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Needless to say we made it back from Chile safe and sound. It took me a while to not say “Si’” or “Gracias” all the time.

We had a fabulous time while we were there.  Granted, ten days was entirely too long to be gone from The Bear and The Mouse.  Chile now is such a fantastic place, different, but still absolutely stellar.  We want to thank all our friends and family who helped make this trip happen especially our host family, the McLeans.

We can’t wait until we can go back.

So we’re here.  Not just Chile but our destination.

We’re in town today doing some errands and getting hooked back up to the world.  We made it to the farm out in the country.  We actually slept lying on our backs last night instead of some version of sitting up.  That was fantastic.

It is absolutely beautiful down here.  Entirely different than what we were expecting but still very cool and very intriguing.  The farm is about 45 minutes outside of Puerto Montt and is extremely remote.  The cabins are also a bit more, um… rustic than we thought, but that’s cool.  A little like “Little House on the Prairie”.  Granted we’re really not spending that much time inside during the day so far.

We arrived yesterday morning on an overnight bus from Santiago.  We woke up with some nice man sharing his mariachi music with the whole bus.  Luckily, I kept Berry from strangling him otherwise it might have caused some complications with our vacation.  We got in to Puerto Montt a little bit before 10a and we we’re looking for our host, Lisa.  We knew what she looked like and we were hoping that she would be able to pick us out of the crowd.  That worry was soon quashed, when she came right up to us, “You’re the only ones that look like gringos!”  Nice.  She is warm, easy and has a great laugh.

So we load up everything onto into the back of the truck and head out to the farm or campo (rural area).  It is beautiful, quiet when the multitudes of children, sheep and chickens are asleep:>, and peaceful.  The sky is huge without light pollution.

We walked from our host’s house (about 15 mins) to our cabin last night around 9pm down a rocky road, in a light drizzle and did not hear a single sound except our laughter.  The children of our host are adorable and free spirits sprinting here and there around the campo, working like men and playing like children.  It makes missing our own little ones a bit easier.  The family who manages the campo have 6 stair step children from 11 to 4.  The youngest was a hard nut to crack but I finally got her yesterday.  I am a jungle gym for the others.

The landscape looks the same until you look closely and the trees are shaped differently and the spring colors are a bit different  Berry has recognized a magnolia relative, eucalyptus and something akin to sweet shrub.  The daffodils though still make her smile.  Spring for a second time this year is wonderful.

We feel so fortunate to be experiencing such a drastic change of culture.  NO ONE speaks english much at all.  That has been interesting.  We miss you all and hope you are safe and well.