If you're reading this it means we are no longer........waiting to post the thrilling conclusion to the last post!

 So there we was..avin a time in the beautyful natural setting..incredible, twisted trees resembling strange creatures who’s limbs lurched toward the bubbling river as if trying to quench their thirst with the fresh mountain waters, birds of vibrant colours singing songs I’d never imagined possible, when outta nowhere’s Nadia hits us with the unexpected.
“ I don’t like for being to ask, is not comfortable for me, yes? But is not yet we are discuss the monies sitoo ation?”
The monies situation??? WTF was she on about? We had been invited to stay..no money chat had even come up and now here we sit in the wilds of patagonia and she drops this bizomb. I glance over at Natalie..she does not look impressed. As we awkwardly fumble through the convo, something started to click. The passive chilling out, the trip to the river, drinking they homebrew like it ain’t no thang. They had this in their minds but failed to let us in on it..but rather than being a trap of sorts, I don’t think it dawned on them that we were clear about this whole “invite”.. these people had never done this before...we did know that. Granted their biz sense was a little off I could tell that Nats was thinkin what I was thinkin. These people literally have no dosh, zilch! She walks three freakn hours to the market n three back, to maybe sell a handful of bracelets for almost nothing. Enough to buy the makings for bread n maybe the odd tin o tuna.

Although we disagreed with how they went about it, we agreed to pay them for the 3 days and they invited us to stay 2 more for free..as friends, which we were. I mean, we really dug these people..I’m sure our lil pal Holly would agree..them’s was good shits.
It really wasn’t much, but it meant a nice holiday for them. After we left, they went across Argentina to the beach and it made us happy after all, to have given them an opportunity they otherwise wouldn’t have had..plus we got to stay on a serious, off the grid farm where we learned how to make our own cervesa ( which, by the way was rather unconventional but worked like a charm ) and had some great laughs.

 I got to follow Mr. Mountain Rasta Man on his daily routine, walking all over 600 hectars of land, tracking his sheep in order to heard them back to the farm..which was pretty insane due to the dessert like hilly terrain. It took hours of following tracks, listening for a faint "baaah" amidst the many sounds coming at us from all angles..he would suddenly dart off, gesturing that he heard them from a certain direction. I really couldn't heard a thing but this guy was well tuned to the sounds of nature.

These crazy, sticky, spikey, seedy pod things continuously leaping off the brush, doing all they could to embed themselves in every part of my body and propagate their dastardly species. Clever mechanism but damn it took ages to remove at the end o the day...serious pain in the ( enter whistle noise) Funny thing was, I had everything covered..jeans, boots, I mean I was well protected yet there was Uriel..strollin through this onslaught of prickled madness wearing shorts n bloody flip flops!!! Do you think he had a single one attached to him? Nada...son of a bitch was one giant callous! All the while, we acted out our fav cartoons, talked politics ( don’t ask me how ) and shared in many of our common interests. The ladies stayed back and learned how to make necklaces n bracelets with Nadia. They did some great stuff indeed...though, I’m still waiting for mine.....

Arriving back in Bolson, we went straight back to La Casa del Viajero for some much needed relaxing..and showering..we were well funky after 5 days of baby wipe showers.

Funny how this rustic little hostel now felt like a luxurious stay at the Fairmont after being on the farm. Leaving was a little bitter sweet but damn it was nice to be back in our temporary home.

The hostel, now with some new blood, had been a buzz with some chat about this 5 day psy-trance thing called the moon flower festival and well...the little lady and I are well into our festivals so we figured why not? Besides, they couldn’t possibly play JUST play psy-trance for 5 days..or could they?
A small crew of us assembled. Two lovely American ladies (Katja, Kasey), two incredible chefs from the land of exquisite food..of course I mean Italy ( enter The romantic and smooth Ricardo, and spliff master Simone ) , 1 German ( Martin ) who was cool as a cucumber and moved at the speed of slow, a Dutch girl who went by the moniker “ Pink Fish”, our lil English pal Holly n us..the Acworth’s.

We arrived in probably one of the most beautiful spots on earth, I shit you not and proceeded to find a nice place to camp...for some reason, no one had chosen this glorious location under a giant lovely tree, by the water, with a view of the mountains n glacier. ( we spent the day, chillin in the sun, Simone had his guitar, we ate some good food..and waited for the music which had not yet begun ) We would soon find out the reason why we had this amazing spot while everyone else clumped together in the brush a ways down....just across the open grassy hill was a line of trees...and behind those trees?
Yeah..the GOSH DARN GOLLY JEBUS MAIN BLOODY STAGE!!
Ever try n sleep through pounding psy-trance?!?! Lemme tell ya, it isn’t as easy as pounding music of ANY other type...but fatigue got the best of us and we did somehow get something that resembled rest. Needless to say, in the morning we moved.

As the week went on, we said goodbye to our Italians cooks, who fed us well, we said goodbye to our mountaineer American chums, later to the Pink Fish and by the end it was me, Nats, n Holly ( who carried a blow up Shark on a stick named Phillipe..long story..and well, my stories are long enough don’t you agree? ) We did however make some lovely new pals at the communal cooking area and managed get some good mellow chill area time in ( some kickin beats was being dropped that satisfied our need to escape the punishing trance n get our groove on a little ) The promoters did a bang up job on creating a lovely little elf type village and the food vendors actually had some damn good food. Ah, there is more... I could go on but Imma cut this one short because the next tale is gonna really take it outta me.
It’s a tale of intrigue, adventure beyond what we’d ever imagined, and a brush with death itself..yes, that tall, dark, cloaked escort who lurks around waiting for someone to do something so risky they deserve a first class ticket with him to the other side...

So toon in next time..if you dare....or if yer just bored and it’s raining and there really isn’t much going on...maybe it’s a Tuesday..I mean, what happens on a Tuesday..nothing!

Much Love

The Acworths

What happens at a psy-trance party in the mountains of Patagonia stays at a psy-trance party in Patagonia but first a word from the farm

(please note..I am so freakin behind on this that it was written about a month ago..this blogg thing is not as easy as I thought..plus, I really don't know how to summerize / : )

Buenos Dias!

 It is mucho calor here in El Bolson as I sit on the bench outside the Casa del Viajero, a peaceful hostel just outside of town. The cervesa is rojo, the porro is rolled and I am ready to take on the latest of entries.

Last time on Adventure with the Acworths we took you on a journey that didn't necessarily keep you on the edge of your seats..this is all about to change as I get you all up to speed on the latest happenings of your favorite traveling duo. (  perhaps we are your second choice..is o.k, as the broken english speakers say )

We arrived in El Bolson and settled in quite nicely to our beautiful oasis just across the bridge in perhaps one of the most amazing settings we've encountered. The hostel seems to attract those willing to share experience, food, cervesa and a love of seeking to learn about natural living.


The town boasts an amazing market, complete with all the handicrafts of local artisans, beer, jam, and fashionable jewelery ( if you are inclined to wear things a little more on the hippie side of things )
It was here I met Nadia, a lady no more than Natalie's age, who lives in the high mountains with one of the most inspiring people I have come across. The mountain rasta man known as Uriel. ( pronounced Oo-ree-el ) We met her, selling her wares in the market. Modest, hand made bracelets and necklaces made with painted fruta pits, seeds and nut shells. I mentioned to her that we were having a tough time locating a farm for which to learn the skills we will one day put into practice. We signed up for WWOOFING before we left ( a community on eco tourism allowing seekers to gain the necessary skills to one day live of the land ) but it turns out it is much more popular than we had anticipated. Responses were not promising. It seems we weren't the only ones with this idea.
Nadia went on to invite Natalie and I to spend some time with her and her amor at their little farm in the mountains. They had no electricity but running water coming straight off the glacier above them.
It all sounded great, and with the lack of responses from farms, this was our only lead..and we decided to take it.
This would prove to be a rather difficult undertaking as Nadia didn't have quite as good a grasp on English as we thought. We agreed to meet on the next market day to come with her after work for a dinner. She would show us the farm, have some chow chow then get back to the hostel with a few days to make our decision.
It was all very clear..or so we thought.

The next market day arrived and we were eager to see what was in store for us. Things were lookin up!
We arrived to find her still at it, talking to potential customers and mingling with the local artisans.Reluctantly, we nudge forward, somewhat apprehensive, partly due to a lack of Spanish on my part and perhaps a little intuition on how the nights events were to play out. Greeted with a kiss on the cheek, she exuded a warmth that seemed to put us both at ease. Everything was bueno. The two us sat silently as we waited for the market day to close. Nadia packed up her things and set off to buy some fish to cook for us. We waited for about 30 mins when she arrived with bag in hand. " A friend will pick us up soon. " she proclaimed..but as we've come to learn, Argentinian time is not the same as Canadian time or rather that of the North American flavour. No, it would take us to nearly 9 o'clock at night before she would find out that his car has overheated and is not fit to make the journey. " We get a remise!" ( a cab which you can only get from a remise outlet buy going in and ordering )
As the sun goes down we begin to question what lays ahead. We will need to pay mucho dinero to travel the 16 kilometers into the mountains then back again to the hostel...and with the light fading, would we even see the farm?? After a short conference, me esposa and I decide reluctantly to pull out, stating our concerns. This she did not understand. In fact not only did she not understand that but it turns out she hadn't the same idea as us at all!! The stress on her face told more than her tongue could. It turned out she figured we were coming to stay there, indefinitely at this very moment! I flash back to earlier and recall some Spanglish she busted out having to due with us traveling so lightly...of course we didn't understand her meanderings at the moment but now it was all too clear. She then asked if we had become afraid. "No no no!" I assured her and then went on for 15 mins explaining our misunderstanding. She then asked, " So, you come tonight then si? " I would have to explain again with added stress, our predicament..perhaps using more sign language and gesturing.
I got the sense she was then concerned on having the money to get home by herself..we were her ride now!
We gave her some money to get home and promised we would speak again at the next market. This time we'll bring our new aussie pal, Ben, to translate..the guy is a translator after all..no shit!

Ben, the aussie translator n new chum

A rather long and painful situation can be draining as most of you will agree, so we sauntered home, deflated and feeling somewhat defeated. The next market day rolled around and feeling had not left us. What do we say to this girl? Do we pursue this further or just leave it? Something deep inside told me we were meant to have the original interaction but my brain fought. We will leave it for today..Ben has already been in to the market and will doubtfully return. It's hot, and we are mucho tranquilo...and I know Natalie felt the same. We needed more time to come around but come around we did and we dragged our new English chum Holly along for the ride.

Ben was good enough to join us and in not so many words, everything was claro.( sorted ) She had understood our misunderstanding and all was set up.Natalie and myself set out for dinner that night feeling much better about everything. Time to meet the boyfriend, or partner as Nats would say.

To be continued....

And now, the stunning conclusion that will go on and on of course until we find ourselves back in Beautiful B.C.

So, without further ado we set off with Nadia to the farm. Our driver, whom I have no understanding of his relation to our new friends, was the town simpleton..Nadia’s words.
He seemed a lovely fellow but reminded me slightly of a South American version of that guy from Of Mice n Men..you know, the one who pets the bunny too hard and well, you know the rest.
After driving a kilometer or so it was time to switch vehicles from his rather decrepit car to an even more run down old ford truck..which I think was held together only by rust. It took a few tries to get er going but start she did. VAMOS!

The long dirt road into the mountains was stunning..the peaks that looked so far off in the town were now like fellow punters at your favorite festival..very freakin close! So close you could smell em!

I was constantly reminded of the fact that Nadia traversed this 4 times a week to the market..on foot! It would take nearly 3 hours coming back, up a gravel mountain road. Clearly, I’d had it pretty easy and that statement was about to get even more true. We arrived with enough light to harvest the beans n peas that would feature heavily in our diet..not only for the night but the rest of the week. Dinner took nearly 3 hours in the dark of the small log house and with only 2 stools ( they didn’t have many or any guests I’d wager)but we took turns sitting.

Nadia was greeted by her amor, a tallish, rugged but handsome man with a cheeky grin and long brown dreadlocks. He peered back from behind the days dirt which covered most of him permanently. Uriel, a rather mad cap character that spoke not a lick of English. This would not come between us and soon we were conversing like best buds using sound effects and our mutual love of dramatic over acting. He was hilarious!
I felt we were cut from the same cloth. The night went on with home brew cervesa, beany chow, and much laughter but the night slipped away from us and our driver became weary. He seemed to be getting somewhat agitated (which I can totally understand..he pretty much stayed outside the convo all night waiting patiently..bless ‘im)
So we said our goodnights and began our long trip back to town to La Casa del Viajero..our hostel..the Home of the Traveler...which as I type I miss dearly..magic little spot it was..wait, getting off track.

In the morning we talked it up to our wee English adoptee, Holly, and she was stoked to join us for the adventure.She too had felt the need to get on with some activity as the hostel was somewhat of a trap..a lovely, food, vino n cerveza filled trap that was starting to put pounds on all of us.  Time for some rugged farm work! The next day, we packed up and said goodbye to our lovely, super chill, cozy nook and set off for some mountainy goodness. After making our way to the local market we greeted our new host for the 3rd time and together set out for high ground.

Arriving with little light in the sky, Nats n I managed to put up our new home for the week. A small but nice tent on some slantly, lumpy ass ground. Good thing we did not come prepared to camp..that might have got in the way of our non sleeping! That night was reasonably warm for the mountains so we were kept awake only by how damn uncomfortable we were..how little did I know that the following nights would see us dressed in EVERY bit of clothing we had with us for the trip and STILL freezing our important bits off...but it was worth it.

Still, we had one more uncomfortable challenge to overcome. We had arrived believing we were to slave on the farm to earn our keep. When we awoke, everything was reeeeeaaally freakin mellow. We sat for hours drinking mate, sharing the greenery, and eating homemade chapati n jam (also homemade..hell, EVERYTHING was homemade so imma just go on without typing it over n over, cool? )
“ Today we go for a walk to the river yes? “ says Nadia. Sounds good to us..but isn’t there farm work to do? Ah, hell, maybe it’s adjustment day..yeah, that’s it..slip into things easy like..niiice. “It’s only a 6 kilometer walk.” What wasn’t mentioned was how incredibly hot it would be..oh, and in hiking boots, oh and through a mountain dessert forest, across some indigenous land which could see us shot at, and down a long gravel road, but hey..we were just getting seasoned at this point..you know, soft city folk need to some wearing in..at least I know I did. The walk proved to be a good challenge though, I could feel the weeks of white bread and cheese literally melting off, or was that my face? Either way, once in the valley, the incredible flora and fauna provided us with sufficient shade and apart from one sketchy bit, it was reasonably easy to get there. At the river, we shared a few things, some food n the like, and got to some relaxing. The water was glacial so mucho frio but we waded in to cool ourselves after the long hot walk.

The day was spent, playing in the water, laughing ( with Uriel, most things involved many giggles) and good ol’ fashioned bathing in the sol...but things were about to change.


Yes, it would seem we were not quite finished with the incredibly awkward.





 more to come...and I promise, the next entries will be much more summarized..I canny keep up this kinda detail!!! I mean, I haven't even got to the psy-trance festival..AND IT"S IN THE DAMN TITLE for cryin out loud..

Love to all until next time..

On top of Chiloe, all covered in Cheese, we got to El Bolson when somebody sneezed.

The night air is crisp but inviting as we step out into the cobbled streets of Valparaiso.
Off to find a wee tiny kitten we spotted earlier bearing gifts of salad poultry to nourish his evidently shrinking belly. Earlier that day we had learned that Caesar salad apparently comes with chicken even though there is no indication to be found on the le carta ( the menu ) A terrible waste! This pile of bird stood higher than my wine glass...how can we let this delicately seasoned ancestor of little tiny dinosaurs die for nothing? We can’t, we won’t!
After an extremely extravagant over packaging of said meat product which pretty much overshadowed the point in the first place, we set off to find our feline friend, our little gatito!

Wait...this story is crap really, we gave up looking after one minute, gave it to some other cats, THEN saw our kitty..our little pal got nothing! Very sad indeed.

What I should tell you is about the place we stayed..La Nona. (which translates to the Grandma) This guy Rene, the B n B owner, knows his Valparaiso and is more than happy to share, should you choose to engage him..which you should because he’s a swell guy. Rene and his lady, whom we didn’t have the fortune of meeting this time, run the B and B out of the house his Grandmother lived in. Pretty sweet digs. Very relaxed atmosphere. He gave us our first pisco sour, a drink which has many variations throughout Chile and Peru. Pretty tasty shiz. We even got to hang with Mom, try out some Espaniol and feast on some Chilean sushi. No easy task going up against the sushi in Vancouver but they faired pretty good if I do say so myself.
I have put La Nona on my official Acworthz Guide to doing things highlighted in other guide books, namely Lonely Planet.

The real treat here though, is the street art, graph, whatever you chooses to call it, this place has got crazy amounts of it, and it’s good!

Alright, let’s get out o here or I’ll never finish writing.

Next stop Chiloe!

We stayed in a Palafito...you don’t know what a palafito is? Neither did I, but Nats did and that is how we ended up at the Palafito Hostel. Due to high traffic,( this place is also on the Ronery Planet guide) we ended up taking the only available spots..bunk beds! At least our roomies was pretty cool. A nice couple from Spain. Ha, I thought I really freaked em out the first night..fraught with feverish nightmares, I thrashed around,  yelling “NO!” according to Natalie. I rarely ever get nightmares but of course if you have to share a room with complete strangers it’s a good time to bust that out.
Anyway, a palafito is a house on stilts..the tide here comes in so high that they need some serious clearance, plus they would fish right off the back porch of these little beauties. Nice to work from home.

waiting for the ferry to Chiloe

 The island of Chiloe has some creepy local folklore of malevolent creatures that live in the forest and come out only to rape virgins..something like that..anyway, not a happy little tail..supposedly it was just an excuse used when to didn’t want to fess up to your highly dubious doings. What I don’t get is    ``````````````````` how they got around the whole, “ Hey them creatures that had their way with little Sara look just like Uncle Ralph!”
I guess they caught on eventually as it doesn’t seem to be used as much anymore.

Thanks to a couple of ladies from Santiago, we got to spend a night with the architect of the hostel. Really good bloke. Our new friends, Mireya, Valentina, Lindsay the Brit and Casper the Dutch traveller were a good mix o nuts as well. We all went out at night to a lookout point in the architect’s truck then to a locals pub.There were some serious chuckles as we spoke broken versions of each others languages and attempted to tell jokes. In the end, animated gestures got the point across no matter the language barrier.
Aside from them shenanigans, Chiloe has some damn fine seafood, if you follow my guide of good places to eat from other travel guides, well just the one really..yeah..Lonely Planet.

Now we skip some n come to Osorno..a one night stop only to transfer to another bus the next day. Research indicated that this place didn’t have much to offer..I beg to differ.
Our night at Mike’s Hostel Vermont was pretty epic. What a treat. I can’t believe I don’t have a picture of Mike because Mike is awesome! He’s like Dean n Gene Ween’s younger brother if they had one, which is funny because he LOVED Ween. Anyway, his hostel was in the middle of this city but his backyard had a little dog, two ducks, a rabbit, n 2 cats. He grew veggies, tended animals, drank beer, played various instruments, ran the hostel with his Chilean lady and just about every other thing. He also devised a way to make booze out of orange peels..innovative sob this guy..and funny as shit.

The night carried on with some guitar sessions in the back yard. Some fine young Americans were the opening act with songs ranging from Smashing Pumpkins to something I obviously missed somewhere along the way but the real headliner here was Offier Avital, the Israeli guitar master. This cat could really throw down some licks. We even joined in and collaborated on some blues. It was a match made in..well, Osorno.
That night the gang head out for the Pirate Bar. Nats n I hung back for some much needed rest for tomorrow was Bariloche! For one day! Which I’ll tell ya about soon! I’m already over the amount I was hoping to write! Hope it doesn’t bore you ta tears!

Much Love,

The Acworths

Busted! A trail mix of problems

Ever try to get something into another country illegally? Us neither..o.k so there was this one time but that's another story.

The date is January 18th. Nats n I are doing our final check to see if there is ANYTHING left to pack.
Enter Greta ( that's me ma ) " You should take all this dry fruit  n nuts with you, we won't eat it and you'll probably want a snack on the plane."
Natalie and I had been making a special homemade trail mix for xmas gifts and well, we didn't get to using all our supplies so there was..most of it left.
Had I turned Mom down I would have heard the suggestion a few more times, I'm sure, so I agree to keep things moving. There was simply too much to carry on (which was the point in retrospect) so I stuff er in the ol backiddy pack and awaaaaaay we go.

Fast forward to landing in Santiago. Flight attendant hands out landing cards to all the non residents to declare things..you know, firearms, explosives, farm animals, illegally obtained plutonium and of course fruits n nuts.
After flying for 17 hours all we could think about was getting off the damn bird n making our way to the nearest cerveza peddler so we proceeded to say no to all these ridiculous questions. Bah, as if I"m gonna bring my AK 47 or a bag of apples with me to Chile..much cheaper here!

Nearing the exit, I can see the light streaming through the doors, the warmth of the Chilean sun beckoning my winter white epidermis...but alas, what's this? One last wave of security so that if you managed to get any of these forbidden items this far you won't get any further. Tired and weary we toss our bags into the scanner machine without a thought.
"Sir, why are you not tell us you are having bring somethings into Chile?" I'm confused..." What? "
Anyway, long story long, we then spend the next 2 hours waiting with the other fruit and nut offenders ( no joke, there were a few of us ) to speak to our captors. Finally I am called into a small, hot, sticky room and asked very seriously to sit down in front of a man in army green fatigues and asked, " SO, why are you not tell us about the fruit and nuts? " His seriousness begs my upset, empty stomach to lurch upward toward my adams apple. I proceed to tell him how my mother worries I don't eat enough and made me pack them and how it totally slipped my mind. He looks mighty suspicious of my trembling words. " You know it is a minimum 500 dollar fine for this?"
For realz? What were planning to do? Sell them shits to street kids? ( I'm aware of the real reasons, don't get me wrong, but this is for dramatic effect..bare with me)
Just then a female guard enters as he asks my occupation..I tell him I make the cartoonies for the idiot box ( or rather idiot wall hanging to be current) He scrunches his nose not understanding what I'm on about but the female guard perks right up with a smile and begins to esplain to him with mucho enthusiasm. She then asks me which shows I work on. I got no bites with Barbie n the Nutcracker or Skunk FU but when I say the magic words, Kid Vs Kat she jumps all over it.
" My niece, she LOVES this show!"
I see my interrogator soften ever so slightly. He hands me my crime on some very important official looking papers and we are let off with a warning. " Don't do it again!" he warns..like I'm about to try the whole fiasco
over to see if I can dupe them next time. So, with a street value of maybe 15 bucks ( they were from Whole Foods hence the steep cost) Natalie and I have been forced to eek out a living playing fiddles and re enacting scenes from Zoolander to make ends meat. O.k not really, I watch as Nats performs..she's getting better!

Welcome to South America!

After 2 days in Santiago we stayed in Valparaiso..tell ya about that in the next one..super rad street art EVERYWHERE..see our flikr for the pics ( will post that link momentarily)

We are currently in southern Chile on the island of Chiloe, adjusting, relaxing, and finally getting a chance to write. . it's beautiful here. K, I'm hungry.
Ciao for niao

The Acworths

All in good time

Why, hello there all you happy people!

I have FINALLY set up this account. Due to the nature of shady wifi connections here in South America or
as I shall refer to it in future, SM, i have had an extremely difficult time getting this up and running.
We are currently in Valparaiso, Chile. It's pretty amazing. Built on a massive hill, this city is COVERED in street art..which I have mad appreciation for. I will post some photos when we arrive at our next destination. In fact, this is just a quick note to let you all know the skinny. I gotta wake up sleeping beauty uno momento as we need to pack our bags again. Back to Santiago for a few hours then we are off to a little place on the water called Chiloe...get our sea bass on.
More to come...watch this space!

Love to you all