Weeeelll, this entry was originally written yesterday, but my dad informed me this morning that it was never posted. And of course, it was the first entry i wrote directly into the journal website instead of writing it in a word processing document before copy/pasting it into the journal, thus, it was completely lost. I hate to say it, but i thought it was a pretty darn good entry! I will try to recapture yesterday’s words, but i’ve lost some enthusiasm with having to rewrite this…
It is hard to believe i’ve been here for over a month now. Technically, last Sunday (the 7th) was my month “anniversary”. It sounds funny to say. Well, on this day Max decided to try out for the first time his homemade standup paddle board (SUP, as he calls it). The nearest little river to try it on is 8km from his house. This turned out to be perfect for me, as since ive turned to running to substitute my once biking routine, ive gotten up to 8km runs, so i cruised with him to the river to check it out, and then ran home while he was SUPing. I love running around here, because it has been the best way to take in the scenery more closely and slowly (rather than in a car), and its been a great way too to enjoy the mostly impecable weather we keep getting, although winter is basically here.
Thursday we returned to Chanco to watch Chile’s first futbol game in the Americas Cup, against Equador. But first, we went back to the forest preserve so I could check out the little museum and get a better understanding of the history behind the forest. It was quaint, but well put together. Then, we returned to the beach, because the first time we went there it was cloudy/hazy, and today it was clear and sunny. And, i finally witnessed my first green flash. There was still a bit of haze on the horizon, and Max said this made the flash less brilliant and a little shorter than when viewing conditions are perfect/pristine. But, i totally saw it! At the very last moment the very last bit of sun was setting, that bit of sun grew a little and turned bright green! Then it disappeared. It is called a green ray (rayo verde) in spanish, which is a misnomer because it is more like a small pulse/flash. But with a name like “green ray” i can see how people might expect something different or more spectacular. I was still amazed by it. We hung out for a while longer watching the waves and the sky turn colors as nightime fell. I am so mesmerized by the waves here; i could watch them for hours without getting bored. This visit was also neat because the haze last time prevented me from being able to see the entire bay from beach like i could this day.
There was a solid little crowd at Allantu to watch the game. They had a projector set up and seats rearranged so everyone had a good view, and they had their awesome homemade woodfired oven cooking pizzas for everyone. I had a fantastic veggie pizza, probably one of the best ive ever had. Great crust, not a lot of cheese, and chock full of veggies. And i sprinkled on lots of merken, my new favorite spicy red chili pepper, and very important to native Mapuche cuisine.The Mapuches were the native southern Chileans, who were the only tribe never conquered by the Spanish (i belive…). Of course like most native peoples of a place otherwise conquered by whites, their heritage was marginalized and mostly disregarded until maybe 10 or 15 years ago when Chile started to reimbrace its native cultures, foods, etc. So speaking of Mapuche, and back to the futbol game, the Americas Cup is being hosted by Chile this year, and all the offical team logos/flags and the offical ball are shaped in the form of a Mapuche 8-sided star. I thought that was pretty cool. It was a great game, most especially since Chile won.
Friday we drove to Cauquenes so Max could take care of various errands he can in the smaller nearby towns. This is the first time ive been back to Cauquenes since taking the bus there from Santiago to get here originally. It was dark when Max picked me up, so i did not get a good feel for what the landscape was like on the drive to Curanipe, other than it was hilly and curvy. It was a beautiful drive, although it was a cloudy day. Unfortunately there were no good places to pull off the road and take pictures, so i will just have to describe one scene in particular that left a huge and somewhat sad impression on me, and would have made a fantastic photo. We passed two immense hills right next to each other. The first hill was covered in tall, beautiful native Chilean trees, which were golden and orange colors with the autumn season (Max said this is the latest he’s ever seen leaves still on the native trees). The other hill was dark green with very closely planted, tall pine trees. The juxtaposition between native forest and industrial forest was striking i tell you. We passed lots of other hills, mostly with pine trees, or that were recently harvested, so only stumps and bare ground made up the hills. Pretty ugly. But, this is Chile… There wasnt much to see in Cauquenes proper. It’s population is maybe 45,000? It had a nice little town plaza, but nothing notable surrounded it. No cool bars or restaurants or shopping districts. It appeared more strip-mally than anything. And apparently most towns are like this in Chile (as was explained to me by Max and the couple who stayed with us this weekend, surfing friends of Max’s). And although it is a decent-sized town, it is still sleepy enough that there are not many places to get a decent lunch because most businesses close during lunch to go home and eat. But we found a place to get lunch, which was part of a well-known local long established bakery in Cauquenes. The only vegetarian option on the menu was, alas, pizza. I didnt want to have pizza again since i had such a good one the previous night, but i figured it couldnt be bad if it was coming from a bakery (thinking bakery = good dough). WRONG. It was literally the worst pizza ive ever had in my life. The crust was limp, and chewy like a stale cracker, the sauce was flavorless, and it was drowning in too much gross cheese. I kinda couldnt believe the cooks let it leave the kitchen. I sort of salvaged it by peeling off the cheese and moving all the veggies onto one half of the crust, which i ate with some balsamic vinegar. It was rather humorous i thought. There were highlights to the trip though, because Max didnt want it to be all errand-running. He ordered a small woodfired stove from one of the oldest metal working shops still remaining in Chile, and visiting that place was really neat. He’s going to install it in his bedroom. He also took me to a vineyard next to Cauquenes, whose wine i have been enjoying quite often at Max’s. Its called Lomas de Cauquenes, and apparently they dont water their grapevines! Way cool. The last cool highlight was going to the open-air produce market. There we stocked up on veggies and fruits and some spices/herbs. There were lots of produce vendors, but also some local artisan/craft vendors. It was a long day and we did not get home until 10pm that evening.
This weekend was enjoyable too. A couple Max has gotten to know recently came Saturday afternoon and left Sunday night. We ate well and had nice conversations, and when they went surfing yesterday i took the time to write my (lost) journal entry and go for a run. This entry did not turn out exactly as it was yesterday, but the information is mostly the same. Hope you enjoy!
