A vacation from a vacation

I arrived on the evening of the summer solstice (winter solstice for you people above the equator) to my new home, a fading yellow house surrounded by eculyptus trees and a roaming herd of goats. Well I thought maybe I would stay for a week and see how it went...I stayed for three. I am of course referrring to the last three weeks I spent volunteering on a farm just south of Puerto Montt, Chile. I ate delicious veggies from the garden everyday, harvested lettuce and carrots to sell, planted new baby lettuce and beets, dug holes, weeded, and ate the most amazing local honey I have ever eaten. I didn´t realize that honey could become a daily staple. It was a very tranquil three weeks complete with daily swims in a lagoon that overlooks the gulf of ancud, a christmas eve dinner of freshly caught fish from the nearby river and mussels from the nearby bay, a new year´s eve celebration of bonfires, pisco, and guitar playing, a 24th birthday where I was sung happy birthday to in 6 different languages, and new friends from England, France, and Chile. After three weeks i have finally pulled myself away and gone to the enchanted island of Chiloe wandering around in the little towns that dot the island and the magnificent wooden churches. I am now heading north once again hopefully towards volcanos as well as beaches on my first love the pacific ocean. Happy New Year´s everyone....starting it off very well I think with the inauguration of Barack Obama on Tuesday, whahooooo!