Our second night there, she invited us five girls to sleep in her extra bedroom. We hadn't given her a definite answer whether we would be coming or not. After grabbing our sleeping bags from our tents, the sun began to set and we worried that she would have already gone to bed. We decided to walk over to her house anyways because we knew it would mean the world to her to have some girls to talk with. I'm still not sure if she saw our headlamps walking towards her house or not, but when we walked through her gate, she was standing waiting on the porch in her pajamas with a big smile on her face. I'll never forget it. She invited us in and fed us pancitos with the most delicious jam. Most of the conversation was between Natalia and her but I chimed in as much as I could. I did my best to translate the conversation for Devin, Kate, and Liz who speak limited spanish. We talked until about 11:30 until we all were falling asleep. We crammed all five of us into a little room with two twin beds. Devin and I snuggled in one bed, Kate and Natalia in the other. Liz used 2 thermarests and slept at the foot of our beds. It was such a treat to sleep in a bed for a night. We woke up early, made sure we made it to weather check with the rest of our group. The group consensus was to continue paddling that day, so I made sure to visit Dalia once more and say thank you and goodbye. She told me that I am welcome any time and that she hopes that I can come back and stay for at least a month. We parted ways after a smile and a "nos vemos pronto" meaning "we will see each other soon". She was one of the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.
These past two days have helped me establish a sense of place - I was reminded that I was in Chile, not the United States. It sounds dumb, but it's easy to forget when you are living with 16 Americans. What I enjoy most about the Chilean custom is that these people do not care who you are or where you are from. Dalia never once asked my name or where I was from - a social norm in the US. She only talked about herself when prompted. Otherwise we would sit quietly and both enjoy the maté. It was a conversation between two humans; a beautifully natural conversation about things that we both loved and that interested us. I asked her what she thought about the dam issues in Patagonia and she made it very clear that she is against the dams because it would ruin the nature and beauty of this place, her home. She remarked that the people in Santiago don't think about people like her and her husband who live out here and rely on the rivers and enjoy the beauty and purity of Patagonia. After only a couple conversations of limited spanish, I understand more about Dalia's passions and her life than I do for a lot of my friends back home.
I was sad to leave but today was our first blue bird day of the entire expedition. We needed to take advantage of this weather and continue our travels. Dalia was sad to see us go but I have a feeling I will be seeing her again. Kate and I are already planning a trip to go back and visit Dalia and her husband.
When the sun comes out, the beauty of this place is so apparent - I'm literally speechless. The love and happiness I feel being down here is indescribable. This is my truest passion and all I want is to show other the beauty and peace I find in exploring and living this fantastic, simple life.
No rain tonight - just the soft trickling of water from the stream outside our tent. Oh, and I got a new tent group: Adam and Marcello. Seems like a good group thus far. Missing people back home but so so grateful to be where I am at this very moment. Only 7 days more of paddling. Yikes! Where has the time gone?
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