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he insisted that I eat one of his.  Before I could make up my mind whether I cared to try one, he had plopped some into my mouth and I had to take it.  At lunch we had dishes of it for the first course.  Sea urchin gonads are rated a great delicacy in Chile and while I found them not unpleasant, I certainly prefer oysters or clams. After stopping at Calbuco, there was one other and short stop before we reached Puerto Montt at 6.30 PM. We took the bus to the Miramar where we were expected.  A new room, No. 5, was assigned to us and we found the change satisfactory.  First of all, we had hot baths, shaves, and changed our clothing.  The laundry that we had left was ready and everything had come back.  When the girl gave it to me, Raúl was in his bath and I tried to negotiate with her.  Before she would take any money she evidently wanted me to do something.  She kept saying "Conforme!" which I learned later means "Check it" Finally I opened the bundle and spread the contents on the bed.  The girl was pacified and accepted 40 pesos for the two lots.  We had dinner and I wrote a letter home.  Also I found some fruit (had had no fruit since leaving Santiago)and ate a half kilogram of white grapes and drank a large glass of peach juice.  We leave for Pto. Varas in the morning at 8.30.

[[image-black and white photograph of a tree]]
[[caption] Araucaria araucana. [[/caption]]

Feb. 24. Paid bill at hotel after breakfast and went across the street to the railroad station. We reached Pto. Varas at 9.30 and went to the Hotel Heim, a small and unpretentious place on a side street.  It proved clean, comfortable and not expensive.  A double room with meals was a hundred pesos a day (3.00 US).  We walked about town and along the beach of Lago LLanquihue