Por bus al campo

Yesterday was an emotionally crazy day. We took a bus at 645am from Achao, Chiloe, to Puerto Montt, and caught up on sleep and rest... Once off the bus, we heard ¨Megan!¨on the street and turned to find two of our Loyolan friends (whom we had left in Puerto Natales) across the street. That happens here. Everyone goes to the same spots, so we have run into fellow travellers and friends in multiple cities... super fun! Anyway.

The four of us walked through artensan stands, fruit stands, and dodged the hanging clams and mussels at seafood stands to arrive at El Mercado. Friends, I was in heaven. Absolute heaven. It´s a crazy, cramped farmers/fishers market with tons of people, tons of food, good (and rank) smells. I LOVE outdoor markets. We wove through people, raw fish and foreign fruits to arrive at Los Cocineras. These are very small restaurants crowded together and sitting over the water. They all serve the seafood of the markets, and we watched the fishing boats from our tables. We ate curanto, which is a local specialty. We were told it cooks in huge pots, so we assumed it was stew. WRONG. We received plates piled high with clams, mussels, fish, meat, potatoes, weird bread, more fish, more... holy cow. heaven. I´ve never eaten so many shellfish.

After some frustrations and difficulty at the bus terminal, we were exhausted and even more in culture shock. However, a super nice bus man helped us and gave us his cell phone to make calls to the US, and a guy our age helped us out. Long story short -- we arrived in Pucon at 1145pm with no place to stay. The guy, Rola, had his girlfriend give us a ride to run an errand, and then she picked up her family. As they handed us our backpacks, the mother offered their house for the night... Ladies and gentleman, this was another miracle. They own this beautiful cabin in the country with a river and horses and mountains... they cooked us a meal at 100am, lit a fire in the stove in our bedroom, gave us hot showers, this morn cooked breakfast and brought us to Pucon. INCREDIBLE experience. There was the mom, and five kids and us. Perfect. Yay for hospitality and goodness... and curanto.