Lican Ray

The drive across to Lincan Ray was quicker than expected, even after we stopped to do a little shopping in Villarrica. The best thing about it was that Natalia slept for most of the way. We arrived just after dark, with the sweet smell of BBQ in the air. The fine Argentinean meat was slowly being roasted over the red hot coals. There are few other smells in this world that arouse such a fast reaction from a man and his now growling stomach. I didn’t think that I was that hungry. Sitting down to a meal with Paul’s cousin, her husband and their 3 kids as well as Paul’s other cousin his wife and their 2 sons and other cousins… I think that there were about 15 of us. The communication flowed and so did the wine. My brain started to hurt after a while, as it usually does when I try to keep up with the conversation in either Spanish or Portuguese, and I was a little tired, so I went and chatted to friends on MSN and sent a few emails. I could hear the conversations well into the evening.

The first activity that we undertook, as a group, was to go Kayaking. We hired 3 and paddled out to an island, about 800m from the shore. There are 3 Islands in the group, but two are privately owned, so no one is allowed on, unless invited. Paul and I were on one Kayak with Natalia, Paul’s cousin and 1 daughter and son on another and Danni and the other daughter on the third. It took us about 35mins to paddle out there, where we then swam for about half an hour in the cool deep waters of this volcanic lake. The water was so clear that it was hard to judge the depths. I would swim down, thinking that it would only be about 3m, finding that I would be down for a few seconds more than expected. The view of the Volcano was fantastic. The paddle back was harder than expected, as a breeze had come up and there was a stronger cross current, causing us to drift and work harder. Paul’s oar broke in the process, meaning we were down to one and a half oars and Nati was getting a little restless, causing an additional headache. We finally made it back to shore, where the guy who hires the kayaks tried to charge us 20,000 pesos (about $50 Aus) because we broke his brand new oar. We pointed out a few things to show that his oar was not new, so he dropped it to 15,000. Paul laughed at him, said that he was happy for him to call the cops and told me to pay him the money we owed for the hire and no more. The cops were not called.

During the remainder of our time in Lincan Ray, I would go to the shops, send a few emails, chat on MSN and do a little site seeing. It was a nice little town, which survived on the tourist trade and the locals that made a living off them. I enjoyed the time of walking, to clear the mind and to think about what was important to me in my life. Where I wanted to go and where I wanted to be. Then I thought… where does God want me to go? What does God want me to be? It is hard, at times to think about such things, especially when you are so isolated, but then again, is that the best time? I enjoyed my time in Lican Ray. The times that we went swimming were great, even though there were way too many rocks and the beach was made of back pebbles. Trying to get a bit more of a tan… something that I think I will always struggle with, with my fair skin. The walks that I took along the beach and the sunsets that I witnessed were such peaceful times, even when I was surrounded by a multitude of people. I think I have stopped to look at the sun setting more times here in Chile then I have before. Also making chocolate pudding, again, was a great hi-light, especially when they demanded that I make it again the following day and instruct the girls how to do it, so that they could repeat it after I left. The mum even asked if she could have the recipe, which I willing gave. I think I am conquering South America with my Self Saucing Chocolate Pudding Recipe.

Our last night in Lican Ray, after staying an extra 2 days was spent having a BBQ with Paul’s third cousin (on this trip) with her husband and 2 children. Again the smell of roasting meat was just too much and my stomach began to growl well before we sat down to eat. Over dinner we discussed various differences in the English language around the world, as well as the differences in Spanish around the world. They agreed that the further you went away from Central America, the poorer the Spanish became. It was still Spanish, but different from the original. A little like how English has changed around the world, especially in the US. It was a lovely way to finish our time in Lican Ray followed by a lazy day and then a short drive back to the farm. It was also great to get a break from my friends, the fleas.