Kathryn´s flight arrived at SCL at the lovely hour of 3:20 am. I took the last bus out to the airport and killed time until her arrival, then we killed some more time until the first bus back to the city at 6:30. Luckily we had an amazingly gracious host, who I had lined up through couchsurfing.org, who invited us in, fed us breakfast, and told us to make ourselves at home while he went to work. we thanked him, and in no time were sacked out on the floor. We spent the next few days checking out the city and going out to a barbecue with our host, Marcelo, before catching a night bus south into the heart of Patagonia.

Our first stop (after a night in the unremarkable town of Osorno) was Volcan Puyahe, due east and almost on the Argentine border. We hiked up from the road to the tree line with 5 days of food, but were put off by the weather and returned on the third day without reaching the summit or the hot springs on the other side of the peak. A damn shame, but at least we did have the mountain refujio, a simple hut with bunk beds and a wood stove, and the company of a dirverse crowd of trekkers and geologists from all over the world, to wait out the rain.

We then hopped over to Argentina to San Carlos de Bariloche and south to El Bolsón. Both towns looked interesting and I imagine there´s a lot more below the touristy, pricy surface, but we didnt stay long enough to find it. So we turned around and headed back to Chile, further south to the island of Chiloé. Chiloé is a rural, typical of the patagonian coast.

We arrived in Ancúd, a sleepy town, and were asked if we needed a room as we left the bus station by a young couple. Usually I avoid touts like the plague, but they were so... bumbling, as kathryn put it, and friendly (and the price was right) that we checked out there hospidaje. It turned out to be their house, with a couple spare rooms upstairs and room in the backyard for camping, sharing their bathroom and kitchen. We then walked down to the plaza and arrived just in time to catch the end of a circus festival. I got to play around on a trapeze and fabric for about half an hour before they took it down to set up for the show. The show was really fun hosted by some wonderful clowns and featuring (among others) an act from the set design workshop, a beautiful doubles fabric act, and the finale, juggling clubs dangling on strings (by pushing them and catching them when they swing back, lots of sweet tricks and up to 7 clubs), was great.

Kathryn and I broke up already. Actually it wasn´t so much of a breakup as a not getting back together after 2 months apart with little communication. The spark just wasn't there from the start, so we´ve been traveling as friends. She decided to go back to Guatemala in a couple weeks, which made me sad. Its great having her as a friend and travel companion, and I would be happy to continue traveling together and see if the romantic side of things (re)develops. But she has important ongoing work with the NGO she works for (Guatemala Solidarity Project) that keeps here mind partly in Guatemala. I´m looking into WWOOFing for a bit here in the south, before heading back north to Santiago and then on to Bolivia and Peru. I´m also starting to miss things in the old Pacific Northwest, so I´m starting to think of my life when I get back.