The People of Chile

Caroline (Baton Rouge, LA)

One thing I have been amazed by on this trip is how nice all of the locals are. Its not like in some countries where outsiders aren’t treated well, they enjoy talking to you! The first time we walked through Los Quenes with our helmets and life vests on people thought we looked strange, but as soon as I smiled and waived or spoke o them they smiled back. Each visit after that was more and more relaxed and gave me the feeling that they had no problem with us walking around their town, and may even enjoy it. The family who owns our campsite in Los Quenes had several little kids who would talk to us at the camp, then one night in town we passed them and they all spoke to us.

After our first day of paddling Rovert, Woody, Challis, Costanza, Jeff and I were waiting at the takeout for the shuttle to come back and pick us up. While waiting, we decided to try to reach some cherries that were growing on the other side of the fence. WE couldn’t reach them, but we could see the farmer, so Jeff asked if we could pick a few cherries off of his trees. The farmer walked off, but we didn’t know if he had said yes or no, so we waited for a few minutes. When he came back he was holding a giant bag full of the worlds sweetest, most flavorful cherries! This is just one example of how nice the people here are. We offered to pay for the cherries, but he wouldn’t let us, he just wanted to give us the cherries.