The 20-hour bus ride to San Carlos de Bariloche flew by with reclinable "semi-camas" (half-beds) and front-row seats for Soul Surfer, which we "reluctantly" watched 2 times. There was also a very friendly staff that, no matter what, woke up both Sarge and I, drooling and dreaming, for each meal. (We rode with Via Bariloche- two thumbs up).

S.C. de Bariloche was an amazing city with an even more incredible view of Chile right across the lake. A volcano erupted in Chile a while ago, so we were expecting to see a lot of ash flying around, and our expectations were right. During the windy days, it was impossible to look in a certain direction without being blinded, and each meal came accompanied with a free crunch of leftover ash stuck in your teeth. But the city wasn't half as bad as the sierras on the drive over (due to the dryness). You could barely see the base of the mountains.

and then we made it to....CHOLILA aka "cholinda"

And I have absolutely no idea where to begin writing this blog because the past 2 1/2 months have been a dream. When our bus pulled into Cholila, Dario immediately hopped out of his car, introduced himself, and drove us the short 3 blocks to the hostel. That night we had too much meat and too much wine with some of the first amazing people we would meet on this journey. The other amazing people we met on the nights we had big barbecues, small dinners that ended in drum circles, legitimate concerts in the hostel parking lot or casual days working on the farm.

Sarge and I joked about finding the perfect place, and somehow from a list of 200 wwoofing locations, we got what we asked for. We also got a pair of lifelong friends along the way. Living with Dario and Laura and every new volunteer has been such a journey. It's hard to express how much we've learned, both materialistically (how to make homemade jams to making houses from nature) and mentally (practicing patience and respect). We've made friends with all their friends and there is always someone to say hi to when we head down the mountain to get wine from the pueblo.

We built canals, learned how to take care of a garden, refurbished trash, painted houses with natural paint, worked with bee caretaking, worked with barro, ate fantastic meat (Cholila holds the NATIONAL meat festival every year), learned about each individual plant and what benefits it has for humans, fished, ate fish, made sushi from fish, etc. And that's not even the half of it.

We learned about the Mapuche culture and traditions (Dario is Mapuche)-- it's now ingrained in our minds to "salud" each person, looking them each individually in the eye, and then tap your glass 4 times on the table to respect everything about nature that comes in 4's (4 natural elements, 4 directions, 4 phases of the moon, etc). Each time we caught a fish, we dipped it in the lake and thanked the lago for it's gift. You can't look the birds directly in the eye or you lose their trust. And the list goes on.

We learned about the problems that are currently going on in the Patagonia, such as the Mapuche community versus Benetton. This is something that I feel ignorant for not having known before we arrived in this amazing pueblo, but it's now a fight that we both long to help with.

This is the hardest post to right, and I think that everything we did and learned is too difficult and too broad to describe on a simple blog.

We're alive, happy, and moving on for now. We're "feeding the rat" (our inner, unique passions that each person must discover inside of themselves). But after a month of travel/trek/fishing/excursions, we'll be heading back to this wonderland to "salud" our friends with a glass of vino tinto and a plate of asado with hot sauce on the side.

(Tentative) itinerary for the next bit of time:

• Parque Nacional los Alerces
• Cueva de las Manos
• Parque Nacional los Glaciares
• Ushuaia
• Antarctica
• Cholila

By the way: it doesn't notify us if someone posts a comment or sends a message via the blogsite, SO if you have any specific questions about what we're doing, advice, or whatnot, feel free to e-mail me at [email protected] (this includes if you have questions to Sarge specifically, since I check my e-mail about 100x more than he does)