Fast forward a few days of traveling and we found ourselves at the NOLS Patagonia branch in Coyhaique, Chile. For a sense of scale- Coyhaique is about 17 hours northwest of Chaltén, and probably that far south of Puerto Montt, the beginning of what is considered Chilean Patagonia.
We arrived around 7pm to a birthday party for one of the instructors, KG. He invited us in to the quincho (a Chilean barbecue hut) for asado and beers. I felt like I was at home again among another NOLS family.
We ended up staying here for a week, embracing our Patagonian mantra, “no plans are the best plans”. Hollis finally had the opportunity to go fishing (he’ll elaborate!) and I spent a lot of time reading and hiking the hill behind the campo. We made friends with an awesome cat, Carlota, and I was happy to meet and get to know new NOLS people, from instructors to evacuated students. We’re a breed of our own and this community is so important to me- so it was nice to be able to spend some time here.
Here are some more photos from our time on the campo. We happened to be around for a tent inventory…how many Hillebergs can one place have?!
Some rad sheep dog friends…
One of the staff houses:
Our evac friends Chris and David making challah:
And our tent for the week!
chilean wanderings 