We stayed in Villa O'Higgins for three nights as there was no bus running until Saturday. It rained most of the time so we spent a lot of time in the hostel resting and getting to know our hostelmates. We got to know Pascal and Nancy from Switzerland, Marcel from Germany, and a couple of long distance cyclists from France named André and Claire. We also met Steffen from Germany and Fay from Sussex, England who we ended up traveling with for more than a week, spending most our time cooking, eating like Romans, and laughing.
On our final day in Villa O´Higgins it cleared up in the afternoon and we walked up into the mountains and explored the town a bit. It had a very wild west feel to it. Its "supermarkets" looked like places you would buy supplies for the Oregon trail. They were dark little rooms with unfinished wood shelves stocked mostly with cans and expired condiments. Amazingly, however, they had free wi-fi and Steffen had a little travel computer so we were able to catch up on the inauguration.
That final evening Steffen started playing guitar and we all started singing, Take Me Home Country Roads being a favorite. Steffen and Marcel also sang a German children´s song about apes looking for coconuts that had all of us red faced with laughter. We also discovered from Steffen that the German word for honeybun is "Schnuckiputzi."
Saturday night we camped behind a hostel in Cochrane, another small town that not only had its name up on a hill in the style of the Hollywood sign, but also had the only bank on the southern Carretera Austral. Unfortunately it refused to take my card leaving us in a pretty precarious situation. Steffen, our hero, took out a substantial amout of money for us and saved us from a world of pain.
The following day we went to Puerto Río Tranquilo, another tiny town on Lago General Carrera. When we got there we joined a little tour in a motorboat to see the caves of marble along the coast and in some of the islands. When we got back to town we settled into Odina´s daughter's hospedaje where we got to share dinner with her, Marcela, members of her family, her friend Lidia, and a couple from Buenos Aires named Mario and Monica. It was a special night: boisterous, warm, and deeply amusing.
The following day we failed to get on the bus because it was tiny and packed to the gills, so after a walk up into the hills overlooking the lake, we got to do it all over again. I made pisco sours from Alvaro´s recipe, Steffen made German potato salad, Kartoffelsalat, and we roasted a chicken in Marcela´s woodburning oven. Boisterosity ruled again as we broke the roasting pan somewhat injuring Hilary, Marcela cut my hair, and Steffen and I ate an obscene amount of homemade currant and raspberry cake. Marcela was a wonderful host and we are still eating her homemade cherry jam.
On our final day together we caught the bus with Steffen and Fay to Villa Cerro Castillo where we took a beautiful walk to a somewhat underwhelming wall of ancient handprints (see video). Finally we had a last supper together. Hilary ordered a traditional meal, I went for the healthy option.
It is hard to describe what happens when you meet people who are truly (I believe the Spanish word is) simpatico. I can´t really describe what we talked about or why the words like "breathtaking" would bring on fits of hysterical laughter. Steffen and Fay were not only tremedously kind to us, it was like getting a chance to travel with a professional comedy team. We just received an email from them that turned heads in our internet cafe because of our laughter. We can still see their smiles and waves as the bus pulled away on Wednesday taking them to Coyhaique and leaving us alone by a quite river in the mountains.
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