Pucon- day1

For our second all-paid gringo excursion we went to the town of Pucon for two days. It is a beautiful place but only when the weather is nice, otherwise there isn't much to do. Thankfully the weather was great. When we first got to Pucon, which is about 3hours away from Valdivia, we checked into our hotel. To our delight the rooms were more like cabanas with a room for each of the three inhabitants, kitchens, couches, etc. We took off quick though to go to a Mapuche community. The Mapuches are the main indigenous group of Chile and Argentina. They have inhabited the south of both countries and have fought hard to maintain autonomy, first against the spaniards and now against the Chilean government.
 http://www.mapuche-nation.org/english/frontpage.htm
I have special interest in the Mapuche culture after doing a proposal to save their dying language Mapudungun. We got to the area and our bus attempted to cross the famous bridge. Thankfully they didn't try hard before parking and making us walk. The bridge swayed with us just walking across it and we had to squeeze against the railings when a car was crossing. When we got to the small encampment, we entered a ruca which is a small hut of natural materials. An older woman told us of her culture, answered our questions, and spoke a bit of the gibberish that Mapudungun sounds like. When she asked who wanted to try on the traditional outfits, no one was too keen on the idea. But then some of us realized "Por que no- Why not?" So four guys, myself and another chica let them dress us like dolls. It was an amazing experience. The guys wore ponchos and were given traditional instruments. Jessie and I were dressed as princesses including necklaces of plata and oro (silver and gold) around our necks and on our heads. Now,  I thought this was enough but no, next I was handed a special drum called a kultrun that has the Mapuche flag symbols on it. I pleaded my lack of rhythm but to no avail. The six of us were herded around an alter of sorts and began to walk around it. Now everyone else blew their horns and such at whim but I actually had to follow a steady beat, according to the beat the woman was using, while staying in line walking around in a small circle. I hope I didn't offend anyone!

Mapuche vocabulary:

trarulongko de medallas - my head piece  

 sikil (de placas) - neck pieces

cascahuilla - wristlet of bells as an instrument

kultrun - drum

pifilca - flute-like instrument (see Kris in center of above photo)

trutruca - circular trumpet-like instrument (see Todd on the left in above photo)

Next we inside another ruca to have what I thought was lunch. We were all starving and rushed in. There were amazing veggie empanadas (fried bread pockets filled with goodies) which were gone in 2 minutes, plus roasted chestnuts and other things that I ate but wasn't sure what they exactly were. Story of my life. After the food was gone, 6 minutes later, and we were all comfortably between hungry and stuffed, we found out that the actual lunch was coming next. As a break in between, we played a field hockey like game with two teams, goals, a ball, and sticks with a hook at the end. Things got intense and my team lost 4-3 and after a rally. I had some good hits and some embarrassing misses. After that, we went for lunch. The omnivores ate carne asada (roasted meat) and the vegetarians at a delicious veggie tortilla. Unfortunately no more of those delicious empanadas. 

Almost all the girls are at least semi vegetarian, but so not to overwhelm the hosts, those who occasionally ate meat accepted it. This courtesy did not sit well with Jac's stomach. 

You will soon see a trend of the adventures of Rachael, Jess, Max, and mate (the herbal tea I'm drinking in the cup below). 

After this second lunch, most of us laid down somewhere for a little siesta. Three of us snuck back into one the rucas that had beds but unfortunately they weren't very comfortable.

Finally we headed back to our hotel to have some free time before dinner. At this point it was about 6pm and dinner was scheduled for 8pm. We were all so full and were not looking forward to dinner. When we got back to the hotel, some headed to indoor pool and sauna and some headed out to explore the cutesy tourist town that Pucon is. I went with one of the girls who had actually worked at a hostel in Pucon for a few months. We headed over there to say hello and then went to the beach on one of the pretty lakes Pucon has. And what better to do while watching a sunset on a beach than drink more mate!

We then headed to dinner which none of us wanted. I could hardly eat any and even the boys I aways rely on passing on extras to couldn't take anymore. On top of that, our last activity of the day was going to the termas, or natural hot springs, and we all thinking about still fitting in our bathing suits. The thermal baths were Amazing. There are a ton of them, all of varying temperatures, that we could choose from. I don't remember ever seeing so many stars. We were away from all cities and there wasn't a cloud around. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the via de leche (milky way) stretching across the whole sky. 

Next post will be day two in Pucon! "The Hike"