On Monday 12.11.2018 I got my first opportunity to work for accomodation in Chile to gather experience and improve my Spanish. I couldn't have found a better host than Nico and his family. They live on a nice hacienda near Osorno and are building a tourist project on the island Fresia on Lago Puyehue. The first part of the project consists of creating a hiking trail on the Eastern part of the island and has to get approved by the CONAF in December. This means, creating a hiking trails that will be rather easy to walk. The trail will be accessible by boat from the cabins they own on the Southern bay of the lake.
We work full days if the weather holds up and take back to the hacienda on rainy and stormy days. There we work around the house, which has a patch of apple and wild cherry trees and play with their two sons, 3 and 5 years old.
The family took me in and treated me as one of their own. They even made me a merengues and rasberry torte for my Birthday. These last few days were truely special. Alongside of improving my Spanish I also learned a bit of the patagonian way of life, which is very tranquille in comparisson to Swiss standards. Don't get me wrong, the days are long and we are always active, but we do it with an ease of mind and a less "perfective" and stressful spirit than I am used to. The sense of competition among close people is inexistent and that is something a lot of people from my home country could learn from. Why always challenge your own people if things are going well? Just because you think your way of doing things is the best or most efficiant, doesnt mean others have to do it the same way.
Depending on how things go I will stay here until end of November after which I will take on a workaway job on a local farm.
Photos of the island and the trail will follow shortly..