Chilen

I just got back from an incredible five day vacation to the archipelago of Chilóe.  I took a bus from Santi to Puerto Montt where I met Marcus, a New Zeland eco tourism specialist and backpacker.  We cruised over to Cucao and spent the night on the beach getting down with some local college kids on vacation. With an delicious breakfeast of Machas we treked over to Cole Cole, a rugid beach in Chilóe´s national park. After another night of hanging out, we cruised back to Castro (Chilóe´s capital) and continued our separate ways. I headed toward a local festival in Chonchi with super cheap wine and great music and dancing.  There I meet a Chilean named Manuel and we spent the night in a sketch spot camping on the beach.  In the morning we woke up and cruised over to the island of Lemuy in time for the biggest curanto in the world (seafood smoked and cooked with hot rocks covered with leaves…delicious) One last night partying with our fellow campers, sleepin over at Manuel´s cousins. We took the bus back, and somehow bike I had locked on the street was still there, must be some of “el magico del sur.”

Mercado Central De Santiago is one of the biggest markets I have ever seen. They sell all sorts of food (fish, meat, fruits, vegetables) and also every random object you can think of. I ate at seafood soup lunch with a cerveza…tan rico. Here are some photos and a video I made to try and capture the wonder.

It is pretty cool to look into the lives and shops of some of the art and textile manufactures. It is sometimes amazing how they fit their factory in just a regular house on the street. Here are some pictures from a textile shop and a screen printing place

For the first month in Chile I will be wwoofing (voulenteering work for room and board) in Santiago for a women named Barbara and her organic input clothing company Kukunst (www.kukunst.cl) I am doing graphic design for her as well as teaching her to print tshirts. Barbara and her husband Olaf live in the beautiful sector of Providencia and are expecting a baby in March! Here is a picture of our house, the red rocket I bought from mercado libre (www.mercadolibre.cl), and our two dogs :)

I am spending the greater part of 2012 down south in Chile. This blog will document my adventures providing pictures and videos for both personal reflection and for the homies to know whats going down. Enjoy :)