Pucón day2

The next we all got up and trudged to breakfast. Almost everyone, for various reasons, was much less excited for the hike planned for the day at the Santuario El Cañi. I had about 3 cups of coffee while searching for motivation. We finally packed up and headed out on the bus. I would like to mention that bus rides are infinitely more fun with the scrabble application I downloaded onto my beloved Kindle. I now find myself meeting up with some of the others before class to continue our games.
But back to the hike- we made it to the sanctuary which was obscured by cold, wet, fog. A perfect day. We all joked about changing the name to La Caña which is chilean slang for a hangover which a few of our compadres were.
The beginning of the hike was basic and the scenery reminded me of New Zealand (green hills, rocks, sheep?). The trail started to get steeper and steeper and we all started struggled. Red in the face, de-layering, and breathing hard while our guide (hey, he had trekking poles!) waited patiently. Max and I played a game of who could find and devour the most wild blackberries (moro) on the trail before the other. We finally made it to a refugio for lunch. Though the vegetarian sandwiches are always lacking (cheese and bread), there were also apples, bananas, and chocolate! I don't know why chileans have yet to hear of putting vegetables on sandwiches. The break at the refugio was sunny and enjoyable but the fog soon crept up again.

The two most excited for the trek: Jess and Max

Jac, the inventive one, making a hobo sack to carry her stuff when she couldn't enlist any of the backpack wearers. 

 The national flower of Chile- copihue

A little side story: One of the girls, Erin had brought something up to one of the guys, making fun of him, and he swore to get her back for it. At one point he got a sparkle in his eye and said "Erin, I know my revenge. It's not rude, but you're still going to call me an asshole at the end." Now, Erin had been carrying Rob's bag up the pack (at this point we were a 1/2 hour into our 2 hours up to the refugio) due to most of her things being in it. Rob borrowed it to get some water out and as she walked ahead, he decided to add a little weight to it. As in a huge rock. Max and I were privy to this information due to proximity. The rest of the way up to the refugio, Erin unknowingly carried this rock as Rob kept subliminally hinting at it: singing songs about carrying rocks, asking Erin if the bag was too heavy for her, etc. We get to the refugio and it's time to get her lunch of the bag. Knowing what is about to happen I grabbed my camera:

Alright, so after an enjoyable lunch, to our dismay we headed farther UP the trail to a lake. The view higher up would have provided us with the gorgeous site of the multiple volcanoes nearby, but the fog was persistent. Nevertheless, the trail to the lakes was nowhere near as steep and very pretty. 

Crossing a rope bridge. Never mind the water was puddle deep and there were planks for easy crossing. 

HARDCORE ALWAYS

The first lake...sure it's pretty, but we're ready to head back to our comfortable bus. But wait we're going to another one too?!

Araucania tree

The second lake was pretty. We got a group picture (minus 4 who hadn't come) and yes, drank some mate. 

Left to right: Jahni, me, Todd, Max, Stefan, Erin, Jess, Desmond, Sarah, Natalia, Jac, Kris

Bottom: Rob

Soon, it started getting cold and we headed back down. Fortunately the walk down was quick and much less painful since it was all downhill. However, we had to walk right back through all the fog. 

After the hike, it was time to head back to Valdivia. However, myself and a few others decided to stick around another day. Some of the boys stayed to hike Volcan Villarrica the next day while the rest of us just took advantage of already being out of town to enjoy another place. Pucon is a great place. It has gorgeous scenery and is a popular spot to vacation in the summer. I wouldn't be opposed to taking a note out of Jess's book and working at a hostel here. 

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"

So I should probably mention school..

After all, I am here for a Study-abroad program. I have two classes per day M-Th at an 1 1/2 each. I am taking a Conversation and Composition class, International Relations, Chilean History, and a Grammar class. All are going great. International Relations can get a bit hard as it dense material and is from 5:30-7pm. Grading is hard. The Chilean university system uses a 1-7 scale with 7 being the highest. A five is considered a good grade for Chileans and seven almost impossible to get. However, for us, a 4-5 will transfer as a C to our home universities. Often for two small errors you will be dropped to a 6. However, I am getting along pretty good and my padre is always willing to check things over. I do have all my bibles with me: grammar pages from the UofO lesson books, conjugation book and cheat sheet, hand-outs, and the all-important dictionary.  I've pretty much got a handle on campus: where my classes are, the extranjeros office, good coffee, the rec center, the bank, the library, and the garden. The rec center is funny. I've been a few times for free salsa classes which takes place in pretty much a big hallway. The "rock wall" is just the outside wall on the building. I don't have too many pictures of campus as I'm trying to fit in, but here's a few:

Bariloche, Argentina cont. (Saturday night edition)

As a little note to start off, my first time staying in a hostel was Amazing. We sat with people all over the world at breakfast and dinner. There were 6 of us in a room and we were immediately all comfortable with everyone. The shower was nice and warm (though Sarah had some trouble remembering C meant caliente), our beds were made in the afternoons, and the food was good. And how cool is it to say I partied in Bariloche clubs with a Israeli, an English guy, and a guy from Belgium! 

Now to finish the epic tale of Bariloche: 

So after our second dinner of the night at the steak restaurant, we headed over to Moving Bar for some drinks. We met up with our roommies and though Kris and Desmond headed back for some sleep, Sarah and I stuck it out for a bit longer. We all made a movement to go to an Irish bar that we had all been warned about. Rightly so, as it was Packed. We got some beer and hung around for a while, until deciding it was time to dance. Sarah, myself, our roommate, and his friend headed down the the street to "Dusk", a popular discotec. It was a bit less crowded but not much. We got some more beer and squeezed our way towards the center of the dancing. Apparently it was quite late for as we stayed there for a good while, when we got out it was 7am! After a bit of wandering around Bariloche we got back to our rooms about 8am. Don't ask me how we did it! At 10am the boys were up and packing and incredibly Sarah and I got up as well. We had to check out by noon, our bus left at 3:30, and we still had chocolate shopping to do! I guess the chocolate was motivation enough as we got ourselves moving. Sarah and I joined up wit our friends from last night and got some big coffees at a cafe. We then went to the biggest chocolaterias around: The Tourist, Rapa Nui, and Mamuschka (spanish word for russian nesting dolls). No picture-taking allowed unfortunately, but the smells were the best part. We picked up some chocolate to share and for ourselves (though not nearly enough), and realized it was time to go. After hurrying to the bus station, we then waited an hour past our departure time. The bus ride was long (and the movie Los 33 Mineros was terrible) and as it always happens, when we got to Valdivia it was raining. However, the trip was a great success and as everyone says: after you go to Bariloche, you can't help but want to go back. 

Bariloche, Argentina cont. (Saturday edition)

Saturday we woke up at 7:45am with the intention of grabbing breakfast at eight at the hostel and getting on the early bus to Cerro Catedral to start our "trekkie" (espanol for trek). The wind seemed to be howling and since the weather was uncertain for the day, we decided to sleep another hour and then re-evaluate. Half realistically logical, half classic college student's logic to get more sleep. We woke up and got breakfast around 9 and finally committed to going. The night before we had picked up some supplies for lunch and triple bagged everything. Using the extra bags, we put them over our socks in case we encountered some puddles. The bus ride took about 45min and two snowboarders were on board. The resort wasn't opened yet so we assumed they must be hiking for some untouched early pow. That should have been a clue to the snow we were about to spend 6 hours on. Once there, we realized that the information desk back in Bariloche was a bit misinformed. When he said "bad weather", there was actually no wind and tons of sun. When he said "There's going to be snow at the last kilometer", there was actually Plenty of snow from the very start with more to come.

We had lunch on the trail with a beautiful view as the background.

The trek was absolutely gorgeous and we happily sang karaoke as it is a favorite gringo pastime. However, towards the end when it started getting steep and our socks were soaking from the slush, we starting to feel hesitant about reaching the top and making it down before sunset. We started peering in the distance for some resemblance of the refugio building. At one point I got excited and exclaimed "Is that a house up there? Is it a mirage or do you see it too?" Kris, one of my companions said "No, its just a big rock.." But, in fact, it was both rock and house! Just a emergency stop over with a stove, platform, and graffiti covered walls on the inside. 

A bit after this when the trail got a lot steeper and Sarah and I, the most uncoordinated of the gringos, started falling and sliding on the slushy hills. We turned back, switched up our soaked socks, and drank liquified yogurt. The boys pushed on with my camera and took some great pics of the summit and the refugio.

We all got lost coming down a different route. Sarah and I missed our Bariloche stop and when a kind girl realized we had missed it (before we knew), since we were headed into the poorer section, she took pity and walked us back. Thank goodness for tourism majors. We got home just in time for dinner at the hostel, but after scarfing it down, we set off to eat more. One of the guys in our group, Desmond, had been a vegetarian all his life before coming here and Kris was determined to introduce him to steak and Argentina seemed like a perfect place. We got the 411 on the best place in town and ordered some wine (Malbec), filet mignons, and salad and papas fritas for the ladies. It was all delicious, Desmond loved the steak though struggled to get through the 3 pieces alloted to him. 

"Happy and satisfied face"