Blogs from Araucanía, Chile, South America - page 28

South America » Chile » Araucanía » Pucón January 14th 2007

I may have been on the shore of any lake in Wisconsin. The motor boats were coming in for fuel, there were jet skis for rent (I mean moto acuaticas), and I was sitting close enough to smell that familiar smell of water with a hint of gasoline from the fuel station. But the sand was black, which I cannot remember seeing in Wisconsin, and a glance to my left gave me a full view of Volcán Villarrica. I arrived here in Pucón, in the south of Chile, by way of a ten hour overnight bus ride from Santiago. It reminds me very much of a Colorado ski town. Many buildings have a chalet style and are of natural wood construction. Pucón is a place drawing in tourists who use the town as their adventure headquarters. ... read more

Volcan Villarica and Small Portion of Bay at Lake Villarica

The start of my gypsy life

South America » Chile » Araucanía » Pucón January 14th 2007

The imposing volcano Villarica over Pucon

Nico O

It’s already been a month since I last had an entry in this blog and my writing is pretty rusty! I hope you all enjoyed the festivities in your part of the world. Mine were really good. Spent Christmas in Santiago with the family, which was very special as it only happens every once in a while. I am also not used to spending it with palm trees around and a scorching heat. Hogmanay was the same as most of you, drunk and a bad hangover the next day. We first spent it with the family in Talca, 3 hours south of Santiago. After the bells, we left the “oldies” behind and went with my cousins to a party organised in a “media luna”, the Chilean equivalent of a rodeo stadium. The best thing of the ... read more

The wild south Pucon & Bariloche

South America » Chile » Araucanía » Pucón January 12th 2007

Mt biking in Pucon

BaBa Brent

From Santiago we travelled overnight to Pucon. Content with our last feed of Lasagne at Kathys. Pucon, Chile We spent 2days doing some extreme mountain biking efforts in the surrounding hills. The area was rich with trails and waterfalls. Despite this on the second day we spent 4hours ascending a gruelling hill in search of a waterfall. With the ridiculous directions of several children selling woolen socks we cycled past it and missed our destination. However, the disappointment of not seeing the 70ft waterfall was overcome by the shear exhileration of descending down the gravel road at break neck speed. There was definately some close calls. I attribute this to a lack of front brakes, dodgy gravel patches and oncoming cars around sharp blind corners. The 4hour trip up was recipricated by a 20minute descent! ... read more

Santiago to Pucon - Long way to the top!

South America » Chile » Araucanía » Villarrica Volcano January 10th 2007

Goose on the rocks

BandR

We´re still not working the Spanish lingo correctly. The bus back to Santiago was just under 7000 Pesos, being 14US. We got nailed for a short collective (fixed rate taxis), and then a 10 min cab ride in Santiago cost us more than the same 7000 Pesos for a 1.5 hour air-conditioned bus ride. Even funnier, an evening taxi taking 15 mins cost half of the other taxi ride, go figure….. Entonces, we joined for our booked tour, Santiago to Rio via Ushuaia (southern most city in the world) with Dragoman Overland on January 3rd. Both very much looking forward to the Patagonia experience, we listened through the trip intro meeting with guides & drivers Zoe & Hugo. First surprise for Bin was that that contrary to African tours, on this trip there was no majority ... read more

On your marks, get set, (Santia)GO!

South America » Chile » Araucanía » Pucón January 8th 2007

mickjackback

My family and friends, I apologise for the lack of activity on the blog. Internet access in South America is dodgy at best and we literally haven´t had a good hour or so to sit down and relax. Yes the trip is ridiculously hectic to say the least, but we are having an absolute ball and it is somehow getting better every day. We are now in the south of Chile in a volcanic lake town called Pucon and have found an internet cafe. I have to run now but will try and come back here tomorrow to update you on my last 10 days. Sorry this is short but will update as soon as I can. Cheers, Mick Jack... read more

Puking in Pucon

South America » Chile » Araucanía » Pucón January 1st 2007

Chilean Lake District

frayed_edge

Leaving Santiago was a wrench as we had such a good time with Penelope, James, Henry and Isobel. Dipping our toes back into the murky world of flash-packing we have moved further down south into the Chilean Lake District or little Deutschland as it could be called. Were it not for the towering snow-capped volcanoes dotted around the region you could really believe you were in the south of Germany. The lush green surroundings are very European but more importantly the whole place is full of Germans. The first of many influxes from Germany took place in the mid 19th century and as a consequence, much of the architecture would be more at home in Bavaria than Chile. Many of the shop signs are in German and you're as likely to find apfel strudel on the ... read more

Joyeux Noel- Bon Nadal,

South America » Chile » Araucanía » Pucón December 23rd 2006

Joyeux Noël - Bon Nadal

SylvieAlbert

Bon Nadal des de La Patagonia Xilena!!... read more

Valparaiso & Pucón

South America » Chile » Araucanía » Pucón December 20th 2006

Climbing the Volcano

Lucy and Jon

We arrived in Valaparaiso bloated and tired from steak and wine abuse and vowed to stay off it for a few days. I treated myself to chicken and beer. I didn't really know what to expect from Valaparaiso, I knew nothing about it, we were only there because Lucy had read about it in a novel. On arrival following a quick look around, she said it wasn't really that much like the book had described it. I asked when the novel was written. "Recently" came the reply. "...but the novel was set in 1850" However it turned out to be a great town to visit with a different atmosphere than most South American cities of its size. A famous old port town, there is only a couple of blocks on the flat before it rises steeply ... read more

Climbing a Volcano!!!

South America » Chile » Araucanía » Pucón December 12th 2006

Club Hippico Santiago

Enrique Christiano

Hallo mensen, daar ben ik weer. Afgelopen week weer veel beleefd en zoals jullie kunnen zien heb ik Santiago verlaten en ben naar Pucon vertrokken. Afgelopen week in Santiago was wederom prima, niet veel speciaals gedaan, alle highlights wel gezien en daarom meer geconcentreerd op het nightlife. In combinatie met de spaanse school is dat soms best lastig (daarom ook maar eens een dagje overgeslagen, moet kunnen). Dinsdag zijn we weer naar de Kmasu geweest en donderdag naar Subterano. De Subterano is iets meer upperclass en een absolute topper, muchas bonita chicas chilena!!! De vrijdag was een nationale feestdag dus geen school (we hadden de dagen ervoor extra uren om dat te compenseren) en daarom besloten Chris (mijn canadese roommate) en ik om maar eens naar de paardenraces te gaan. Dat is vrij dicht bij het ... read more

Pucón

South America » Chile » Araucanía » Pucón November 25th 2006

Andes by Bus

kablaa

22 November, Wednesday... Got into Pucón bright and early and decided to ignore the nice woman at the bus terminal who offered us the chance to stay in a nice hostel and went off in search of one we saw on the internet instead. That involved a lot of walking back and forth until we gave up and found a family run guesthouse with no atmosphere which we decided would have to do. There's one main activity to do in Pucón and that's to climb the great big Volcano Villareal which dominates the skyline. It's just what you'd expect a big volcano to look like, massive, conical and with lava pouring from the crater at the snow covered summit. We booked ourselves onto a climb for tomorrow (you have to go with a guide as it's ... read more

Brief history of Chile

Prior to the coming of the Spanish in the 16th century, northern Chile was under Inca rule while Araucanian Indians inhabited central and southern Chile; the latter were not completely subjugated until the early 1880s. Although Chile declared its ind...more history

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