Rilan

 Tuesday, March 14th, the weather was not as nice as it was the day before.  It rained on and off as we went to Rilan to spend the day with a local couple for OAT's standard "Day in the Life" feature--visiting a community to see how the people live.  We stopped at the church but couldn't go in.

Then we walked to Raul and Ilse's house, where we were greeted warmly by the kitchen woodstove.

Besides farming, Raul does crafts, especially making beautiful model boats.

We then moved to the smokehouse, where we would help Ilse cook lunch.

While preparations were getting underway, we Raul showed us his pigs.

Members of the group grated potatoes, to make a sort of dumpling.  I helped squeeze water out of the shavings.  Gradually, layer after layer of food was piled into a large pot, which was then set on the fire.  

While we waited for lunch to cook, we went out to look at Raul's farm, mostly given to potatoes.  It was now raining fairly seriously.

Raul showed us a place in the woods where he had carved a treetrunk into a figure of the Trauco, a creature from the Chiloe mythology, who protects the forests.   He spoke passionately of his fmily's indigenous roots and its connection with the land.

We returned to the smokehouse, where there was folk dancing to recorded music.

Lunch was ready!  So, we returned to the house and sat down to eat.

We said goodbye and thank you to Raul and Ilse and returned to Castro, where it was still raining.

Back in town, we stopped at a craft market by the waterfront, where Mary Joy bought a nice sweater.

Then we visited the palafito (house built on stilts over the water) of a friend of Ingrid.

For dinner that evening, Mary Joy and I walked through the rain to Cafe Veliche again.  Again, not bad; not great.