Isla Mocha: Part II - getting comfortable

The beauty of building things yourself is that you appreciate everything more, even if it's something as mundane as a seating option. Additionally, you rejoice in every small progress, and we were able to achieve many small victories, day by day.

The most important thing for us in the beginning was setting up a small 'living room' or kitchen where we could comfortably sit and stay dry when it rains. When Marcelo showed us the entire property, we stumbled upon a small clearing that was overgrown with shrubs but had several trees around it that provided good protection from the wind. We all knew: this is where we will work and turn it into our kitchen and 'living room'. As soon as everyone could envision having a table to eat at and a bench to sit on, we all immediately got to work with great enthusiasm.

This enthusiasm was also visible as we cleared the area of bothersome shrubs, made a new campfire spot, and built a table and two benches on the same day. The benches didn't require a single screw, and the table only needed four. This was made possible by Marcelo's tool, which can both make a hole in a wooden stake and sharpen a wooden stake so that it fits perfectly into another hole.

Oh, and how we enjoyed this table and the benches. We sat at dinner, almost like little children excited about a treat, at the table and simply rejoiced over something that is just ordinary for us. But the table is not the only thing that brings us joy because the incredibly good food we prepare for ourselves every day also puts a smile on our faces over and over again.

My expectations for food while camping on some small island without regular imports from the mainland were more along the lines of canned food and pasta with tomato sauce. But the reality looked very different.

We had a variety of vegetables and fruits at our disposal. We can roast chicken over the campfire, cook rice on the gas stove, and get fresh, warm, homemade bread (you can't buy bread on Isla Mocha since every local makes their own bread) and eggs delivered to our tents by the neighbors, and all without any financial intentions. They even gave us the first sack of bread as a gift, simply because they are happy to help us and glad that we are here. Yes, we truly have a diversity and quality of food that I never expected, and I always appreciate good food, but here on a small island while camping, good food is even more special.

Rice with tomato-avocado salad and a tuna sauce

The good food also gives us the energy to continue working at this unique place. Our kitchen evolved day by day. We laid a water hose to the kitchen and set up a sink, we built natural walls (fixing many long, leafy branches between multiple wooden stakes) to protect us even better from the wind, we hung a tarp between the trees so that we can stay dry even in the rain, we dug a large hole for a barrel, which serves as our fridge, and we built a rocket stove. A rocket stove is a small stone oven; ours is made of just 16 bricks arranged in a way that creates a front hole leading upwards. You insert a few burning thin wooden sticks at the front, and the chimney effect, which causes vertically directed airflows, produces a beautiful large flame at the top. Now you can perfectly place the pan here and cook almost like on a stovetop.

Yes, our kitchen has definitely transformed into a comfortable place where we enjoy spending our evenings by a warm campfire.