Huilo Huilo

Feeling adventurous, a couple friends and I took a day trip to some local points of interest a few hours away.

The first, Panguipulli (pronounced "pang-gee-poo-yi") is a quaint town with a vibe that reminds me of Carmel. We stopped there around lunchtime to walk around and for some traditional dishes: caldillo de mariscos (seafood soup), lomo a lo pobre (beef with french fries, fried eggs, and onions) and merluza (local fish). Then, we headed off to Huilo Huilo, a biological reserve, where we spent the afternoon taking in the scenery and hiking.

If you are interested in reading more about them, check out these sites:

Panguipulli: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panguipulli, http://www.panguipulli.com/gallery.html

Huilo Huilo: http://www.huilohuilo.com/

Road Trip!

Okay, so this sign is a bit morbid, but I couldn't help but snap a picture as we drove by. It translates to "Fatal Accidents this Month" and has a smiley face because the count is currently "0."

The Views from Panguipulli

Labranza is actually located in a region of Chile that is surrounded by volcanoes. When they sky is clear enough, I think there are about 4 within view. Our day trip gave us an ever better view of this one.

Huilo Huilo

Copihue

the national Chilean flower, which is supposed to be quite rare

Waterfalls

Clases de Tejer

During my most recent weaving class, I learned how to set up a loom and completed my first textile. Here are some of the main stages of the process.

The Loom

very simple, consists of 4 wooden sticks, tied together

Dye

this one was made by boiling leaves and branches from Maqui, a native tree

Ovillando

this verb doesn't translate well into English, the best definition I can come up with is "winding yarn into a ball"

Tying off the Ends

El Tonón

the red piece of yarn, groups together every-other thread on the loom, which makes weaving a lot easier

Tononwe

wooden stick, used to criss-cross strings and secure each row of the textile

Crochet a Palillo, Knitting

A Walk Around Labranza

More sights from my neighborhood (along with a small a vocabulary lesson)

Niebla en La Mañana, Morning Fog

Gallinas, Hens

Río, River

Campo, Field

Puente, Bridge

Vacas, Cows

Alambrada, Wire Fence

Calle Cerrada, Closed Street

More Fun with Wool

I recently made it back up to Santiago for about a week to look into primary materials for my internship. The stops that most caught my attention were the wool yarn factories- the juxtaposition between these industrialized systems and the hand spun, dyed, and woven wool trade I have been learning about in Labranza is quite interesting. Each method definitely has its pros and cons.

Back on The Metro

Crude Wool!

Processing

The Final Product

fresh out of the dryer : )

When the CEO of one of the larger wool factories in Santiago was giving me a tour, I forgot about acting professional and got so excited at the sight of this "mountain of wool" that he offered to take a picture of me.

Other Yarn Samples

Downtown Santiago

Back in Labranza with Hand-spun Yarns