Chiloe, preparing to head north, and the close of a patagonian season

For the past few weeks, I have been traveling with Aline and Julia, a terrific couple of gals I met while volunteering at CIDEP, along with their other friend from Switzerland, Didier. Aline and I met up with the other two in Castro on the island of Chiloe, a beautiful and magical place to rest up for a few days after camping in the Alerces and inland Patagonia and (to our surprise) watch the seasons begin to change before our very eyes. ¨Chiloe ¨is one large main land mass surrounded by various other smaller islands. They are dotted by small (and teeny tiny) little towns that each have a rich history of native Mapuche (but also specific to Chiloe) legends, customs, and culture. Maritime ventures are essential, the seafood is fresh daily and amazing, and the women knit beautiful and cozy traditional wool clothing for the months and months of rain and snow. We saw the warm weather out and watched the cold and rain come in almost overnight, before our very eyes.

We decided to go backpacking to a remote place on the island called Cole Cole, the tidewaters of a river on a roadless bay. The hike there, the beach, and the weather were all gorgeous...that is, until our first nigt camping on the shore.

We woke up to blasting winds and rain, and cold. Luckily, we managed to also do some exploring and find to our surprise an as-yet-unopened ¨refigio¨ for hikers. After getting in the building, we had a place to dry off some of our things and eventually lay out our sleepingbags to spend the next night. It was big and empty with big windows to view the fury of the stormy shore. Hot chocolate would have been nice, but it was still pretty cozy.

After we got back, we decided to head out to one of the remote teeny towns to do some camping. We ended up staying on the shore on the lawn of an amazingly welcoming and accomodating family, who invited us in to sit out the cold and rain in their kitchen next to their warm wood-burning stove. During the day, they invited us to come drink apple juice with them and view their orchard/juice/¨chicha¨ making operation. Chicha, they explained, was the local hard apple juice drink on the island. Autumn is harvest time! Mmmm...

There were fishing boats in various bright and cheery colors all over the shore. We were told that many fisherman spend all day into the night fishing and then pull up on shore to spend the night in their ships.

Each and every town, no matter how small, seemed to be complete with a gorgeous and unique cathedral.

We also got to cook atop the wood stove! We had a wonderful time chatting in a mix of Spanish and French and munching what noodles or grains we could find at the local minishop. One time they even had some bread!

Now I am back in Bariloche, preparing for my next trip, up north to Cochabamba in Bolivia. I miss my friends from Switzerland as well as my time at CIDEP, and once again I find myself traveling alone. It´s a little frightening and intimidating, I must admit, to be about to embark on a journey that will take me at least half a week with 2 or 3 stops in unknown towns in the north of Argentina and in Boliva before I reach Cochabamba. But I can do it, I will do it, I know it is all a part of my own personal adventure and at some points I´ve just got to do my best and trust the road, uncertainties and all. Once in Cochabamba, I have a home and Bolivian family to stay with, more language studies and one of a few really exciting options for social and environmental sustainability-geared volunteer projects to join up with, put energy into and meet other travelers while volunteering at. The prospect of all of these things energizes me and motivates me to make the journey that I know will be more than worth it. It will be a little sad to leave Bariloche and Argentina where I have been for the last half a year, but I really feel as well that it is a time for a change. Maybe its the cold autumn wind beginning to blow, the realization that there is an end to my trip in sight (and I welcome it as well), a spirit of adventure that ushers me on to explore places I´ve never been, or a bit of all of these and more. I will let you know, when I get there, what life is like on the other side of my journey. Until then, I´ll be waiting myself as well to find out how it all goes.