Early morning, got picked up by Matías and the girls and got to the Centro Lector early and checked a couple of things on the computer.

Headed to Puyehue National Park today at the entry point of Aguas Calientes (Hot Waters).  Went to the store quickly to get some bread, lunch meat, water and crackers for the trip and the hike.  Took a bus for 2,000 Chilean pesos which is about $4 USD, a bargain for an hour and a half drive.  Got to the place and stopped off at the information center and figured which route to take… took the one that was about 1850 meters… a little over one mile but going up a hill.  It should have taken an hour and a half but I got there in an hour…. am I at the top?  I think so… check out some of the pics and the video.

After getting back down… I thought I was going to hit another one but my legs were against it, I checked out the different hot springs pools and would have gone in but I didn’t have a suit… maybe I will head back.  Sat on a picnic bench by the river and it was peaceful.

Headed back and got back to town about 4pm… good times and the shoes held up!

El Momento Cebollento Del Día (The Cheesy Moment Of The Day)
So I guess Matías gets this cheesy radio station as well in the car.  Got to hear, “Hard to say I´m Sorry” by Chicago.  Cheesy as it was, I was able to belt out the first line with Peter Cetera “Everybody needs a little time away, I heard her say, from each other” (Continue singing if ya know it!

Check out pics from today and regularly updated photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/jkrohn1130

Need some cheesy gear, check out http://icheesewisconsin.com (Tell ‘em Da BIG Cheese sent you)

El Momento Cebollento Del Día (The Cheesy Moment Of The Day)
On the bus today I had the great fortune of hearing, “I wanna know what love is” by Foreigner as someone’s ringtone… that’s sweet and cheesy! 

Check out pics from today and regularly updated photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/jkrohn1130

Need some cheesy gear, check out http://icheesewisconsin.com (Tell ‘em Da BIG Cheese sent you)

I had a guitar lesson in the morning, my last one will be next week I am still working trough the song Río, Río which is a traditional Chilean song.  I got the first part down and my teacher Luís helped out by rewriting part of the song since it was a bit difficult… practice up for next week!

Well, as mentioned last week, I needed a new pair of shoes, so I headed over to Hush Puppies and bought myself a pair of high top Columbia shoes, not bad, right?

Got an update from Lila, you all remember Lila, right?  Perhaps you all heard about this as well that Dell had made a mistake in some pricing, or the store did, and they were selling computers for about $150 USD.  Oops!

El Momento Cebollento Del Día (The Cheesy Moment Of The Day)
While in Hush Puppies making my purchase, I was serenaded by, “Waiting For A Girl Like You” by… anyone?? Foreigner.  I don’t know what is cheesier, them playing this song or that they like Foreigner so much!   

Check out pics from today and regularly updated photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/jkrohn1130

Need some cheesy gear, check out http://icheesewisconsin.com (Tell ‘em Da BIG Cheese sent you)

Today was a pretty fun day, cold, but fun.  In the morning we just hung around the new centro lector and I worked on some of the videos. 

In the afternoon, we went to Canopy Extremo Osorno at Villa Olímpica.  Canopy is like zip lining, once you see the video you will have a much better idea of what this is.  We got a quick introduction and then up and away we went on our harnesses.  It was an educational and fun time and makes me want to do more adventureous things like this.

El Momento Cebollento Del Día (The Cheesy Moment Of The Day)
So I watched this movie, Pure Luck with Drew Barrymore, Robert DuVall and some other guy and it was about a father and son playing in the WSOP (World Series Of Poker).  Low and behold, the father and son end up at the final table together and the son lets his father beat him even though he has pocket aces and the father has pocket kings.  The father then goes on to lose to the final guy… cheesy written all over it!

Check out pics from today and regularly updated photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/jkrohn1130

Need some cheesy gear, check out http://icheesewisconsin.com (Tell ‘em Da BIG Cheese sent you)

Back to Argentina.  Well the grandma’s 2 weeks are up and we returned her back to Bariloche.  It was upsetting to see that most of the snow had melted along the way, even at the highest point in the pass.

We had lunch at an Italian restaurant and wanted to ride down this tobaggan thing but it was apparently closed for a special group… no such luck, oh well.

We tried to meet up with some friends of Matías and Eugenia in the village of la Angostura but again, no such luck.  We actually saw them and pursued them in the car and honked and flashed the lights but they did not stop.  We ended up running into them at the Chilean border.

El Momento Cebollento Del Día (The Cheesy Moment Of The Day)
On the way back, we encountered a small deer that lives in the cold rain forest near the town of Puyehue.  Apparently it is difficult to see these… I thought it was a dog, kind of a sighting of the loch ness or Bigfoot!

Check out pics from today and regularly updated photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/jkrohn1130

Need some cheesy gear, check out http://icheesewisconsin.com (Tell ‘em Da BIG Cheese sent you)

Today was a relaxing day, got to hang out at the library for a bit.  In the afternoon, took a cheesy foto and punctured my hand when I attempted to jump a small gap and fell on some grass or something.

Da BIG Cheese (In Spanish)

In the afternoon, Matías’ sister Ignacia (la ata) came for a week-long visit. 

In the evening we had another BBQ with Pato, Matías, Eugenia and I.  It was a good time, I introduced them to Vanilla Vodka with Coke… they protested at first but the bottle somehow was empty by the end of the night.  We compared different spoken accents, enjoyed ribs, blood sausage, and flank steak… good eats.

El Momento Cebollento Del Día (The Cheesy Moment Of The Day)
On a recent trip to Europe, Matías’ mother, Bicky, brought back some cheese from France and we were all able to enjoy it.  We all know from previous videos that it is prohibited from bringing in animal or food products unauthorizedly… yes, that is how it is written, unauthorizedly.  So Bicky, you are a queso traficante… cheese trafficer and the cheesy moment of the day!

Enjoy the video, ciao for now!

Check out pics from today and regularly updated photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/jkrohn1130

Need some cheesy gear, check out http://icheesewisconsin.com (Tell ‘em Da BIG Cheese sent you)

So today in Chiloé (the island, in the town of Castro… like Fidel) I got wet while walking around.  A very hilly place so got a nice workout.  The main attraction I would say was that there are a bunch of churches built completely out of wood.  There are also a lot of salmon farms and they have very good sea food here… sea bass, congrio… like an eel, locos, which are a type of oyster/clam (mariscos) that is very beefy.

Stayed in a nice hotel that has the only elevator on the island.  Got to sleep in a king size bed and watch TV on a flat panel screen, watched part of ¨Hitch¨with Will Smith and fell asleep.  Unfortunately I was woken up by the sounds of some type of bird… check out video to hear

We stopped in a small town called Ancud to have lunch and buy some mariscos.

So got back to Puerto Montt and took a bus home and went to blockbuster for a couple of movies and called it a night!

 El momento cebollento del día (Cheesy moment of the day!)

After walking around for a couple of weeks here with some good amount of rain, my shoes are a bit inundated and are starting to wear out their welcome… if you know what I mean!  Da BIG cheese needs a new pair of shoes!

Check out pics from today and regularly updated photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/jkrohn1130

Need some cheesy gear, check out http://icheesewisconsin.com (Tell ‘em Da BIG Cheese sent you)

Da BIG Chese se va para Puerto Montt… ahorita viene!
(Da BIG Cheese is going to Puerto Montt… be back in a bit!)

For cheesy needs and funny T-shirts go to: http://www.icheesewisconsin.com

Da BIG Cheese

So I asked someone from the states the other day if they heard anything about the small protests going on here against the new law in Chile concerning education and they said no…. the funny thing is, most people down here know all about Obama, Clinton and McCain.  It is pretty big news and in Santiago, as you can see on the news, many have taken to the streets and are throwing things at police cars and in turn are being hosed down by the police.

What is happening is that the students, and some politicians, are against local government running the school systems and they want it to be run on a larger, national scale.  According to Matías, they had this system 30 years ago and it was a disaster.  He seems to think that the students just like being out of classes!

El Momento Cebollento Del Día (The Cheesy Moment Of The Day)
So there are a lot of dogs down here that wander the streets, they don’t really beg or anything but they are all over.  For the most part, they know how to cross the street at the right time to avoid being hit and this is good.  The Cheesy thing is that some are brave enough to go in the middle of the street to challenge cars and try to stand in front of the car and bite its tires.  (Interesting thing that Matías said is that dogs try to take out the legs of their opponents to weaken them and knock them down).

Looking for some funny T-shirts?  Check out http://www.icheesewisconsin.com

Da BIG Cheese

The notion of “te invito” (I invite you)

So this was a notion that I heard about awhile ago when my sister Debbie had some foreign exchange students at the U of I.  She had asked one of them to go see a movie and they asked, “are you inviting me?” she said, “yeah, sure.”  Little did she know that when you invite someone to do something, it is then your responsibility to pay for it!  I had this happen when I was in Mexico in 1994 and was out with some friends and when the waitress passed by she asked if we wanted another… I said “yes” and I looked at the friend to and asked if he was going to have one.  He asked me, “¿Me invitas? (are you inviting me)” I said, “sí, cómo no (sure, why not)”  When the waitress came back, they both looked at me to pay… perhaps some things are lost in translation.  So be careful when going out in a foreign country, you may end up flipping for the bill!

El Momento Cebollento Del Día (The Cheesy Moment Of The Day)
While watching some street performers in the street… 6 stringed instruments, young, probably 18 or 19 years old, another street performer, dressed as a clown, came up and threw in money and sat down to watch.  Guess they were that good that they stopped this clown!

Have a birthday or other occasion coming up where you need a funny T-shirt?  Check out http://www.icheesewisconsin.com

Da BIG Cheese