Chiloté food is one of kind! Hasta Siempre!

Today I am in Osorno and will shortly be on my way to Bariloche, Argentina for some snowboarding and chocolate! I'm planning on doing some running in the midst of the Andes this week, as winter break just started and the real running is about to begin! I wanted to post a couple more photos of my new home (Dalcahue, Chiloé). One thing the entire island of Chiloé surely does not fall short of is amazing food! Between Pichanga, Curranto, Milcáo, and home made empanadas, you are bound to find yourself in a food coma after a visit to the local market!

With my host pops Richard, who happens to be one of the best chefs on the island!

Besides the amazing food, Chiloé is also known for its colorful and warm wool clothing. 

In Dalcahue, Chiloé! A runners paradise.

After a long week of orientation in Santiago, Chile I am finally in my placement town of Dalcahue, Chiloé. A small and quaint fishing village located on the beautiful and lush landscaped island of Chiloé.  I will be teaching at a local high school in the capital city of Castro.

The people of Chiloé are humble, warm, and genuine. They welcome complete strangers in with open arms and friendly smiles. The town itself is a small niche in a sea of green hills and farms, surrounded by endless ocean. 

The rain and wind is relentless on Chiloé, but when the clouds slowly dissipate and the sun is allowed to shine his warmth upon the rolling hills....Chiloé looks a little something like this:

I took my first decent run today (being so busy in Santiago I barely had time for a quick jog), but in Chiloé....there is plenty of time to soak up the pleasant aroma of burning fire wood as you run through the country side. It is not common for people to run in Chiloé, so this explains the perturbed looks as I zipped past locals. The people, however, perplexed and surprised, greeted me with big smiles and warm 'holas'. Chiloé is a beautiful place indeed. A musicians dream land to compose, a writers dream land to write, and a runners dream land to run. For all the rain and clouds that constantly cover the sky, Chiloé has an abundance of warmth and happiness to keep anyone content.

A Story for Tomorrow

a story for tomorrow. from gnarly bay productions, Inc. on Vimeo.

One of my favorite Chilean travel vids! A story for tomorrow not only has plenty of breathtaking shots, but a very powerful message as well. Hope you enjoy it! Finalizing all the packing tonight and will be heading down to Chile Wednesday morning! Por el Amor de la Vida!

Counting to Infinity

The closer my departure date gets, the more the restlessness builds. A mix of excitement, curiosity, naivety, and anticipation is all being stirred around simultaneously in the cauldron between my ears. I suppose this is normal for anyone moving to a new country!

I've been having my fair share of those future predicting deja vu mental scenarios lately. Vivid scenes that have me exploring a street in downtown Santiago or running up a volcano in Los Lagos. The mind definitely is not shy about showing the body where it wants to go! The connection between mind and body is something 'ultra' runners come to know very well. I have found many parallels between aspects of life and lessons I've learned while spending 6+ hours shuffling on my feet in search of the next aid station. One of them being this deep sense of continuity between what I'm thinking and what I'm doing. Often in life we find our minds running (no pun intended) at Usain Bolt speed, with a variety of thoughts flowing in and out, having no necessary relation to what we are actually doing at that moment. This is not the case when I am running for an extended distance. At a certain milage my outside thoughts fade and my sole mental being becomes intertwined with each stride and successive foot strike. This awareness is comparable to what many athletes consider to be the 'in the zone' feeling. However, there is most definitely something unique about this certain mental and physical blend of heightened consciousness achieved during long distance runs.

I believe the feeling is best described to outsiders as a sort of 'counting to infinity'. Simply start counting, with absolutely no goal in mind, by the time you blink and realize you've been staring blankly at the carpet repeating the number one hundred and fifty seven over and over again...the moment just before you realized what it was you were doing, is precisely what it feels like to enter this zen-like state of perception while running.

With 2 days before I leave for Chile and embark on this journey, leaving all that I know behind and stepping on that plane, it most definitely feels like I'm counting to infinity.

Packing for Chile!

Preparing for Chile! Currently, I am working on packing (which admittedly I am finding extremely difficult) for my move to Chile, where I will be volunteering to teach English with the English Opens Doors program. Excited would be a vast understatement, as I cannot wait to run, climb, backpack, write and explore the entirety of this beautiful country. I will be teaching somewhere in the Los Lagos Region, home to the massive Osorno and Villarica volcanoes...which hopefully (fingers crossed) are both runnable, with a pair of micro-spikes and a hint of "ganas".  

Volcán Villarrica (9,341ft)

Volcán Osorno (8,701ft)