Chillean in Chile

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On my own now, I decide over a few homebrewed beers from our great hostel in Bariloche that Chile needs a visit. I hear about a place called Pucon and that´s about all it took. While on the bus, I notice an overwhelming sensation that I can´t explain. Maybe I felt like I was home, maybe it was a feeling of unexplanable togetherness, nope all wrong, the bus was just full of Jews. Apparently Chile should now be known as little Israel. You walk the streets and signs are in Hebrew, strange. Luckily I sat next to one who wasn´t completely loud and obnoxious and we decided to look for a hostel together. He must have been the only Israeli not traveling with 10 people. Soon I found out that he was an was just momentarily split up from them. We get to talking and he tells me all the awesome things that we can do in Pucon, which I had no idea about.

So we get in a bit late, go for some food and meet a few other travelers looking for a good time. We end up at a very Chilean country bar, very Chilean. We were an attraction. I think the music was mexican but it was very country. The next day we sign up for a few of the many excursions that are offered.

First we try out repeling, including a 250ft waterfall, sick. Then we try something called body rafting. This is a questionable activity. You basically float down class 2 and some class 3 rapids on a slightly oversized bodyboard with a handle. It was fun but I got pretty banged up, as did most others. Then we heard a guy lost his front teeth the week before. It´s Chile, what can you do. Afterwwards we were taken to some great natural hotsprings a bit out of town. Great after getting hammered by rocks for two hours. Then next day was scheduled hiking the Villarica. It´s a smoking volcano that overlooks the entire valley, lake and surrounding towns. A great hike up and down. After beating myself up for two weeks, its time for a break and for some old fashioned partying in the city. Santiago is next.

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Photos

Chilean country bar
Yes, that´s a keytar.

Looking into the Volcano
Not much to see.

Big repel
Yeah, that´s me.

Repel crew
All Jews, wierd.

Comments

[Nikki]

that repel looks amazing! wish we could see a pic of the body rafting, too - it sounds crazy! (but you still have all your teeth. nice.) enjoy Santiago!