Jenny and I arrived to Pucon in the pouring rain. Pucon is usually a very touristy place, but since the earthquake the amount of visitors had decreased so accommodation was cheap! We stayed in Pucon for a week, and we were the ultimate tourists. We went to some hot springs, once during the day, and once at night. We went hiking in the Huerquehue National Park one day. It was cloudy and we hiked up into the snow line. The forest was very neat, unlike anything I have seen at home. We hiked by 4 or 5 lakes, all shrouded in fog. We went horseback riding near Pucon one day which was nice. We also went whitewater PADDLING! Which was definitely Jenny’s favorite part. It was only our guide and us, and yes, we each had our own boat (kayak) and gear (we got asked that question a lot). It was a lot of fun. We paddled the lower Lliucura and the rapids were about grade three and weren’t 100% continuous, but the river was high. FUN. We also hiked up Volcano Villarricia. It was a great day! Sunny and a couple clouds down I the valleys. Everyone has to have a guide to climb the volcano or prove they have sufficient mountaineering experience We were in a group of 4, with one guide and one ‘assistant’ (who I think was a buddy tagging along, as he really did no assisting). We had crampons and ice axes. It was a good time; we practiced self arrests. Apparently in the ‘summer’, one can hike to the top with no crampons or anything. We had ours on for 85% of the time. We also saw some MAGMA (aka lava) (the life of the Volcano), which has only been viewable 2 weeks before we got there. We couldn’t see the lava all the time, it would jump and spurt up once in a while. The volcano sounded like a washing machine. Once, we got a bad wind in the wrong direction, and the fumes were really overbearing. From the top, we could see 3 other nearby volcanoes, and lago Villarrica. That was an awesome day. Lots of fun! My camera was dead too, so I didn’t worry about taking pictures or anything, just enjoying myself. We also got to slide on our butts for parts of the way down. Good times. Oh, we also had a size 5 aftershock one of the mornings. Chile is still settling.
After Pucon, we bused to Temuco to pick up some of Jenny’s things she had left with her Chilean family there. We had a BBQ (asado) and left on a midnight, overnight bus to Santiago. When we got there in the morning we caught a bus to Vina del Mar, and chilled out there for the day. We were pretty pooped from the overnight buses – they really mess you up. Later that evening we meet up with Davy Shine! It was really good to see him. He is studying there for a year. We got to meet and stay with his Chilean family, they were very nice and welcoming. Since Davy had school, Jenny and I spent a day wandering around beautiful Valpariso, and checking out a famous poet’s house. For a big city, Valipariso is neat. We met Davy and a friend of his for lunch, and then he had more school to get off to. His friend, she invited us out to do some salsa dance lessons, which were in the basement of the engineering building. They were pretty fun, and pretty funny. I was giggling almost the entire time. We ended up ditching out halfway through as there weren’t enough partners for everyone, and, well… it was hard! So we went and got ice cream and sat in a park, people watched and talked. Later that evening Jenny and I made some apple crumble (with vanilla ice cream of course) for Davy’s family, and the next morning we made banana bread, which apparently was a huge hit. I had to catch a bus to Santiago in the morning, and then another bus to the airport. I was early for my flight, as I took some local bus to the airport, instead of leaving from the main bus station, which was good.
The flight was long. They woke us up at 3am Santiago time (1 am Calgary time) for breakfast, which screwed up my sleep cycle. I didn’t think I was going to get jet lag, but I defiantly was very pooped when I got into Calgary.
Pictures will be uploaded hopefully tomorrow :)
So! That’s it that’s all.
Chau chicos!
