get the coals lit if my life depended on it. However, this technique is definitely coming back to the states with me.

A long night of drinking, socializing, and carnivorous indulgence was capped off by a massive steak that was slow roasted over the dying flame. When the roast was declared “cooked” large slices of meat were passed around. Now when I say the meat was rare, it is a vast understatement. This steak looked like it had just been carved off of a black angus cow out back. I was told Chileans only eat rare steaks, and, because they know Americans have a different taste when it comes to cooking steak, they had cooked this steak “medio” or medium for our benefit. My eyes bugged out of my head with the prospect of eating steak any less cooked than this. However, when I tell you meat has never tasted so good, picture a juicey porterhouse from Capital Grille and that is about 1/10 as good as what I has experienced tonight. I can definitely get used to these Chilean asados.

The night ended with light conversation and a dice game that I still don’t quite understand. Just as food coma started to set in Naomi emerged from the kitchen with piping hot chocolate chip cookies as a tribute to the American crowd at the asado. I think Lily and I are going to expose our Chilean friends to American drinking games like Beirut and flip cup. They are the type of crowd that would really enjoy it. I can just imagine the next asado, this time a full day affair, with solo cups and ping pong balls…immediately the M and Delphic come to mind.

Chilean Speak & Webcam

Tuesday, Jan 27

I woke up early this morning and did some cleaning around the apartment. With everything in its place I sat down with my Buen Viaje book and went off on another Spanish Immersion lesson. I’m getting to the point now where I need to get out and talk with people. It’s the only way I will learn and remember things.

I had some practice this morning when the doorman showed up at the door and started rattling off some Spanish. I looked passed him and saw a man standing at our water heater closet and surmised that he must have been an electrician. When Lily moved into our apartment about 2 weeks ago she was having issues with the hot water. She called for an electrician, but with the typical Chilean pace of life he showed up today. In the meantime, however, I was able to fix the hot water a week prior and we told the doormen that we didn’t need the electrician anymore. Not surprising the message got lost somewhere along the way and the electrician was ready to fix our hot water “problem”. I asked the doorman why the electrician was here and he said in Spanish, “Because the water is too cold.” I responded in Spanish that the water is fixed and hot now and he said what sounded like “tambien?” which means "also". I said sí because that seemed like the only word that would fit at that moment. The doorman yelled down the hall “tambien” to the electrician who promptly picked up his tool box and scurried away. This made no sense to me, until I realized that the doorman was saying “esta bien?” meaning “it’s good?”, but had cut off the beginning and mashed the whole phrase together to sound like “tambien”.

This was my first lesson in needing to practice more with the locals…it never sounds exactly like it should in the book and that is what I need to practice. In fact later that night after a walk with Lily we said “como estas?” to another doorman who responded “qui tamo.” Again, I was lost, but we realized he said “aqui estamos” meaning “we are here”. It’s going to take some time & practice to get used to Chilean speak.

I met Lily in town for a bite to eat at a diner called Dane’s. We ran some more errands and made our way up to her office for some internet and e-mail time while she worked. I hopped online to see that my brother was signed on. He brought my family into his room and we had our first online video chat. It took a lot of trial and error with tokbox, gmail video chat, and finally skype, but Skype came through and we had a good talk. Mum and I caught up with the events of the previous week, and I was able to see the dogs and my cousins who all piled into my brother’s room to join in on the chat. After some Simon jokes and a lot of back and forth taunting with the infamous “L” sign we said our goodbyes. It was so great to see everyone and tell them in person how my adventure has played out thus far. Gotta love technology.

Lily and I made our way home and had another successful night in the kitchen. We had planned on grilling, but still had no lighter fluid so we made another round of chicken cutlets with sautéed vegetables, salad, and breaded zucchini from the frying pan. 4-for-4. It really is true. If Yan can cook, so can you!

The Local Crowd

Monday, Jan 26

Monday started with a bang as I sat down with a glass of peach juice and a cereal bar called Choco-Cereal+Leche. I have been waiting to see this because I have seen similar cereals before in Italy, but this Chilean cereal called Choco has a muppet-like character on the box who is the mascot/character for the cereal much like Count-Chocula or Toucan Sam. It’s completely weird looking like a bizzaro Grover from Sesame Street, but it’s nice to see the cartoon association with cereal translates to Patagonian Chile.

My light breakfast was gone in no time (it seems like the cereal bar portions were made for infants, which they probably were) and I cracked open my Buen Viaje high school Spanish 2 book to get down and dirty with Español. Thanks Julia! I started rolling through the review of Spanish 1, making a list of verbs and conjugations and pronouns…all the good stuff. Then I got to past tense and hit my first stumbling block with Spanish. The Preterite, as they call it in Spanish, does not translate to the Passato Prossimo in Italian or the Passé Composé in French. There is a whole new list of conjugations and irregular conjugations…a huge test for my memory. But, I figure if I practice more with locals it should start to stick. The other weird part is Ser and Ir (to be and to go) have the same conjugation in the Preterite and the only way to tell the difference in the meaning of the words is through the context of the sentence. Kind of annoying, but nothing I didn’t expect.

Lily came home for lunch and we threw together another quick meal of sandwiches and veggies. Side note: the Brita filter is wonderful and will save us so much money with not having to buy bottled water. The tap water here is clean, but chock full of minerals, so the Brita does the trick in filtering out the bad stuff.

After lunch Lily returned to work and returned to my Spanish. Feeling a bit burnt out from so much brain activity, I though some physical activity would make for a welcomed change of pace. Boy was I wrong when I decided to go for my first run in well over a year. I ran for about 2 miles, but by the end I was so crippled by diaphragm cramps and heavy breathing, I pretty much strolled up to my apartment in a limping shuffle. Picture the Hunchback of Notre Dame trying to go for a jog. I’m pretty sure the life guards had a safety watch on me as I passed by atop the sea wall wheezing and coughing. A 24-year-old shouldn’t look like that when going for a run.

I got home and showered just in time to meet Lily coming home from work. We had been invited to a bar to meet all of her Chilean friends in celebration as two of them, Renato and Maca, had gotten engaged just days before. We had a quick dinner of pasta soup in chicken broth, seasoned avocados, and salad. The streak stays alive with another successful meal. We drank some Carmonere wine with dinner and then we were off for a night on the town.

We met Lily’s friends at a bar called Barometro, which was awesome to say the least. The bar had a very lodgey feel as we sat around a table made from the cross-section of a giant beach tree trunk. We laid back in huge leather sofas that swallowed us whole. Lily’s Chilean crew was perfect. They were so incredibly nice and hospitable and they spoke very good English. They were all just as excited to meet me as I was to meet them. They are all extremely well traveled as Rodrigo lived in China, Renato in England, Diego in San Francisco, and Paola in New Zealand. While the accents around the table varied, the quality of English was quite impressive. I hope my Spanish is that good by the end of the trip. I had some great talks about travel and sports and life and just about all of them individually invited Lily and I to asados and dinners at their houses.

As the night moved on I was introduced to the piscola, or the national drink as they call it. Simply enough it is a pisco and coke and is reminisant of a rum and coke or Jack and coke, but much lighter and not as strong (even though half of the glass is filled with pisco). Soon after we had a round of coca-russa which translates to Russian coke. The drink consisted of coating one side of an orange slice with coffee powder, the other side with confectionary sugar, eating the covered orange slice and then tossing back a shot of vodka. It was actually quite good. A little intense in terms of the production associated with the drink, but tasty nonetheless.

Before I knew it the mellow lodge-like bar turned into a techno dance rave with laser lights and fog. Talk about bizarre. Another member of the Chilean crew, Nony (short for Jonathan), got behind the turn tables and started putting together some really good remixes. Lily and I danced for a bit before we strolled home along the Costanera to our apartment. What a night! It was great to meet the people about whom Lily had been telling me…putting faces to the names. I can’t wait for round 2.

Settling In

Sunday, Jan 25

Lily and I returned our rental Yaris Sunday morning and ran some small errands while in town. After a quick pop-in to her office to catch up on e-mail we returned home for a lunch of leftovers and a lazy afternoon of organizing the apartment. We set up of make-shift coffee table of a piece of ply-wood balanced on a 2-ft tall stool. Garnishing the “table” are two bright blue beach chairs we bought yesterday and a mattress pad that folds into a small couch. I think we are definitely ready to entertain guests with this setup. I put together the small grill and set it out on the patio. I spent about an hour trying to light the coals with matches and newspapers, but nothing would happen and our new shopping list began with lighter fluid at the top spot.

With no grill, we decided to fry out Tilapia filets with some salt, pepper and olive oil. They came out perfectly golden brown. Lily worked away on a corn salad with onions, avocado, tomatoes, and bell peppers with a light lemon dressing. This meal is seriously challenging the chicken cutlet meal from the night before for the top spot, and I’m pretty confident in saying we are 2 for 2 in the kitchen. Nothing like starting off our Chilean adventure batting 1,000. Tomorrow begins my serious immersion into Spanish. Vamos!

Rain Rain Go Away

Saturday, Jan 24

The day began with the sunrise as we were driving Linc and Ruthie to their ferry boat through the lakes of the Andes to Bariloche, Argentina. After a quick breakfast we hit the road again for Petrohue, a town over by the base of the Volcan Osorno. Unfortunately the entire morning was a washout which put a damper on our plans to see the waterfalls in the rivers of Petrohue. After miles of unpaved roads in a small Toyota Yaris we finally made it to the waterfalls. We braved the elements and hiked up to the lookout over the river. Normally the river is a bright glacial blue color, but due to the runoff from the rain the water was a frothy brown color. Despite the color change the waterfalls and rapids were quite impressive. Rising above the river were sleep cliffs immersed in lush green vegetation. With clouds and streames of fog crawling along the cliffs, the scenery looked eerily like Jurassic Park, and I think were we all waiting for a Veloca Raptor to spring out of the rain-soaked brush.

The rain made the rocks extremely slippery and I of course made an ass of myself as I tried to pass someone on the trail and took a digger into a huge puddle. So much for trying to impress…It was really embarrassing and made the rest of the hike and drive uncomfortable with wet jeans and saturated hiking shoes. I might as well have taken a dip in the brown river.

We continued on to the end of the road where the ferry was docked and loading up for the 10 hour trip through the glacial lakes of the Andes. We said our goodbyes and we were off for our own adventure ascending Osorno in a red Toyota Yaris.

The weather started to break and we could see pieces of blue sky as we began the long drive up the volcano. The temperature was about 70 degrees Fahrenheit at the base of the volcano and slowly dropped as we pushed the Yaris to its limits summiting the snow-capped volcano. When we made it the road’s end, about 2/3 of the way up, we were greeted by the Volcan Osorno Ski Lodge. Exiting the car it began to snow as we were deep into the cloud cover. We made a brief stop to explore the small lodge before succumbing to the cold (we weren’t prepared for freezing temperatures).
For those of you who know my driving technique in a stick shirt car, you know that the ride down the volcano was a dream come true. Miles of coasting! It couldn’t be beat, and as we emerged from the cloud veil draped over the summit of Osorno we were greeted by rays of sunshine burning off the morning rain.

On our way back to Puerto Varas we stopped at the Yankee Way Lodge to explore the famous resort known for housing a number of celebrities on Chilean holiday. We sat down for a bite to eat at the Latitude 42 restaurant. Interestingly enough we are at the same latitude in the southern hemisphere as Duxbury, MA in the northern Hemisphere. Lunch was a delicious splurge on sea food with salmon locks and a king crab stew. The restaurant had the feel of a New England lodge with a giant volcanic rock fire place. We began with drinks by the fire and moved to the dining room for our meal. It was quite the experience and at a price of 10,000 pesos for lunch we couldn’t believe the affordability.

We returned home from our morning excursion for a quick nap before heading south to Puerto Montt to take stock our apartment with groceries and small furniture. The afternoon of shopping was a success as we found just about everything we were looking for…even a small grill for our outdoor patio. Unfortunately, we forgot the lighter fluid so we still have yet to use the grill.

We arrived home and cooked our first homemade meal of chicken cutlets, broccoli, fried zucchini, and salad. What a meal, and it got the ball rolling for more home cooked meals to come. Both Lily and I are excited to experiment and fend for ourselves in the kitchen. So far, the first meal was a hands down success.

Se Cocina y Lavanda: La Casa de Te

Friday, Jan 23

Lily and I took a rental car to pick up her parents from the airport in Puerto Montt. Their flight was late again due to fog and they got re-routed to Bariloche in Argentina. Ironically, they will be traveling to Bariloche the following day for their fly-fishing and shooting trip in the Argentine Patagonia. They finally made it in after the trip from Hell and we were off to their hotel in Puerto Varas. We dropped of their bags and walked into town to grab a coffee and quick bite to eat. We sat outside at a local café with, of course, another breathtaking view of Osorno.

We continued to explore and Lily’s step-mother, Ruthie, was fascinated by the size and variety of vegetation sprouting up throughout town. Ruthie has her own landscape design company back in Millbrook, NY and was in heaven down here. Puerto Varas is known as the city of roses and the streets are lined with beautiful rose bushes that are now in full bloom. Also, there are hydrangeas everywhere with flowers of a deep blue and purple. I have never seen this color before and can’t do them justice with words, so take a look at the pictures. I’m assuming it has something to do with the volcanic soil here, but I could be completely wrong.

We made our way over to Lily’s office again to introduce her parents to Carolina. We were greeted by 3 of her children who greeted us in the typical Chilean way: A kiss on the cheek for girls/women and a hand shake between men. After a brief chat we were off to Frutillar about 40 km north of Puerto Varas on Llanquihue Lago.

After a 45 minute drive on highways and long dirt roads through rural hills we came to our lunch destination: Se Cocina. Set in the rustic hills of lakeside farmland this restaurant was absolutely amazing. The menu changes daily based on the meats and vegetables available from the farm. For appetizer, we shared a razor clam stew and basil polenta. The freshness in the dishes immediately jumped out at us and the intense flavors were unparalleled with anything I had experienced in Chile thus far. For main course we had Merluza (hake), rabbit with a mustard sauce, and I had roast venison with a pepper sauce. This was my first experience with venison and it was absolutely delicious. Even Ruthie and Linc, who are quite the meat connoisseurs, were taken back by the flavor. The meal ended with coffee and poached pears in a red wine sauce. I’m not sure that this meal can be beat during the remainder of my tenure in Chile, unless of course we return to Se Cocina to try a completely new menu.

Just up the dirt road was Lavanda: Casa de Te (tea house). Everyone was stuffed from dinner, but we stopped in anyhow because of the fairytale ambiance. The house is set in a field of lavender. The aroma of blooming lavender overcame our senses the minute we opened the car doors. A small cottage sat in a field of lanvender high on a hill overlooking the deep blue waters of Llanquihue. We wandered through the fields taking in the scenery and soothing aromas of lavender. Soon enough food coma set in and we all just about keeled over in the lavender.

After a quick stay, we traveled down to the town center of Frutillar to see the beaches and music theater set directly on the lake shore. All of the beaches down here are black/gray sand due to the close proximity of the volcano. The striking contrast of the dark beaches and crystal clear water makes it seem as if people are playing beach games in large expanses of garden soil. The one drawback is the sand gets extremely hot.

Back in Puerto Varas, Lily and I showed off our new apartment to her parents before everyone was off for a much needed night of rest. However, sleep would have to wait as a knock on the door revealed Lily’s parents with a frantic look across their faces.

Everyday in this part of Chile there are “controlled wild fires”. I use the term controlled very loosely, but the purpose is to clear depleted farming grounds and reignite some life into the parched soil. On this day however, the fire got out of hand and Lily’s parents saw 15 foot high flames shooting above the hill just behind our apartment building. With obvious concern for our safety they invited us to their hotel until things settled down. We quickly packed a small bag and went off to the hotel, but to our astonishment, on the way to the hotel, we noticed that the fire departments got the fires under control. We were shocked based on the pace of life and lack of fore-sight Chileans seem to have when it comes to restaurant and airline service. It was comforting to have the fire department prove us wrong on this occasion.

After the shot of adrenaline from the fires everyone got a second wind and we had a small dinner at the same restaurant as the night before bordering the performance center in town. We were again serenaded by a local high school orchestra while we ate, putting a perfect cap on the perfect day.

Main Streets and Back Roads of Puerto Varas

Thursday, Jan 22

I awoke to another beautiful sunny day in the south of Chile. No clouds to speak of and a crystal clear view of Osorno. Lily was off to a meeting with an entrepreneur so I set up shop on the living room couch with my Spanish book and dictionary. The most promising part about learning Spanish is the similarity it posseses with all of the Romance languages I have studied in the past. Even though that sounds obvious, it never really hit me until I was listening to Spanish all the time, and studying verbs, and conjugations, and sentence structure. This has given me some confidence in that I will pick up the language faster than I had anticipated. Also, my studies have helped me remember quite a bit of French and Italian…bonus!

The clock ticked away as I sat studying, waiting for Lily to return so that we could go pick up her parents from the airport. With no cell phone and no internet in the apartment, I had no way of reaching Lily. She returned with a message that put a huge damper on our day. Her parents flight was cancelled, which meant they wouldn’t make it into Puerto Montt until tomorrow morning cutting their time with us in Puerto Varas to one day. Trying to remain positive, we rearranged our plan to maximize our one day together and sat down for a quick lunch of leftover empanadas.


I spent the afternoon exploring my home for the near future. While Lily met with another entrepreneur I lathered up in SPF 30 and hit the streets of Puerto Varas. I walked everywhere and saw just about everything the town has to offer. The downtown area itself is quite small but has all of the accommodations of a small city. Supermarkets, restaurants, banks, shops and hotels, I was quite impressed by the variety and quality of the city’s offerings. With my camera in hand, I started snapping away. Many of the houses in the downtown area were quite small, but extremely colorful. It’s interesting, because it looks like the surrounding neighborhoods of the city are a bit poor and many of the houses and buildings are covered in corrugated metal paneling. This material is everywhere. Daniel, this part is for you. I think that couple from Weston on This Old House spent some time in Puerto Varas if they put that junk in their house and call it “modern interior decorating”. When combined with the large numbers of stray dogs (more on this later), it creates a bit of a cheap eye soar on a city that is otherwise very beautiful.


Puerto Varas suffers from the “good from far, but far from good” syndrome once you take a closer look at the buildings and houses behind the waterfront façade of hotels and restaurants that cater to the massive tourist industry in the summer. This city is much like Cape Cod in that it is booming in the summer. The long days, large number of high-end hotels and the Casino Puerto Varas create a lively atmosphere. When combined with the thousands of tourists from other parts of South America and even the world, you have a buzzing metropolis in the months from December through February.

Moving farther up the hill, I came to the architectural centerpiece of Puerto Varas. La Iglesia del Sagrado Corazon de Jesus can be seen from everywhere, the German influence is omni-present. The church is beautiful with its white exterior and red turrets. However, again as I got closer, I noticed the church was cover with corregated metal siding. This was completely unexpected and quite frankly disappointing, but clearly this material has it’s place in Puerto Varas.

My stroll took me farther up the hill to the local high school, which was bigger than expected and painted in a bright blue shade. This town has much to offer with it’s schools, both public and private. There are a number of American and German schools, however the class distinctions here are quite strong and the only people who speak another language other than Spanish are wealthier people who can afford private schools.

I made my way back Lily’s office to meet her co-worker Carolina. She spoke very good English and was extremely kind and polite. She had just returned to work after having her 5th child, although you would have never guessed by how fit she looked. The people of Puerto Varas are also extremely active. Both of Lily’s co-workers are in a jogging club and run marathons and triathlons. You can always find people jogging and cycling at anytime of day. After the quick introduction Carolina was off, and so were Lily and I for dinner.


We passed through the town center where there was a performance by a local high school orchestra. So we grabbed an outdoor table at one of the neighboring restaurants and had a light dinner with live entertainment. I tasted my first Kunstmann beer made in Valdivia, Chile. It was delicious, and I would love to try and import the beer to US. I think it would be quite successful based on the great taste and light characteristics. The beer is not filling at all, but the taste was amazing (I think it contained hints of honey). The brew of beer is called Toro Bayo, not sure what that translates to in the US. With some improved Spanish maybe I can waggle my way into a position with Kunstmann and take it global?