sorry for the delay from chiloe

(post from a few days ago)

Things have gone smoothly so far. I met up with the ladies in Puerto Montt, and we immediately boarded a bus to the island (part of the trip was a short ferry ride) of Chiloe. Fortunately this was just a short bus ride this time. Along with Stephanie and Erin is their friend Carly who was in the same program and also went to U of I. Anyway, we got to our hostel, which is pretty great. It's not much like a lot of the hostels I've stayed at in the past. It's essentially just a house that's been converted into a hostel, and we all really like it. It's quite welcoming and the young couple, Eduardo and Dina, that own it are pretty great. The first night we were here they were having a party at the hostel to celebrate their anniversary.

We decided to pick up a bottle of tequila, and ingredients to make guacamole. At the party we grilled out, drank some sangria, cervezas, and tequila, and chatted a lot with some Chileans. Fast forward a little while, and somehow the housekeeper of the hostel (wearing a jack-o-lantern t-shirt) is challenging me to take shots of tequila. Backing down was simply not an option. Essentially I had a small glass and she had a double shot glass. She insisted that the height of tequila in my glass be equal to the height in her shot glass. As a result, obviously mine was significantly more. No big, we each took our "shots" without incident. Then she started telling me how she beat me. I had no idea we were racing, especially because racing shots just seems ridiculous anyway. So of course I suggested a rematch. At this point Eduardo stepped in and called off the rematch as the housekeeper was hammered. Good times. We later went to a little club for a while where one of the Chileans we were with pulled me aside to tell me how based on my appearance I am very clearly not Chilean (I was shocked) and he'd have my back if something happened. No worries, nothing happened.

Our first full day in Chiloe, we woke up, had a quick breakfast and Eduardo took us out for the day. First we drove around a little bit, stopped at some absolutely stunning beaches, and even met some guys who were clam divers. After that, we headed to a different beach and stopped into a little restaurant overlooking the ocean for lunch. I wish I could post pictures of the food, but just trust me, we had some amazing seafood. After that we boarded a small boat, and headed out onto the ocean. One of Eduardo's friends took us out on his boat to see sea lions and penguins on small islands a bit off the coast. I got a pretty sweet sun burn. Also, the captain of the boat had a blast going over relatively large waves and watching Stephanie freak out. It was far from a reasonable reaction, and I simply began turning and watching her face every time we approached a wave. It was very enjoyable/pathetic.

That was pretty much it for the day. We're hoping to also go whale watching and eat 'curanto.' Curanto is a a meal of shellfish and carne (mixed meat). It's cooked in a hole in the ground that has a fire in the bottom, then stones, then the food is placed on top. The hole is then covered with large leafs so that the food can essentially bake in the hole. It's obviously a new concept to me, but the girls have been dying to try it for some time.

(Haven't had too much internet access at our hostel, for some reason my computer is having trouble accessing the internet despite being able to connect to the network. Pretty lame… so fast forward and here is what was supposed to be my next post)

Anyway, we had Curanto yesterday and it was very impressive. The first plate of muscles, clams, sausages, chicken, potatoes, etc came out and we assumed it was a plate for 2 people to share. Absolutely not. We each got our own plates and as a result, were more than a little bit excited. It was amazing, and somehow only cost about $10 each. We weren't even able to finish all of it and had leftovers which Erin and I mixed with pasta for dinner. Carly and Stephanie are "vegetarians" so they gave us their non-seafood meat. Long story short, they are the sorriest excuse for vegetarians I've ever seen. We also had a drink called pisco sour, which is lemon, egg whites, sugar and an type of liquor unique to South America, pisco. It's both good and strong.

We also hit up a thrift store (essentially a $2 USD store) on our way to the grocery store to buy pasta and such. The ladies all bought leotard/shirt type outfits. I'm not exactly sure how to describe them, but clearly the word 'sexy' jumps to mind quite easily. Personally, I purchased a purple corduroy jacket, that is, needless to say, awesome. It is a jacket that will wow my friends, family, and coworkers for years to come. It is a very nice, modern 2 button jacket that is best described as 'holy shit that's awesome.'

We are about to leave for an island a bit further south for the whale watching tour that will hopefully begin at 2am Wednesday. Based on recent reports, we are very optimistic about seeing whales and particularly giant blue whales. It is not in my nature at all to be optimistic though, so I'm still holding onto the belief that I won't see shit so that I don't have to get disappointed.