V is for Villarrica ... and Vacas

Vaca = cow.

OK. Villarrica was magical. But totally spontaneous magical. Which is the best kind of magical. 

We had 5 hours in the city before we had to catch a bus to Puerto Montt, and we didn't know what to do. So we bummed around for a bit, and then decided the municipality might be a good source of information on activities for the hit-and-run tourist. Well, we ended up bumping into a woman who had a farmer friend. That's what she said, "I have a farmer friend. Come with me." So we went to her home, dropped off our backpacks (yes, we might trust too much in the good of humanity), and got picked up by her farmer friend, a jolly 40-something man with a white truck. He locked us up in the trunk, and we were on our way (yes, again, we might trust too much in the good of humanity).

Mads and our alpaca, Sancho Panza, aren't so sure about this truck situation ...

Turns out trusting in the good of humanity is a GREAT thing! Our farmer José Ramón was such a great guide. He showed us so much. And mixed in a little philosophy. Our favorite: "El hombre es tan pequeño enfrente de la naturaleza." Man is so small in front of nature.

We saw his cows. Including a baby one getting castrated.

And a Mapuche woman's cheese factory on his property. Don't worry. We definitely bought some queso.

A turkey. For those of you who don't know, Madeline hates birds. Emphatically. She called this one "the devil" to his face.

But we were only able to navigate the wilderness with José Ramón's help. Well, I should say, MADELINE needed Jose Ramón's help. My legs were long enough to hop over barbed-wire fences. No bear hugs for me :(.

And then José Ramón took us to another surprise ... his buddy's cerveza (beer) factory. This man here made the machines behind him, and he meticulously paints each Crater label on each bottle. But he promised us he's in the process of inventing a machine that will do this automatically.

All in all, Villarrica was more than we could have imagined. That may be because we didn't imagine anything, but it may also be a very, very special little town.