Country fair

Day 5: Last night, I remembered why dorm-style hostels suck. Two girls came in really late, turned on the light, and bungled around with their stuff, all the while chattering in a language I didn't understand. This morning, I remembered why dorm-style hostels rock. At breakfast around the big common-room table, people were talking about their plans for the day. I didn't have anything to offer except questions because I didn't have any plans! A really cool couple -- the guy Colombian and the girl French -- said they were going to a fair in the country. I unbashfully asked if I could go with them. (P.S. They had a car!) They were game, and 30 minutes later we were on the road.

It was a beautiful drive and the company was great. We arrived at the fair before anything had really gotten going, but were directed to park in a field with soccer goal posts. (Not to be confused with a soccer field.) I asked for a bathroom and was directed to a row of shack-type structures made of boards and corrugated metal. They were manned by a little girl (maybe 10 years old) who collected the 100 pesos and passed out toilet paper. Only the door to my shack wouldn't close from the inside. So I asked the girl to lock me in. "Avisame cuando termine," she said. Claro! To my surprise, the toilet flused! Then, there was running water to wash my hands. I asked the girl some questions about the festival, but she said it was her first time, too. She didn't know who the goats grazing behind her belonged to either. How funny!

My new friends were chatting with a local, who proudly said that the running water was a recent addition. We made a tour of the food stalls, which -- based on the price lists -- were all selling the same thing for the same price. Interesting. The food wasn't ready, so we headed to the two artisan booths. The first guy was selling coin purses made of salmon leather (huh?) and purses made of cow leather, only with all the hair still on there. It was quite a sight. The woman in the second stall told us we could take a ten-minute walk to see sand dunes and a beautiful beach. She recommended that we order our food beforehand. Looking around and seeing more people making food than eating it, we weren't too worried about the food running out.

We headed down to the dunes, and the walk was amazingly beautiful. The beach was deserted and the contrast between the blue water, tan sand, and rolling green hills was breathtaking. It was maybe the prettiest sight on this trip so far. After sitting for a bit and soaking it all in, we were getting really hungry, so headed back to the fair. When we got back, we picked a stall and ordered empanadas. They came by the dozen, so we asked for half cheese and half meat. The woman taking the orders kept trying to force something else on us, but we insisted on the empanadas. They're fried, so 15 minutes later, when they still hadn't arrived, we looked over and saw the women rolling the dough. No wonder the woman with the sweaters told us to order our food before the walk!!!

When they finally came, we dug in. None of us found a cheese one. The waitress came by and we reminded her that we'd asked for half and half. "Cheese", she said, "you want cheese? Ok!" And I could tell by the way she said it that she would set her worker bees on 12 cheese empanadas. I charged the Colombian guy with squelching that. He also wanted barbecue, so he'd got up to order that from another stall so they could get a head start. When we finished the empanadas, we were told that we had to move to a table that belonged to the barbecue stand.

After nearly a half hour waiting at that table, we decided to duck out without saying anything. We joked that it was okay because they were probably still feeding the animal out back. It was kind of annoying, but also funny, and during all that waiting, we had seen two mini goats dragging around a little cart with kids in the back, people dancing traditional Chilean dances, and a lead musician making dirty jokes that I didn't understand besides that they were dirty.

We headed back to Ancud and my friends set off for Castro. I decided I wanted a nap more than anything, so I went to bed. I've already decided that I'm not going to push myself to see everything on this trip. There's too much to see anyway and running myself ragged is counter-productive to enjoying the experience. Anyhow, the nap was delightful and I woke up feeling very refreshed. I went to the supermarket (where they don't sell whole-grain bread) and then to the tiny port. I climbed to the opposite side of town to see the ruins of one of Spain's last occupied fortresses in Latin America. Somehow very fittingly, there were people using the interior space to play soccer.

When I headed back to the hostel, I ran into the French lady I'd met in Castro. She was going to stay somewhere else because they only bed available was a top bunk and she has trouble with her knees. I was on the bottom of the same bunk set, so I offered to move. That settled, we set off in search of wine. Luckily, the supermarket was open until 11 pm, unlike the rest of the town, which was almost completely shut down.

Back at the hostel, we sat around with a bunch of other travelers, drinking, laughing, speaking about 4 different languages, and complaining about the horrible service at the hostel. It was great fun and I even met another person who's heading on the Navimag with me! I was one of the last people to crawl into bed.