Seizing the day….

After exchanging homemade cards for Valentine’s Day (p.s. I CANNOT find one greeting card in this town – I guess it’s not common practice to give Hallmark type cards – so while we’re here, expect postcards!) we decided to pack up a night’s worth of gear and head an hour away to Cerro Castillo, one of the more beautiful spots we've seen in Patagonia.

Upon arrival we decided to drive a little further to check out the scenery before dusk. Because most of the roads here are unpaved and rocky we got a flat which apparently is super common here. Billy managed to fix it and we were on our way…we found a cheap hostal and some eats and headed to bed to rest up for our big journey. And a journey it was. We thought we had a good idea of the trail from previously looking at a regional map but the trails here are unlike the marked trails in the U.S. so we somehow managed to miss the lake we set out for. All in all the trek was fantastic with a perfect temperature, clear skies and after a few hours we stumbled upon two smaller lakes with majestic views. We were more than satisfied and decided it was time to head back down. 16 miles, 8 hrs and a tad bit of pain but worth every step.

I was beginning to think summer in Northern Patagonia equaled daily rain with colder temps but these past two weeks proved me wrong. 70’s and blue skies are fine by me, in fact, I prefer it for outdoor activities. Hiking seems to be our main activity lately and partly due to the fact that the house we’re temporarily in backs up to a national reserve with plenty of day hikes to explore. This week we tried a longer loop, roughly 6 mi, and it took us to the highest point to view our town, Coyhaique.

Coyhaique houses roughly 55,000 people, about 5,ooo stray dogs and is considered the capital of this region. Two supermarkets, one gym, a military base and two main streets with shops and restaurants encompass Coyhaique. We’ve met some incredible people who are more than happy to practice Spanish conversational skills with us which, by the way, are improving daily. But unfortunately we have a Chilean accent and slang working against us. The natives tell us it’s the hardest Spanish to understand which is comforting to hear because I was beginning to doubt myself and the $375 we spent on Rosetta Stone.

Over the weekend we had a cousin of Catalina’s and his 4 friends stay at the house. They jokingly called me mom and I sadly felt like one. They are all 20 yr old university students from Santiago and had ended their 3-week bike tour with us. They hosted a Chilean BBQ with lamb, sausage and beef on the grill, lots of Piscola (a South American alcohol mixed with Coke) and I made them my infamous guacamole. Overall we relived our college summer break for a few days and made some new friends.