Last Days in Chile!

We've been traveling for almost 3 weeks and are about to start the next phase of this crazy adventure...Ayacucho here we come!

Southern Chile was INCREDIBLE! As many of you may have seen on Facebook, the south really reminded me (Sara) of Washington-volcanoes, water, islands and cool, grey weather. We spent about 5 days there and started our trip in Puerto Varas. Puerto Varas is a small, touristy town on the shore of Lake Llanquihue and looks out at Osorno and Calbuco, the two more prominent volcanoes in the area. As we mentioned in our last post, we spent the first two days with Lindsay's friend who is working on an upcoming HBO series called Profugos - a narco-traffic action show set entirely in Chile. When we were there, he was scouting Alerce forests to shoot a particular chase scene (Alerce is an evergreen native to the southern Andes in Chile and Argentina).

We visited a lot of giant farms (fundos) to look for forest and they were all absolutely gorgeous with picturesque views of the Lake Llanquihue, the largest lake in Chile, and volcanoes. One interesting thing about southern Chile is that it was settled many many Germans. It was really interesting to meet the farmers who were of German decent and to see all the Germanic architecture.  Even though we spent a lot of time in the car it was quite an experience to drive all around the countryside. The last farm we visited was by far my favorite with their own small Alerce forests, lake front access and amazing views of the volcanoes Osorno and Calbuco.  They also bred horses and had the most incredible stable I have ever seen.

After Puerto Varas we went to Puerto Montt where we stayed with the family of the girls we stayed with in Valparaíso. They could not have been more welcoming from showing us around their home town to treating us to some of the best seafood I've ever had. I'm so grateful for the many new friends and new families I have met in Chile (You guys always have a home in the United States!). The first night they served us chupe de jaivas which is crab cooked with onions, garlic, cream and a little white wine then baked in a clay bowl with some cheese on top. YUM!

The next day we went to the island of Chiloé. It is the largest island in Chile just southwest of Puerto Montt. We ate oysters, learned about mythological characters of Chiloé and saw some beautiful beaches.

Our last day in Puerto Montt we went to family lunch at our friends' grandmother's house. We pretty much met all of their dad's side of the family! We ate curanto which is a kind of a seafood/meat soup. It has mussels, clams, chorizo, chicken, smoked pork ribs, potatoes and potato lard dumplings in it. It was all cooked in a big pot with some white wine and onions. The meat and seafood were covered with foil and then dumplings were set on top and the whole thing was left to steam for about an hour and a half. It was incredible!

Another highlight of our family lunch was the soccer game we played with our friends' sisters and cousins. Lindsay and I were on a team a few other people and we totally scored both of our team's goals!!! We ended up losing by one goal but either way Lindsay and I did the United States proud with our soccer skills!

Now we are back in Valparaíso enjoying our last day here and resting from last night's festivities aka my birthday celebration! Last night we had a wonderful sushi dinner with our hosts, then hung out at the apartment with friends. Cami made me some amazing tiramisu and we finished the night with some serious dancing at the gay bar! I couldn't have asked for a better birthday. Thank you so much Lindsay, Cami, Cotty and Mari! You guys are amazing!

Don't forget to check out more pics on facebook or Lindsay's picasa album!

Early tomorrow morning Lindsay and I are off to Lima, Peru. We are staying there for a few days and then busing to Ayacucho. I can't wait to see what Peru has in store for us!

xoxo