Maicolpue, Chile

I went to a place called Maicolpue. It was a nice town but it had a lot of garbage on the ground.   Our air bnb was on the top of a hill so we had to go up a lot of stairs. Right at the bottom of the stairs there was a beach. At the beach there were dolphins!

It was lots of fun playing on the beach in Maicolpue where we could watch dolphins!

Also there was street pigs! We threw compost to the pigs and the pigs stayed around the garbage cans and ate garbage on the ground. One of the pigs jumped up on the garbage can brought down a piece of garbage!

Look! A pig just wandering around the streets!

More cute piggies! 

Our first two days were windy, rainy and cold, so we stayed inside and played card games. Luckily we got a lot of blankets to keep warm. Finally one day when it was sunny, we went to a secluded beach where we saw lots of cows nearby. They were big cows and they were fighting!

Tril Tril Beach

At the beach there was a very small dog. When he crossed the river to get to the sandy part of the beach, there was seaweed and mud all the way up to his belly. The beach was over a hill so we had to go over a hill. It was a really steep and tiring walk.

Castro, Chiloé

When we got to Castro, Chiloé, we were looking for a hostel and then we bumped into 2 people that spoke English. They said that there was a good hostel called Hostel Ballvista. So we went there. At the hostel, there was a cat named Simón. Simón the cat was a white cat with black spots. There was also a boy named Josè Thomas. We played foosball and Mario Kart 8 with him and another boy. It was fun! We went to watch firefighters put out a fire in a store 2 blocks away.

Another day, we went on a hike. One part of the hike was at a beach. We used sticks to trace a house and then we put shells on the trace marks. We built bedrooms for me and Charlie, a fireplace, a bathroom, a table with food on it (crab bodies and legs), and even a doormat!

The Pacific Ocean!

Our house made of sea shells

Our fireplace

Our kitchen table

The next day,we were going to go kayaking but it was a really rainy day so we didn't go. When it was Christmas I got:
-chocolate bars
-water bottles
-gum
-dried cranberries
-and honey

The Farm

We went to a farm for a Workaway. A Workaway is when you go to someone’s place and stay for free because you work for them. On the farm there are: ducks, geese, chickens, a pig, a dog, and bunnies. The people on the farm are named Lori, Jim and Thomas. Lori is the mom, Jim is the dad, and Thomas is their son. They are from the United States but they moved here to start a small farm.

At the farm, we had jobs. My jobs were feeding and giving water to the bunnies, ducks, chickens and geese. I also made a mud puddle for the pig. I also got the eggs from the chicken coop. I liked my jobs because they were fun!

Me, Charlie and Thomas built a secret hideout in the woods. Our secret hideout had a bench, shelves, and more. We made bamboo swords. We had sword fights with them.

Me and Charlie found worms and slugs in the dirt and we gave them to the chickens. The rooster did not want them. I thought the rooster would eat them all! It was very funny when we fed them a big slug because when one of the chickens got it all of the rest came running after her!

Pucón, Chile

When we arrived at Pucón late at night, we got a random hostel. At our hostel my mom pulled my tooth out!!!! The tooth fairy came! And left me 1000 Chilean Pesos! We only stayed there for 1 night so we had to go to another hostel.

The other hostel was called Alma Nativa. The next morning we went rafting. It was really fun! There were commands that the guide said and we needed to follow. The commands were:

1. Forward paddle: when we had to paddle forward
2. Backwards paddle: when we had to paddle backwards
3. Stop: was when we stopped padding
4. Down: was when we sat down in the raft away from the edges
5. High five: was when we finished going down some rapids and we put our paddles together to celebrate

There were big waves and cold water. We had to wear wetsuits. I was not scared. It reminded me of tubing at the cabin.

Then after a couple of days we went zip lining. It was really fun! I was not scared. We were high above the ground. There were 6 zip lines. On the 4th zip line I got hit by some leaves!

Surfing in Pichilemu

I went surfing in Pichilemu. We had lessons with a man named Marcelo. We first put on our wetsuits. The wetsuits were thick. Mine was black with green arms and when I jumped it felt like the wetsuit had a spring and it made me feel like I was jumping really high! It kept me warm in the water. We did not go in the water first. We learned how to get up on the board. It was pretty hard. I am glad that we practiced. Daddy and Charlie had their own boards. I went on a board with Marcelo because he thought I was too small, it was fun! I stood up on the board! I was glad I went with Marcelo because I probably could not paddle back to where we were surfing after I caught a wave.

The Beach

One of the beaches was near a fish market. At the fish market, the people who work in the fish market threw parts of fish to the pelicans and seagulls.

We found fish heads on the beach and we fed them to the sea lions that were in the water under the pier. The sea lions are bigger than bears! When Charlie threw a fish head to a sea lion, the sea lion caught it in his mouth!

At the same beach, we met up with two Chilean girls who didn't speak English. Their names were Sophia and Connie. We found sand crabs with them and played with them in the big waves even though we didn't speak the same language. It was fun at the beach!

The Uyuni salt flats

On the way to the Uyuni Salt Flats in Bolivia we stopped at a train graveyard. We took lots of pictures of the trains. The trains were really rusty and some parts were cut out.

When we got to a village where people processed salt,we had lunch on a salt table! After lunch, we gave the dogs some leftovers from lunch. I can tell that they liked it because they went to to the leftovers right away. We played frisbee while we were waiting for our tour to leave. Once, when my mom missed the frisbee, a dog tried to catch it!

When we got to the salt flats we took pictures. There was a picture of me stomping on my family! I wasn't really stomping on my family, it was a tricky picture where I was up front and my family was far away.

You can see our pictures on Instagram at @greatbigadventure and @vida_sabatica