April 23,

We awoke to our normal scenario: Jeff lit a fire and once it had warmed up some got up to ready. But this was where the status quo changed. I was taking my shower and ran out of hot water after maybe five minutes! What?? That is not acceptable! Jeff texted our host. After some time, Jeff tried the water again. It was hot, but he only had a couple of minutes! Then we had our Javas with breakfast of oatmeal and cuties, waiting for the host to get back. The car rental company texted and they were at the gate… Oh my! That was not any notice! Jeff drove down to the gate, which is a long windy road down the slope of the hill from our place. He met them, let them in the gate, did the photos of both cars and drove back up. He said he turned off the car and realized they did not give him the key or fob. So he had to quickly text the man and walk down to the gate, because he can not restart the car without the key or fob. Sometimes technology… Anyway, he acquired the fob and they drove him up to the car, but he had to drive back down to let them out. What a mess! Jeff was not…pleased, we’ll say. Whew! When Jeff returned our host got back and her husband came down and got the water going.

Well, what a morning. The rest of the day was sitting by the fire watching rain! The volcano has constantly been obscured by cloud cover. We had an open faced sandwich with pepperoni, cheese, onion and tomatoes with a homemade drizzle of a mandarin orange-EVOO sauce. It turned out really good as we heated the pepperoni and melted the cheese in the oven. The afternoon was me sewing, Jeff reading as it rained much of the day. For supper we baked potatoes. It was a weird day…simply living someplace else.🤪

     April 24,

We were up and about by 0800, after Jeff made a fire. I slept in from all the activity yesterday. 😂 We attempted the shower again, but never had hot water this time. Jeff texted our host again, but he went outside to look at the set up. It did not come on. We had our Javas and breakfast of crackers and PB with some cuties, which are a much smaller version than I remembered. Our host’s husband returned and his “magic touch” as Jeff called it turned it on. We then showered – full showers!

Around 1000, we decided to head out. It was still cloudy, but it wasn’t raining and the sun was playing peek-a-boo. We did a drive around Lake Llanquihue. The Osorno Volcano stayed wrapped in clouds though. We saw its cone peak some days ago, and I have almost given up seeing it again. I guess, I’ll count it blessed that I did see it! The drive was pleasant meandering along the lake’s shore, and only having a couple of times with rain. We drove through a bit of a national park; stopped at most of the “miradors”, or viewpoints; and through a few local villages. At one viewpoint area, a placard read, this lake area “developed…since the arrival of German settlers in the mid-nineteenth century.” The towns have been left with German influence of historic colonial architecture, German restaurants, and hotels. The countryside has large remnants of large farm houses and even-larger barns. A couple of times, I thought I was in Germany, but then signage in Spanish or a local Chilean bought me back. It was a fun drive.

We stopped in Puerto Varas for a late lunch, at Restaurante Club Aleman, for German food. I had the set lunch menu: Neapolitan Schnitzel- breaded meat topped with ham, tomato sauce, and cheese, as a main course; with Pure Picante- spicy mashed potatoes; and a limonade. Jeff had Leberkase- which is a traditional Bavarian/Austrian baked meatloaf, served with two fried eggs; accompanied with Papas Duquesa- which were crispy, baked balls of mashed potatoes; and a limonade. It was a nice change of food. We paid 33,000 CLP, or $36.87. We went to the grocery store and then finished our drive back toward Ensenada and our place. A rainbow graced us, as if blessing our drive.

We had bread dipped in seasoned EVOO with Mango Colada for supper, and relaxed for the evening.