Today it is gray and rainy, and tonight we are supposed to get gale force winds. We hope that our little house on the hill will hold fast and shelter us through the storm. We have had a few tempestads already this winter, and when the wind is really howling I am reminded of times at sea.

Waves lapping against the sides, the sky darkens, on the horizon you can see the wall of weather coming near. The ship starts to roll. At first you feel exhilarated. The wind pushes life into your lungs. You hold onto the side and feel the energy of the boiling ocean. Up and down you move, keeping an eye to where the sea meets the sky. 

Right now it is like that. The wind is picking up. The view of the valley below has gone dark. We light the candles and chimney for comfort. But this ship is new to us. We are are still getting used to the the weight of her tiller. We hope that the mast will hold. We have patched her sails and given her a new coat of paint, but when the big swell comes, we hope that she will stay upright.

 More photos of the house after the break

Fall day at the beach.

A few weekends ago we met up with some friends at the beach. Pablo tested out his kayak in the surf, we ran around with Chirimoya and enjoyed a picnic lunch. The water might be cold, but Chile's southern coastline sure is beautiful.

Chirimoya, the little stray that we all couldn't ignore. She is now the most spoiled pup in Valdivia, happily adopted by Erwan and Vale.

the university's marine station on the point has quite the view

you can hardly see the kayak out there! Pablo was visited by a troup of sea lions

Life on the river.

A few weeks ago we borrowed one of our friend's kayaks so that I could go out with Pablo in his new vessel! We put in down at the dock behind our house and paddled out into our neighborhood river. We glided along so silently, the black necked swans swopped past us, I imagined the sea lions that were swimming below us. We crossed the river to the Punucapa side to hang out on the little beach, enjoy a snack, and take in the gorgeous river. Sometimes the beauty of our surroundings seems unreal. I have to remind myself what lies just outside our doorstep.

Final photos from our New Years trip.

We had a great time, the place where we stayed was beautiful, we were accompanied by good friends, we had brought along some delicious treats to share... there was only one little thing, or maybe not so little thing, that disturbed the perfection of our trip. The Coliguacho. I quickly discovered that these inch-long bastards turn me into a crazy person. Or as a friend recently told me, Coliguachos bring out the worst in people.

On the first day of the new year, we opened our tent, Pablo set out to make some breakfast, and he quickly returned asking for an extra shirt to tie around his head. He said, "Uh... Preciosa... there seem to be some flies." I turned to look at him and saw hundreds of giant flies swarming him! It was a frightful site for the first morning of 2016. In the end, it turns out that the Coliguacho buzz is worse than its bite. While they can nick you through your clothes, the real terror that these guys bring is the incessant buzzing in your ear as they fly around you, land on your shoulder, and provoke a stressfully anticipated bite.

Some propose that there are remedies to deal with the flies... sit around a burning pile of cow patties, cover your body in masking tape, spray various commercial insect repellents, or kill the fly and suck out its sweet innerds... it seems that the most effective way to avoid these annoying creatures is to just avoid hanging out near fresh bodies of water for the two or so weeks every summer during Coliguacho season. As such, we returned home on the afternoon of the 1st. 

Kimbal loves to swim!

what a nice photo, no? let's take a closer look....

its a bird, its a beast, no! its a coliguacho!

Besides flapping your wings and flying away like a Cormorant, the only way to leave a forest in style is by boat.

So that's what we did! The ecology course was lucky enough to get use of one of the university's boats for the weekend. The students took the boat to the forest, and we subsequently took it back home. Mauro navigated and pointed out the different kinds of birds along the way... the nesting cormorants, the black-necked swans, the tchuques, and wallas. I couldn't have been more excited. Valdivia by river is incredibly beautiful. Old German houses poke out between the trees, volcanoes surround the horizon, and everything is so so green!

It was a delightful Sunday.

all aboard!!

see the chicks riding on mama/ daddy bird's back?

tchuque flies overhead looking for something to prey upon...

cormorants nesting in the river fly all the way to the sea everyday to feed

I spy two volcanos...