el Espectuloso Futrono

Like I mentioned earlier, a forestal (forestry engineer) who works in my office invited me to go away with him and his friends for the weekend. I was equally surprised and excited by the invitation. Renato is probably my favorite officemate, but we hadn`t really spent much time together. He had always been really helpful correcting my spanish and explaining things to me I didn´t understand. Turns out he`s probably the nicest person I`ve met in Chile. And everyone here is sooooo nice. Anyway he picked me up and we drove up to Futrono just the two of us, because his friend was already there. During this trip, I discovered that Renato speaks english nearly as well as I speak Spanish. This was surprising, since I had been struggling to understand everything in the office for two weeks and he hadn`t spoken more than two words in english. But refresheing to watch someone else struggle to speak as a nice change, and we developed a nice rhythm of speech where we flow easily back and forth between the two idiomas. Needless to say we had a nice ride.

We arrived in Futrono after about an hour and a half. I knew it was a town on a lake, and was expecting a tiny cabin where I could find a place to lay in my sleeping bag. Instead there were three BEAUTIFUL cabins right by the lake, among a bunch of beautiful mountains. We arrived just as the asado was beginning (I think I´m on number 5 or so? definitely an expert). Now please try and imagine why this situation might be overwhelming for me. I arrived with a 29 year old from my office that before this last hour and a half in the car, was mostly a stranger to me. He knew one person at the party, and the rest were just as much strangers to him. Not only am I a foreigner in a place with very few foreigners, but I have a limited mastery of spanish and to top it off am at least 7 years younger than everyone in the room. I had an idea that Renato would facilitate conversation and take care of me all night, but this was night the case. He introduced me as Cereza, the gringa from his office and set me on my own.

Somehow, I survived. The thing is that not only is it hard to communicate on a basic level, but everything in my life is surprising to everyone. You`re still in school? Uhhh I`m only 20. Are you really traveling alone? Yes, all alone. So you`re a sociologist? Uhh not really. YOU DON`T EAT MEAT?! Well, in Chile I do. So you`ve known Renato for a long time? Uhh something like that. What do you do with your project? Well, I just arrived. I´m still working on it... OBAMA!? yes! You know how to dance salsa? Definitely! ahha. After a few drinks, conversation became less frequent, as we danced the night away. Thankfully, my language skills don`t hold me back on the dance floor. And the girls were delighted that I knew how to dance salsa. I even knew a bunch of their music, which everyone found somewhere between cute and hysterical. Of course the reggeton, meat, and pisco continued till about 6am, but I conked out at 4 (I´m still building up my endurance...).

The next morning (well, afternoon) we all greeted each other like old friends, and comiserated over our hangovers. After a typical Chilean breakfast (instant coffee and bread with butter) we packed up our trucks and took a beautiful hour long drive to the other side of the lake, where there was a beautiful beach. We stopped a few times to admire waterfalls, mountain scenery, and rivers. We brought along two kayaks and hung around on the beach till we were cold and hungry. By the time dinner came around (remember, thats about 9pm) I was pretty exhausted of trying to communicate all weekend, and was glad when Renato and I decided to head home. We had another nice car ride with lots of language and cultural exchanges. Its great to have someone that I am able to talk to. He´s a terribly nice guy, and I expect we`ll be hanging out more. He moved to Osorno just for this job, so it sounds like he doesn`t have such a swinging social life either. He lives a few hours away in the country and has already invited me to go with him to meet his parents and see the office supplies store that they own. In other friend news, I get along really well with another intern at the office and she has invited me to come to her house for dinner this week.

Also, I expect to design a plan for my internship this week. I have been given permission to design whatever kind of program I want with the communities we work with, and I have a few ideas. Details to follow.....

p.s. espectaculoso is a strange combination of espectacular and fabuloso that came out of my tired mouth. renato found this hysterical. but we both decided its a pretty strong adjective, so we`re going to try and use it in everyday speech.