Coyhaique

This post is all about the super positive things that have happened since I arrived in Coyhaique. If you want to read about me working through issues with the poor air quality, feel free to follow this link: http://carvedblock.blogspot.com/2018/03/coyhaique.html

I spent much of the weekend settling in, picking up food supplies, eating empanadas, drinking mate in the Patagonian tradition (don't move the bombilla, the brewer alternates between him- or herself and serving others, don't say gracias until you're finished), drinking red wine (cheap and delicious), sharing pescatarian food with housemates, hanging out with la Paloma, catching up on PhD work, and trying to keep up with Chilean Spanish. There is almost always someone playing music, mostly guitar, singing, and percussion. Friday night, the viajeros camping out back came inside and made music for a bit. Saturday we had a shellfish dinner together and then went out to a small gathering where we played drums, and one woman brought out the berimbau, an absolutely wild instrument that comes from the Brazilian capoeira tradition. Sunday some housemates made whole grain empanadas to sell at a cultural event nearby, and I made a bean dish with eggplant, carrots, zucchini, onions, garlic, and most importantly, berbere. Canned shellfish is fairly cheap and ubiquitous, and I've already introduced the housemates to microwave flax muffins. 

Everything is shared, and it has worked very well so far! Folks chip in food, drinks, and time when they are able, and it seems to all even out! I sometimes wonder whether the formal structures of the cooperatives I've lived in actually allow for more slacking off, i.e. folks assume that because there is a system, someone else will do everything, and there is less room for social pressure when it is necessary. I've felt super tired at the end of every day, partly because I walk everywhere, but also because speaking and listening in a foreign language all day is exhausting! This blog + phone is really the only place where I speak/write in English, which can be very relieving...

Tomorrow (Wednesday), I'm going to take the bus up to Villa Cerro Castillo and spend a night or two la Reserva Nacional Cerro Castillo, as my advisor is out of town through March 20, and I'm feeling pretty aimless until we figure out what exactly this project is going to look like! Plus it's summer, and I need to breathe clean air and enjoy the scenery a bit. Photos to come. Nos vemos! 

whole grain empanada

Patagonia sin represas

la Paloma