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One Thing Leads To Another And...

By Dan Wallace - 2009-04-06

One of my favorite movie quotes is, “Life is like a box of chocolates, ya’ never know what’cha gonna’ get,” by Mrs. Gump. This quote carries a lot of significance for us on this trip, because when we ride out each day from camp, we have no idea what’s around the next bend. There could be a riot or a glacier or anything! And this spontaneity is one of the reasons I love traveling this way. Spontaneity can lead to really good things, and since we run things pretty loosely around here in the One Road South world, there are a lot of chances for wonderful things to happen. One thing we’re learning is not to take life too seriously. I’ll give you a great example of a great day, full of spontaneity, that happened to us just recently.

We had left our church basement in Cochrane and were on the road for our second day. The Carretera Austral was starting to take us over some pretty dynamic terrain. At times we would ride high up along mountain sides through wind and bright sunshine, and in the same hour ride through a lush forest in the bottom of a green valley skirting the mighty blue-white waters of Rio Baker. The ride was tough at times, but after resting indoors for a week in Cochrane, it was great to be out on the bikes again. At the end of the day, around 5 or 6 pm, we pulled into a town on the Southwestern shore of Lago General Carerra called Puerto Guadal. Daniel needed some bread, so we decided that we would buy some food and then head out of town to make camp somewhere.

After about 20 minutes we had visited a couple of stores but had come up empty handed in the search for bread. The last store we went to was owned and operated by a sweet elderly lady. We picked up some bread and a few other things, and chatted with her while each of us took turns using the bathroom. Through an open door, I saw a wonderful kitchen and dining room neatly decorated with all the things that make a cozy home appear, “cozy.” I figured this was her house and let her know how nice it all looked. She said, “Oh, you like it? Come on, I’ll give you a tour.”

Daniel and I followed her through the open door into her house and she showed us all her big knives and quality pots and pans. “Here, feel how heavy this one is! That’s a great pot,” she said to us. We just laughed, lifted and agreed. After a few minutes we thanked her for the tour and bread and met the other guys outside the store.

We were all getting ready to leave when the lady invited all four of us for some tea and coffee in her house! None of us like rejecting hospitality or an offer for free calories, so we said, “Sure thing!” We followed her in and sat around the table where we had tea, coffee, and some light fare. She half manned the store while fawning over us and describing her family and love for learning languages. Things got a bit more interesting, though when the episode of CHIPS we were watching ended and the guns came out! That’s right folks, this granny was packin’ heat! She had a bunch of rifles she uses for target practice and was very enthusiastic about showing them off for us. While Chris was lusting after the guns I was starting to imagine this woman as some big boss in a South American underground arms syndicate. No such luck though, just a sweet ol’ lady that could blow you away from 500 yards with her 30 aught 6. After our tea/gun show time we said goodbye again and thanked her for everything.

Outside again, with our bikes in hand getting ready to leave, a tall, well dressed Chilean man eyeing our bikes came over to talk. We chatted together in English (we could tell immediately that he was well educated), and discovered that this man, Christian, was the head researcher on a scientific team working in the area. Christian and his team were working as consultants to companies planning to build big electrical lines throughout southern Chile. They research the ecological effects in the surrounding rivers and lakes. We all got very excited! Just a few days before, we had started planning our next video: a look at these projects happening now in Chile. We learned all about what they were doing and even got an interview with Christian!

By the end of this conversation it was dark and we still hadn’t found a campsite. So, being the wonderfully hospitable Chileans they are, Christian and the other six or seven researchers invited us to have dinner at their cabana and also to stay the night. “Wow,” was all I could think and say. We followed behind their van to where we spent the rest of the evening eating tons of delicious grilled food, talking, and laughing. The sleeping bags didn’t get rolled out until well after midnight. Giving life some wiggle room certainly has its benefits!