Valdivia

After Panguipulli, I headed to Valdivia. I stayed with host Cristian in a part of the city a bit removed, called Niebla. His house is the last on his street and at the base of a lushous hill with a stream running through his yard.

He has 2 maybe 3 dogs that are adopted stray dogs, 2 of them have only 3 functioning legs, I think from having chased cars.

After dropping my bag and tea, we headed over to the beach (5 min away). The sand here is black. We played a bit on the beach and did some contact improv/ acroyoga. Cristian is a dance instructor. The next day we went back to the beach, met a crazy dog, and walked around Valdivia looking for apple strudel. By the way, there is a bit of German influence once you get to this area of Chile and south. 

That night we were almost out of gas and had plans to make a cream lasagna, so we bbq'ed the preparations and utilised only the oven. It was amazing. 

The next day, we got up early to go to another beach and met la reina del playa rosada. Cristian invited me to go with him to one of his high school classes at a nearby village. So that was fun.

 That night I took advantage of the high ceiling living room and played a bit.                                                      

By the way, if you drop cream into coffee it will rise to the top  (looks like intestines). The next day I made a quiche and headed off to Frutillar. 

Leaving Santiago

Four days ago I left Santiago and hitch hiked south with the intention of getting to Panguipulli. 5 rides and 10 hours later, I made it to Chillan, half way. I decided take the next bus to Panguipulli, which was at 4am. Having to wait in a small cold waiting room, with a grotesque horror movie playing twice in a row, I was relived to get on the bus and sleep on a reclined surface.
Some time later I arrived in picturesque Panguipulli. This town over looks a lake, is surrounded by forest and mountains, and has snow capped mountains in view too. I was intoxicated with the crisp air. The people are friendly.

I met my host Carla, and then headed over to eat a cheese sandwich by the lake. I spotted a green open field on the other side of the lake and proceeded to walk along the shore to frolic in it. Sometime later, however, I encountered a number of obstacles, namely, boggy wet land, threatened sqwaking birds, and hidden houses with smoking coming from the chimneys along the path. I decided to turn back.

Sometime later, I met up with Carla and husband German. Lovely people with a house some ways out of town. They've a quaint wooden house, with a yoga room, and a view that overlooks the lake. It's so peaceful out here. I made a spicy tomato pasta for them and talked dharma over dinner.
The next day I walked down to another part of the lake and read up a bit on the practice of Lojong. The view was spectacular, for a moment I imagined there was nothing left to desire.

Later that day I was excited to go to someone's house to buy their chicken's eggs and another farmer's house to buy cheese. These simple acts brought such pleasure. Why have I spent so much of my life in big cities? Oh and I also saw a cow give birth.

Today Carla took me on a group trek to a glacier. The hike, glacier, and company were all lovely.