Shimmering lakes surrounded by snow-capped mountains...The Chilean Lakes District

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Our night bus from Santiago to Pucon was wonderful...blankets, pillows, snacks, and foot rests all for $30! I popped a melatonin and woke up 7 hours later to the sun shining off the lake under the huffing cone of Volcan Villarrica (2847m)...stunning!

Pucon was my winter adventure playground...the first day we hiked through the forest on snowshoes. We had an incredible view of the lake at the top and they had just had a fresh snowfall so we were making new tracks through the glades. We were surrounded by the snow-capped Andes and the sun streamed through the trees! It was definitely a good workout and we had fully de-layered by the time we arrived down the mountain 😉

The next day was white water rafting down Maichin River (Class IV and V rapids)...WOW is all I can say. It was exhilarating to be rushing down the river in the middle of winter...the water level was high and we had some pretty insane close calls!! We split our group into guys/girls rafts so the entire trip down we kept trying to dump each others rafts. Apparently the guides had another idea and dumped both rafts for us...haha...let me tell you how cold that water was!!

On our final day we rented mountain bikes and took them to see the waterfalls about 30km up one of the mountains...tough climb but it was worth it to eat lunch next to them 😊 We had pretty much abused our bodies by this time so a few of us hit the thermal pools just outside the city...stunnning! They had soft lights showing the way between the pools and slate walkways connecting each one. There were three pools...35, 37, and 38 degrees. We thought we would start from the coolest and make our way up...haha...well we stuck one foot in the water of the 35 degree pool and that was the end of that idea! We slid into the 38 degree pool and the heat washed over us...the stars were out and the mist surrounded us as we relaxed...it was just one of those memorable moments that I can´t describe...

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Comments

[Melissa Denyes]

30km bike ride? .... I mean mountain bike ride! Can you not go to school, keep traveling and write blogs please? I don't want to read cnn.com when I come into work in themorning. M

[Lauren]

Wow
This post is fantastic Dev, puts me right there with you. I'm rather jealous....although as I sit in 26 degrees, I wonder how it would feel to be in the midst of winter right now. Did you pack well enough?? I can't remember talking to you about it being THIS cold :) yikes. Hope your staying warm...I know your having a blast!!

[Sarah]

THERMAL POOLS!!! Of course, I'm easily more jealous of the non-strenuous parts of your trip ;)