We (my friends Jamie, Kelly, Lynna, Michaela, Kelly and Brendon) left Vina at 9 p.m on Thursday night. We pulled into Pucon Friday morning and literally hit the ground running. We stayed in the most fabulous hostel known to man- Hostel Refugio- and if you ever find yourself in Pucon sans hotel stay here!!! The staff was so nice and when we left last night we were all sad to say goodbye.
Lynna, Jamie, Kelly and I in front of our fab hostel
Volcano Villarrica aka the devil's volcano- I hiked this bad boy on Sunday!
My friend Jamie and I in front of the volcano
Friday afternoon we went horseback riding. I told my mom I was doing this and she said, "dang you sure do ride a lot of horses in Chile!" She's right! For some reason Chileans love to ride horses. We went into the mountains in Pucon and got to look over the town and surrounding lakes.
Such a purty sight
Chillin' on a hill
My little pony and I
** Side note about the boots I'm wearing- Before I left for Chile David, my stepdad, said to me, "Avrey take my hiking boots you'll need them!" and I being the mean, nasty person that I am scoffed at him. "No Dave, I won't need your ugly boots ew who even wears boots like that blah blah blah other mean things". Welp, Dave was right. I DID need hiking boots! So, swallowing my pride, I went to Lider (the Walmart of Chile) and bought these bad boys. For only $7 I too, could be stylin' in my hiking boots. So, I'm sorry Dave. I will never say another bad thing about your boots**
Friday night after the horseback ride we went to some hotsprings! It was so nice to relax after being on a bus for 12 hours and riding a horse for 3+. Of course I don't have pictures from this because who takes a camera anywhere?! Sorry gang.
Saturday Jamie, Kelly, Lynna, Brett (our new Hawaiian friend also staying at the hostel) and I got up early in the morning and hiked to Salto de Claro waterfall! Feel free to google pictures but they don't do it justice. We got so close to it we were all drenched from the spray! We were also the only people there! Hiking there was also like going through jurassic park-esque flora. We literally clawed our way through roots and leaves and mud but it was so worth it.
In front of the waterfall- bananas, right?
After the waterfall we rushed home to grab a change of clothes and go hydrospeeding! Wearing a wetsuit, you lay/hold on for dear life onto a raft thing and kick your way down a rapid-filled river. It was the MOST fun. It was raining and really intense and of course I banged my knees up on the rocks but at one point I caught myself giggling while we were swimming downstream. Again, sorry there are no picture
But this is what I looked like if someone had been there to capture the moment
Saturday night after all of our adventures we chilled and drank delicious Chilean wine and prepared for Sunday aka the day of death.
Sunday we hiked Villarrica Volcano. Villarrica is the second largest volcano in South America and is kind of a mean lady. We geared up in gators, clampons, pants and a jacket to protect us from the ice, a helmet, gloves and a pick-axe thing. It was some serious mountaineering. The first 2 hours were hard because it was uphill on LAVA ROCKS because oh yeah, the volcano last erupted in the 80's. Then we got to a rest point and put on our clampons because we proceeded to hike up straight ice. Frozen water, people! At this point in the hike I was terrified. The wind kept blowing just right and my jacket kept filling up with air and I thought I was going to blow away. Our guides also kept reminding us that if we fell we would probably die unless we caught ourselves so that didn't help my fear. After stopping again we realized reaching the top of the volcano couldn't be done because it was negative something degrees and it was blowing sleet. Spooky. We turned around and the descent down was muuuuuch better than on the way up because it was downhill (duh) and our guide let us stop to carve our name in the snow, make snowmen, etc.
Brace yourselves, because these pictures don't look real
Clouds mixed with snow inside an old chairlift
I know. Stop
Swag
Modeling in the snow
Dead after the hike
After the hike we returned to our hostel, scarfed down some food and got on the bus to take us home to Vina! We pulled into town this morning at 8 and I had just enough time to put down my stuff and shower before going to class. My CM is being very sweet and brought me my lunch in bed and ice for my hurt groin. (She keeps asking me to say what muscle I pulled- my groin- and then chuckles because she thinks it's a funny word in english).
This is my last week of summer 1 classes! Yeehaw! I know I haven't documented any pictures but I swear I've been going! I have one test and a project standing between me and Mendoza, Argentina this Friday! I'll have a 5 day break and then I start summer 2 classes and the last half of my time here. I can't believe it- today is my one month anniversary with Chile! At times it was tough but I'm so glad we stuck it out and stayed together because I think I'm in love.
I promise I'll be better about blogging friends--
Chao!
Aves
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