On the Farm

So, yeah.

My dad died January 23rd, and well, it sucked.  There are a lot of emotions going on in my little head. I may write more about it another time, but I may not. I know that I was never any good when the parent of a friend died – I just didn’t know what to say. I still don’t. Many people know exactly what to say. Now, I know that saying something (even if you only know them virtually!) means a great deal. So, thanks to all for their kind thoughts!

After two weeks, it was time to return wherever-home-might-be. Transport back to Chile was fairly easy considering it lasted exactly 24 hours. So far, Bode has won the ‘sleeping awards’ each of our trips between continents. It’s a worthy contest – try it. Somehow, I tend to forget that he’s such a great traveler.

In the end, we landed back with Red Beard, on our new friends’ property just outside Ancud on the island of Chiloe, Chile.

Even though Bode has a newly acquired-Wii (that’s a long story), after a few hours he was able to forget about it completely.  Climbing trees, tire swings and friends always wins out eventually. His new amigas had an amazing backyard playground. It’s the island.

Also, a correction. They only have 4 dogs. The crazy neighbors way uphill have 7 wild ones. A few weeks ago, they took down our friend’s female sheep. Apparently, one male sheep is not a good thing. He gets frustrated and butts them.

On a hike through their land, Bode was completely enchanted with dew.  It did feel good, but I’m not sure they had to tromp through every bush containing it. Nonetheless, we came back reminded that our shoes are not very waterproof.

We watered and fertilized the green house plants, wandered the the cow’s pasture, and fed on some blackberries at the beach.  They built their dream here exactly how they wanted it. They didn’t even have a road to the house until 4 years ago. They had to wait until low tide and drive on the beach to get home… with kids! When I heard that story I knew they were passionate folks.

They have a thriving tour business and burgeoning organic berry farm here. Sandra is an architect, and she designed their separate home, yoga studio, guest tower, and cabin.  She and Britt also built a fancy yacht for high-end cruises around the Chiloe archipelago (it looks amazing!).  They have great volunteers who run their yoga shala (where Bode joined the kids’ class a few weeks ago) who also made our stay here stellar. Figure out what you want and then go do it – seems simple, doesn’t it?!

We loved it here!