Latitude 42 South or North…it RAINS!

If you thought it rains a lot in Portland, come to Patagonia. Not only does it rain but the wind howls! Thankful we did get a glimpse of the Orosono volcano on our first day in Llanquihue as it was the only clear day we’ve had! Sadly, we will be moving on with out another view of the volcano.

Today we spent a lot of time traveling around the lake to visit Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park which is Chile’s oldest national park established in 1926. This park is special as the river flows through cinder cones, volcanic peaks and lava flows. A very wet walk took us down to the dramatic Petrohué Falls. We wondered if our young kayak adventure friend, Jordan, might attempt this but we were assured by our guides that no one survives that drop due to the razor-sharp volcanic rock!

I was a bit disappointed when the above sign was translated for me – “Don’t step on the grass” rather than what I thought it meant!

From the Falls we headed south to the Pacific coast where we were welcomed by a local indigenous community of Huilliche (People of the South), the southernmost population of Mapuche people. We participated in a traditional ceremony where we gave thanks both publicly and privately to Mother Earth for all that she provides to us. The community came together and walked us thru a traditional way of cooking potatoes from their fields which was to pat the mashed potato (with a large amount of lard from what I could tell) on to a wood pole. Once the potatoes were on the pole we moved it over a very hot bed of coals and rotated the pole for about 30 minutes. They then cut the potatoes off and sprinkled cracklings and re-rolled the potatoes, sliced it into rounds and we had a very decadent potato dish – which the chief (Lonko) insisted was better than “McDonalds”. Lunch consisted of a hunk of smoked pig from a member of the community and some vegetables – and of course Chilean wine!

After lunch we had a time to discuss the politics of being an indigenous person in Chile, how hard it’s been for them to find work outside of their communities due to discrimination and the government’s slow to award them the necessary permits to actively participate in tourism – like we just experienced. Ron really enjoyed learning more about their thoughts on death and afterlife. They believe that we are surrounded by their ancestors and they are all participating with us in our ceremony. I loved that we can find our ancestors in the smell of lavender!