i arrived on the island yesterday afternoon and made it down to chonchi, the small fishing community where ana has been conducting her research. she lives in a secluded little cabin by the water. it has an incredible view of the bay and the surrounding islands. off in the distance, you can even make out the snowcapped andes, dominated by and the michinmahuida volcano, which towers over its neighbors at 2400m.

la isla grande de chiloe is quite a colorful little haven. meticulously shingled homes and churches, misty inlets, verdant forests, and rolling hills give the island a personality all its own. last night, ana showed me around her town, where we feasted on steamed mussels and chatted with the locals. today we rode out to castro, the island's capital, and roamed the waterfront marketplace, sampled some curanto (chiloe's signature dish, a seafood stew), and picked up some chilote potatoes to cook later on (the island boasts 214 varieties and is rumored to be the original source of the world's potatoes). we also stopped by this internet cafe so that ana could send off her mid-term report.

tonight, we've been invited to dinner by one of her chilean friends, and tomorrow i am heading off to explore some of the smaller islands in the archipelago. internet access will be hard to come by from now on, but drop me an email if you want any handmade woolen island crafts. i can pick them up anywhere. they're well and locally made, warm, beautifully dyed, and yet so very cheap!