Our official first leg of the journey home was through the island of Chiloe, the second largest island in South America. This journey was supposed to last 6 hours until we reached the southernmost city of the island, Quellon. We believed that the island was connected to the mainland by a bridge, but as we were driving south, the bus jumped on a ferry. As we continued our journey we found out that Quellon was a port city with nothing to do so we decided instead to spend the night at Castro, the island’s capital. As soon as we arrived we knew there was something special about the island. Back when the Spanish conquistadores where colonizing the region, they were unable to do so in Chiloe because of fierce resistance from the natives. The island finally ... read more

We got up at the crack of dawn to put our gear on and go hike up the volcano. Usually people start hiking the volcano at 5000ft where the ski lifts can take you, but being winter, the lifts were frozen. We had to start at about 300ft at 8am. Twenty minutes into our hike my heart was racing and my feet were hurting. Breaks were never long enough for me but I had to keep on trekking. Every ten minutes the slope got steeper and the snow got deeper. After hiking 3 hours and almost reaching the 6000 ft mark most of us gave up. The view from there was amazing! You could see three volcanoes, the Andes Mountains and Lake Villarica. The hike was worth it just to see that view. We had lunch ... read more

After a week of winter camp, Dana, Brad, Ari and I decided to bacpack our way south to Coihayque instead of suffering through another day of cancelled flights. Our first stop was Temuco in the Los Lagos region. We stopped here because of awesome hiking recommeded by people and travel books. One problem: its winter in Patagonia. This means the park near Temuco was full with snow and inpenetrable. Instead, we decided to explore the city for the day. While wondering around we found the Mercado Municipal where tons of artisans displayed their work and salesman displayed their meat. It was colorful. On our way back to the hostel we ran into a protest by several labor unions. In Chile, unions are still considered taboo and so are protests so we got away as soon as ... read more

Winter camp finally started! As soon as the kids saw us the ambiance changed. They love having us around! We started the day with icebreakers and went on to practicing English. The first task was to make signs of different places throught the school. They loved it! They put a really big effort into it. After that, we kept going with the camp project which has to do with a stray dog in Chile who travels around and finds out he loves Chile. The kids have to right a chapter of the dog's adventures in Concepcion. After lunch the kids performed some skits created by the Ministry of Education. What a laugh! We ended the day singing the Hokey Pokey and giving homework assignments. Chilean kids are full of energy which is promotes a good learning ... read more

People in Patagonia eat four meals a day. So you can imagine all the food I've been eating. I mentioned previously the Chorillana. Today, it's all about Curanto. It's made in a huge pot. First, you put in the chicke, then the beef, sausage and pork. You cook it in a marinate of seasoning and wine. After the meet is almost cooked, then you throw in some sea food. It's delicious. ... read more