ready,set, STOP

John and Eliana

One week ago we were all ready to start our trip except for two appointments. The first was the going-away party to which we'd invited all the friends we have made amongst the 'locals' here and the other 'cruisers'.

Gean and Zoe

Luis

Jill and Nick

Nick, Franco and Kath

On Sunday (January 21st) we gathered in the Sala de Club de Yates (meeting space) for which we paid a very reasonable fee. It was difficult to estimate how many people would actually come to the event. After inviting 42 people we bought provisions for 35 but decided to use part of our 3 months of supplies recently purchased in advance of our trip back to Canada. After the event. we would simply replace the wine and cheese we'd used. After leaving a few treats for the staff who were cleaning the room, we still had ample wine and cheese left for our trip and didn't need to replace anything.

We were fortunate to have live music - and this kept many people anchored in the room from 4pm until after 10.

The 'Local' Guitarist:We met guitarist/singer Eliana Valenzuela through friend Marc Cypres. He's now a Chilean after moving here with his wife in his Belgian-registered ketch. He's very friendly to us even though he's been going through a painful re-adjustment period after many years of togetherness, raising a daughter and travelling the world. We were invited to meet his daughter Sarah and her friends several months ago. Included in the group was Eliana. She had been over before our trip to Patagonia to helping explore the music of Violetta Parra. She teaches Spanish to some underprivileged children in Valdivia as her 'day job' and is possessed of a beautiful voice.

Marc Karin Kirsten and Vincente

Kath and Sue

The 'Cruising' Guitarist: John and Sue Bucher are here on their yacht Valkyrie and it turns out that he has maintained a lifelong love of playing classical guitar music having learning to play during his childhood on Chiloe Island. Sue - sharing a former career as an educator - has inspired me to return to an interest in crocheting.
John retired as a flight test engineer for Boeing so he and Larry have 'talking points' to keep them busy about airplanes they have either flown (or even - in John's case - test-flown). When he discovered that Eli was going to play he retrieved his guitar from his boat ... the result was an evening of shared music and a very happy group of people.

Some of both our long-standing or new friends you've met before in this blog. Karen, Kirsten and son Vincente arrived to help along with a family of  'cruisers' from British-registered 'Mollymawk' - a large steel craft undergoing welding and painting repairs. These are being carried out by the indefatigable crew of Zoe, new husband Gean, and Zoe's parents Nick and Jill.  Our friends on the Welsh yacht 'Caramor' - Franco and Kath who were here

Larry and M.A.(with sore tooth no.12) listening to music

when we arrived in Valdivia this time.

Our second pre-departure adventure was NOT successful. This involved  my ongoing battle with Tooth no.12. An August dental appointment had not revealed any problems before we left for 4 months to dive and re-visit Patagonia. The pain started only after we were in Patagonia with few advanced dental resources. A visit to the dentist in Puerto Natales yielded a short-term solution  -a week-long course of antibiotics which temporarily halted the more abject form of the pain. However, on the 6 weeks-long trip back up to Valdivia the pain gradually re-asserted itself. So now, having expected to be on our way around the 12th of January, we won't be able to leave until after my next (and hopefully final) dental appointment on Tuesday the 30th.

So start watching for more progress on Thursday February 1st.