Day 18

Today was a great day! I felt very rested when I woke up this morning, which was nice. We had yogurt, bread and cheese for breakfast again. I have to say that I actually really like this kind of breakfast and it reminds me a lot of what European breakfasts are like. Good news though, we didn’t have to push the bus to get it started today. What was sad is that today was the day that Marcela had to leave to go back to Santiago. I am really going to miss her, and we were all sad to see her go. Hopefully we will be able to meet up with her again when we were in Santiago for the Chilean Independence Day celebrations. We dropped Marcela off at the bus stop and then drove about 2 hours to the home of a lady who grows Aloe Vera plants and creates products that she sells to the community. We were invited in to her home where she served us coffee and bread with this delicious honey. After we had our fill we headed out back to the green house where the plants grew. In the green house there were 5 different aloe plants that all had different properties from healing dry skin to properties similar to penicillin. It is the inside of the aloe plant that is used so we were able to touch, apply and even eat the different types of aloe. We also went through the green house that had all different kinds of cacti and other plants. When the tour was finished we headed back inside where we were shown the how to make “crema de ortiga y romero” which is suppose to be a topical product that helps with healing a variety of injuries and soreness. While we waited for lunch we chatted and were given drinks of fermented apple cider as well as a cider sweetened with honey. Eventually some one brought out two guitars and we were entertained with some Chilean songs and even some dance! Then it was our turn to sing, but it was hard to pick a song that every one knew so Taylor and Cameron only played a few songs on guitar and those who knew the words sang along. Lunch was served as a variety of vegetables (spinach, carrots and green beans) as well as a soup with broth, chicken and a little bit of vegetables. For dessert we were served a traditional dessert made up of a grain topped with a wine sauce; it kind of reminded me of a Chilean Crème Brule, but a different taste. After lunch we chatted a bit more, and some of us walked up to the end of the road and back just to stretch our legs before we headed out. Most of us also purchased some of the products that were sold in the community. I bought some Aloe Vera lotion as well as the Crema to see if I can help my tibia out a bit. The plan for afterwards was to go to some hot springs nearby Villarrica so we headed out in that direction. We were able to find where it was but the road we were driving on was a muddy dirt road and we found a road block caused by a truck carrying a load of wood tipping into a ditch. So we waited for a tractor to pull it out and also had some bread and cheese that Jaime had purchased on the way as a snack. They eventually got the truck out, but then we realized that we had one flat tire in the back so Juan had to change the tire. It was very cold while we were waiting but we were able to entertain ourselves by taking some great pictures and just goof around. By the time everything was fixed and ready to go (they even repaired the road while we were there) we decided that it was too late to go to the hot springs so we went back to the ruka. I was not hungry when we got back but dinner was served any way and was delicious. The main course was vegetarian lasagna with spinach, and I was a bit sad that I could not finish it but I was just too full. After dinner we met in small groups to talk about the day so that we could tell Jaime what we thought of the trip so far, and then met with Cynthia individually. Tonight is our last night in the ruka so I must pack my bag a bit because we are headed for Puerto Montt tomorrow.