Island breezes...

Yesterday, as our land loving feet left the security of the ancient algae covered dock... a group of us boarded a small wooden boat loaded with wool and copper, in hopes of trading for the much sought after Tenglo wild honey, found only on the rocky craigs of it's western shore. The wild honey of the Yellow Spotted, Tenglo Honey Sipper bee, is said to have brought down many a Kingdom, from relentless pursuit of it's delicate taste.

In actuality, we spent the afternoon on La Isla, Tenglo, which is about a 7 minute boat ride from the mainland Puerto Montt. We Joined the Hostetters, some island youngsters, and a few young adults from a local rowing club. We were belatedly celebrating Chilean Independance day which is normally celebrated on Sept 18th and 19th. We started the evening by me sharing a little bit of my "testimonio" with the youth that were gathered there and a time of sharing and prayer. This immediately was followed by games played by all. Racing around chairs, dipping our faced in flour filled plates, and stuffing our faces with apples to near choking.... all fun and games. Next there was Tug-of-war, and a couple of some loosely played soccer matches.

For our dining pleasure, Michael cooked up some Chorizo over some charcoal, and when I say cooked, I mean cooked... They were grilled in an indoor open chimney fire pit and once the grease let loose, the the flames reached the ceiling. Plenty of smoke to spare. Needless to say, the Choripan was delish! The youth and adults alike, treated us to a traditional Chilean Cueca dance. (of course Kim and I were invited to join in... and without much hesitation, we joined in.)

Oh, about the Island breezes you ask? We have found the weather here to be quite fluctuous. Layers, layers, and more layers to wear. The sun turns to clouds, then rain and chilly wind, then back to sun, and back to wind again. We left the island with hearts warmed, our bellies full, and the question that our even smaller boat, loaded with even more people could safely glide across the shimmering, sea lion filled fjord that lay between us and home... our new home in Puerto Montt.