Road Trip from Puerto Montt to Chiloé

The island of Chiloé in Southern Chile is famous for a number of things: architecture (palafitos, world heritage churches), penguins, mythology, a rain forest, shellfish, and potatoes.

on the ferry from pargua to the grand island of chiloé

We set out from Frutillar, stopping in Puerto Varas to rent a car and zipping past Puerto Montt about 30 mins to the Pargua ferry, on May 1, which is a national holiday in Chile.  At just past noon we said ‘salud!’ and clinked beer glasses over lunch with some locals of Pargua, who tried to pass a young man off to me – he apparenly had the nicest eyes in the region, and so in their opinion was my ideal match.

palafito 1326, boutique hotel in castro

After a beautiful drive from Ancud to Castro, we checked in to the Palafito 1326 hotel, which had stunning design features and eked out over the water on stilts.  The hotel is heated entirely by a massive wood fireplace, which is next to a sitting area and open kitchen, adjoining a large deck, and much of the interior design relates to wool in some way, so I was endlessly diverted.

paz caillet store in castro, chiloé

One main purpose of the trip was to investigate yarn sourcing, so we stopped in many stores featuring knitwear and asked for leads.  Paz Caillet had some great designs, but no leads on wool.

huiñe maulín tejedoras in castro, chiloé

We lucked out with the  Agrupación Huiñe Maulín shop, though – they were able to sell us a big ball of yarn, a natural grey colour and right from the island.  I also found a great silver ring with broom straw woven on the face, so I left very happy.

beached boats in castro, chiloé

Castro was a nice little town, but we really didn’t think ahead by arriving on a holiday.  Nearly everything was closed.  We tried one restaurant, ordered a seafood platter, and left most of it on the table (strike one for Chilote seafood).  After accidentally stopping for a beer in a “red-light” bar, of which I will spare you the ugly details, the Hostería de Castro addressed our persistent hunger with an excellent cheese platter and avocado salad, and our waiter was a model in attentive service.

cast iron cocina in abandoned farmhouse

We could not dwell long in Castro, and hoped that the sunshine and rainbows would follow us along our route through the long country road to Dalcahue (plan ahead for the extra time it will take to navigate a pot-holed gravel road at 40km/h..)  We diverted off the main road to investigate a sign that simply said ” <— Historia” and figured the abandoned farm house behind barbed wire must have been what the sign was referring to.  We poked around without having the place collapse on our heads, and I liberated a big iron circle thingamajig from the rubble that I will use for a woven wall piece.

note my pretty new ring

Somewhere along this dirt road we passed an older woman, and stopped to ask her if she needed a lift.  When she said that was ok, we asked about yarn.  Turns out she had some at home, so she hopped in and invited us in to her little place around the corner.  I got one big skein of a black & white blend.  The design of the yarn is typical of the artesanal markets here in Chile, but I knew this woman spun the yarn herself so it holds special value for me.

me with blondina cardenas of chiloe

When asked if she had any thicker yarn, Blondina led us to another building next to her house and we walked into this scene:

large scale loom in chiloe

Words can’t describe how nice it is to be in a place where you stop a random lady on the side of a dirt road, and she brings you into her home and unveils this.  The heddle bar is suspended from the ceiling, and she said she could finish this project in about 2 days.  Simply amazing.  She gave me a ball of cream yarn as a gift, to boot.

world heritage church in dalcahue, chiloe

Dalcahue was a quaint little town, but I experienced strike #2 for seafood at the Cocina Dalcahue, which was a large building along the waterfront with numerous little domestic-looking kitchens with countertop seating inside.

kelgwo arte textile in ancud, chiloe

We drove through Quamchi and then back to Ancud, where we made it to Kelgwo Arte Textil, a very well-established store and organization that works with numerous indigenous artisans to create beautiful garments and decor, both knit and woven.

To sum it all up…

Architecture: fantastico.

Penguins: didn’t find any, but didn’t really look either.

Mythology: I saw a t-shirt with the goddess of Pincoya, spirit of ocean and shore, on it – but otherwise, no ghost ships, witches, unicorns, or dwarves presented themselves.

Rain Forest: is on the Western side of the island, but I can attest to the lush and bountiful landscape on the Eastern side.

Shellfish: bust. Never accept microwaved shellfish, ever.  Being a polite tourist just isn’t worth the tummy-ache.

All in all, well worth the visit!

Published by Terri on May 4, 2012 in Arts & Culture and Lifestyle. 0 Comments

Rodeo and Dance in Chile

chilean cowboys at the frutillar rodeo, and me, underdressed

Frutillar was host town to the last rodeo event of the season this year, and lucky for me the rodeo grounds are justa few minutes away so I finally got to see what a Chilean rodeo was all about.  It is quite different from the rodeos at home – there is just one event, where a team of riders on horseback try to pin a calf against a padded fence in the ring.

A total of 13 points can be acquired in each round.  The top 16 pairs advance to the finals, until 3 pairs of riders are left.  The winners and runners up get to trot around the ring with a rodeo queen in a fancy frilly dress on their horse – and then the celebration begins! (or, continues..)

It didn’t take us long to locate the Chilean equivalent to the ‘beer garden’ – here it was a wooden shack with a bar in the centre, a big barbeque with sticks of meat sizzling away, and plenty of whiscolas (whiskey + cola) to be shared.

chilean cowboys

The cowboys are a very polite and interesting bunch.  They are exceptionally well groomed, as rodeo club rules dictate that a man can’t have hair covering his neck and must be clean shaven and well presented.  These guys don’t compete for money, they do it simply for fun, pride and honour.  I made it back a little while after the rodeo for the dance, and got spun around the dance floor a few times before heading to….

A dance in a gymnasium.  And yes, the lights were on the whole time.  After sitting in the bleachers for a few minutes trying to make sense of this whole scene, we threw our hands in the air, went right to the front of the stage, and whirled, twirled, and dipped our way through the rest of the night.  The dance floor was packed the entire time, people young and old.  Kids dancing with their parents watching, parents dancing with their kids watching.

Best workout I’ve had in the last month!

Published by Terri on May 2, 2012 in Lifestyle. 0 Comments

Chile is a Gardener’s Paradise

granja quilarayen garden 

The landscape here in Southern Chile is breathtaking even on a grey day, but when the sun shines the whole world just comes to life.  I’ve visited some beautiful gardens throughout my travels and thought I would share a bit of this wonder – I don’t know how people do it here.

a sliver of a big backyard garden

I guess the frequent rain does a lot of the work…I thought people had a green thumb in Vancouver, but it seems gardening is an even greater pasttime in Chile!  Houses are full of plants, many of the homes are 100+ year old German colonial style, wood shingled and surrounded by large yards, apple trees, chicken coops and bustling plant life everywhere.

backyard chickies

One of the most unreal places was a garden & nursery called Granja Quilarayen in Puerto Varas.  Everywhere you looked was full of thriving plants, both potted and in the ground, tagged for identification.

feet firmly planted

Trees, flowers, shrubbery – you name it, they probably had it.  A little path wound through the property, which was quite large.  Tiny bridges covered little bubbling creeks, and the place had the abundant air of a rainforest, a lifeblood of energy running through it.

potted plants

They even had a clearing up in the forest for barbeques in the summer, next to a little gnome cottage, home of the protectors of this magical place.

backyard garden at Melí restaurant in Frutillar

Melí, the garden and kitchen that is connected to the Patagonia Virgin development in Frutillar, is another gem of a spot with a new greenhouse adjoined to the cafe, complete with dining tables in the centre.  A new variety of plantlife is featured on rotation (sunflowers are the current stars), and you can buy plants to take home and bury in your own garden at home.  The plan is to expand in the future so that the cafe can use more of their own house-grown products within the menu.

I love looking at a plate of food and knowing exactly where everything came from.

Published by Terri on April 30, 2012 in Lifestyle. 0 Comments

larry. Residency in Frutillar, Chile: Week 1

It’s been just over a week since I arrived in Chile for my month-long residency with Patagonia Media, who invited me to be here and create a larry. collection as part of their inititiave to develop collaborative partnerships on an international scale.  Emphasis is on the exchange of cultural ideas, learning from local artisans, and drawing inspiration from the environment and landscape.

the highest point on the Patagonia Virgin property

Patagonia Media is the marketing branch of Patagonia Virgin, which is a large-scale real estate company that is developing hundreds of hectares of land in Frutillar with townhomes, hotels, a golf course, and a small village/esplanade  containing shops and restaurants.  Their process is strikingly admirable for such a development; progression of the project is carefully considered, with due care taken to preserving the beauty of the land while addressing local culture and needs.  They have planted over 40,000 trees in an adjacent nursery, and hundreds of hectares of land will remain protected within the native forest reserve.  My role here is to learn about the region and local culture, and reflect these ideas in my designs for Patagonia Style, which will serve to celebrate the creative nature of this place.

farm inspiration

The goal for the first week was to get acquainted with the area, and begin sourcing materials to work with.  I had very broad expectations in this regard – I did not arrive with specific ideas in mind, as I wanted to remain open to work with whatever materials presented themselves or made sense for this climate and region.  One of the first stops was an antique shack in Puerto Varas, which reminded me very much of my favourite shop in Clinton, BC, with lots of old farmhouse equipment and things of that nature:

farm antiques in puerto varas, chile

I ended up buying a small lot of watch parts, wheels and frames, trinkets of time.  I was tempted by the typewriters with grass growing out of them, but knowing that I have three in storage at home helped stave off the urge to buy.

underwood typewriter

Scoured around Puerto Montt for yarn sources, walked the artisan’s row along the waterfront, lots of Chilean crafts, yarn, ponchos, souvenirs.  The colours of yarn were vibrant and beautiful, though I prefer to use natural colours in my own work:

yarn in puerto montt, chile

I did get some cream roving (see forefront of image), which I will hand-spin slightly as I knit with it, I think it will turn out pretty nice – very warm and bullky.  We also stopped by the marina, looking around for discarded parts and rope that I might incorporate into an installation piece, or woven work, or…

I’ve also met with Maria, the daughter of the cowboy Jose, who manages the horses for Patagonia Virgin and leads the horseback expeditions.  She showed me some of her weaving, demonstrating on her wooden loom, and a rare spinning wheel built in Villa Alegre that is over 40 years old.  Maria also dyes her own wool, using fruits, tree barks, and other materials to naturally colour the wool fibres.

loom built in villa alegre

Marcela Rios, an artisan in Llhanquihue who sells her work at the shop in the Puerto Montt airport, took me out to the town of Chamiza to the Chucao Lanas studio.  I got a demonstration of their process for dyeing the yarn, which is sourced from Punta Renas in southern Chile.

yarn ready to be coloured and cooked

It was very soft and of great quality, so I bought a couple kilos of cream yarn, some of which I plan to dye using natural materials from our backyard here in Frutillar.  Speaking, of our backyard, the Patagonia Virgin is home to sheep, geese, and horses.  I crept through the goose pen to collect some feathers one sunny afternoon:

And throughout all of the day trips, yarn sourcing, brainstorming, backyard barbeques, meeting amazing creative people who shared not only their time but their inspiration, we managed to find the time to have some great fun.  On Sunday we went on a 6 hour trek through the property on horseback, stopping at the top of a hill for a beautiful lunch before continuing on our countryside adventure:

break from horseback expedition through patagonia virgin land

The first week has been utterly amazing, very inspirational – everything from the people, the landscape, architecture, indigenous crafts.  Looking forward to seeing what the next week will bring!

Thank you, Chile!


Published by Terri on April 23, 2012 in Lifestyle and News. 0 Comments

On the Train from Saskatchewan to Vancouver

I’ve always wanted to travel by train, so I decided to take advantage of my lack of a pressing schedule in between my globetrotting to take a leisurely train ride with VIA Rail from Saskatoon to Vancouver.

coyote tracks running through the Craik eco-village

After a couple weeks of prairie living in the Craik Eco-Village, which involved meeting the neighbours and their farm animals, drinking copious amounts of tea, chopping wood and continuously feeding the fire, I headed back to Vancouver after finding a killer deal on the VIA Rail Express Deals page.

My only previous train experience was a trip from Vancouver to Edmonton when I was about thirteen, with my mom.  We stopped off in Jasper for a bit of a walk around, didn’t realize the time difference, and missed the train!  Luckily, due mainly to my green-dyed hair and fake little skater outfit, the train attendant in our car realized we hadn’t made it back on and had them stop the train.  When we ran into the station, they had a truck waiting to drive us up the tracks to where the train was waiting for us.  Needless to say, I was excited to hop on the train as an adult and, hopefully, not miss boarding ever again.

visitor on the tracks in jasper, AB

It was an amazing experience.  I met many wonderful people, the train attendants were so lovely and knew all the passengers by their first name.  Scenery, staff, meeting new people from around the world, delicious meals, comfy bed – check, check, check.

In all of my efforts to train anywhere before, plans were derailed due to the high cost of traveling this way.  However, if you are flexible on dates then I highly recommend going the Express Deals route – of course there are no cancellations, changes, or leeway of any kind with this type of fare, so beware on that end.

I almost went economy but opted for a lower berth sleeper instead.  VIA Rail wasn’t too specific about the various classes on their website, so I was glad I had a “lower” berth as opposed to an upper.  With the lower berth you have a window and easier access into your sleeper – which is two couches facing one another in the daytime and converted down to a bed at night, complete with mattress and comforter and two pillows.  Upper berth folds out from the wall so you must climb little stairs to get up, and no window.  There is of course a price difference in these two options.  Additional bonus to going sleeper or cabin fares is your meals are included.

The little cabins looked alright from the outside, but honestly I spent just about no time at all in the privacy of my sleeper so I would not pay extra for a cabin in the future – there are lots of communal/public cars to spend your time in, rather than shutting yourself away in a cabin.  If you are traveling with company I’d still recommend the sleeper route, unless you are a couple and really need that extra privacy..

Next goal is to get a few girlfriends together and train East for a few days, then return back to Vancouver.  It’s a great excuse to meet new people, catch up on reading and writing and other contemplative activities – I just had such a wonderful time that I had to share this experience.

Toot, toot.

Published by Terri on March 15, 2012 in Lifestyle. 0 Comments

Handy Tips for the World Traveller

In the past eight months I’ve been up and down British Columbia, through 13 airports to and from South Africa, and between Regina and Saskatoon in Saskatchewan.  I’ve had good sleeps and bad sleeps, packed and re-packed my suitcase a dozen times, acquired and let go of precious items of clothing, struggled to maintain a healthy diet and body, and been robbed or defrauded three times.  After all this, I figure I gots some pointers to share with you folks.

A.G. says hello from Chapman’s Peak

Packing

I took one mid-sized suitcase with me for a whole month of travel.  Cape Town was in the middle of summer when I arrived (36 C!) so it was easy to pack pretty light, but there were so many items of clothing I could have done without.  Only bring your favourites.  Pack versatile pieces that work well together.  Be prepared for weather changes – I still brought my leather jacket, two sweaters, a scarf, jeans, and two cardigans, and I used all of them while in Cape Town.  Save space by rolling your clothing rather than folding them – also helps to eliminate wrinkles.  And for Pete’s sake, put your name, contact number (in your destination), email, and final destination on your luggage.  Some lady in lost luggage had to open my suitcase, found one of my business cards, and emailed me to see if I knew who the owner of the case was.  My luggage was needlessly delayed because I did not have this information on my suitcase.  If you’re taking a long flight, pack a change of clothes in your carry-on, along with other necessities to get you through the long journey…

Travel

I was really nervous about embarking on the longest journey I’ve ever taken while prepping to head to South Africa – almost 18 hours just from New York to Johannesburg, nevermind all my other connections.  I almost over-prepared for my flight: I had snacks in the form of nuts, dried fruit, and energy bars.  I had a steel water bottle that I could re-fill.  Travel sized toiletries included: Aveda’s Purifying Gel Cleanser and also their Hand Cream, Saje’s Balancing Elixir oil treatment to combat dry airplane skin, and Saje’s Konjac facial sponge to exfoliate and cleanse.

I normally always catch a cold on airplanes, so I came prepared with Echinacea, Greens vitamin supplements, Vitamin E (which can double as a topical skin saver), Complex B vitamin, and most importantly – melatonin so I could get a solid sleep on the plane.  I mixed in oral rehydration salts with my water about every 4-8 hours as well, and I think that combined with the melatonin-induced sleep really saved me.  I went through 6 airports, dealt with lost luggage, and still arrived in Cape Town after almost 2 full days of travel feeling pretty refreshed and not jet-lagged at all.

When you check in for a long overnight flight, ask your airline agent if the flight is full.  If not, see if there are any seats that have one or two seats on either side vacant – that way you can curl up and sleep.

Essentials: melatonin, oral rehydration salts, and Aveda’s purifying cleanser (I find the fragrance very comforting!).

Non-essentials: I love the smell combination of Saje’s Balancing Elixir oil, but the dropper cap was not very secure and due to the in flight cabin pressure, it leaked all over the inside of my bag.  Smelled great, but was a big mess to clean up.  The snacks were handy but I brought too many an they got squished.  And I could have managed with just one book, rather than three!

Safety

As I mentioned, I was robbed or defrauded on three separate occasions while in Cape Town.  Here’s what I learned:

  • every time you leave your accommodation, check your bag and remove anything that isn’t essential to your outing.  In my case, I lost both my local mobile and my Blackberry from home; a personal notebook full of ideas and poetry and other tidbits from the past year, in which I had just finished the last page; my laptop charger; my wallet full of cards, drivers license, debit card, and so on.  My whole backpack got stolen and was full of things I absolutely did not need to have on me – things, like my notebook, of irreplaceable value.
  • take out large sums of money only in the company of friends, and don’t use a sidewalk ATM if you can help it.  I was victim to a rigged machine and someone must have been watching me enter my PIN from behind or afar – next day my bank account had been drained.  Take extra precaution and cover up your hand as you’re entering your PIN, and only use ATM’s attached to banks or in secured areas – these will be less prone to fraud scams.  Keep your stack of cash safe in your accommodation and take out only what you think you’ll need – leave the VISA and ATM cards at home.
  • out at a restaurant enjoying a beautiful meal? Think your bag will be safe on the back of your chair under the watchful eyes of your party?  Think again.  Keep your bag on your lap or secured between your feet under the table.  As I learned, it only takes one second of distraction for your belongings to simply disappear.
  • I never required proof of ID once during my travels, so it became unnecessary for me to keep carrying around my driver’s license.  NEVER carry your passport around with you if you can avoid it – I’m so thankful I didn’t have to deal with replacing mine while in a foreign country.

The rest should be pretty basic.  I felt I was pretty much in the know when it came to traveling, but on this particular trip I learned a lot and wanted to share these new guildelines I’ve developed for myself, which I will adhere to for all future adventures!

Happy world.


Published by Terri on February 29, 2012 in Lifestyle. 0 Comments
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