Volcán Villarrica!! Pucón, Chile

While walking through town on our first day (of 2) in Pucón, I saw this majestic monster a decided that I would climb it.

The next day, at 6:30am I was getting geared up, and at 8am I set off with a small group up the beautiful Villarrica Volcano.
It was a long and slow climb, zigzagging up the steep, snowy (and icy) mountain face with our ice picks and big teeth attached to our boots. 

Out of the 200+ people who attempted the ascent that day, I was one of the 25 who succeeded! 

It was a thrill climbing for 5 hours in the blazing sun and blasting wind. And then sliding down the mountain at impressive speeds on a little sled (a safety technique to avoid avalanche).
2nd successful volcano ascent...and hopefully many more to come!

My Generous Chilean Friends

I spent a week in Santiago with my friends from Linares, Cony and Seba (Seba is studying in Santiago so he has an apartment there, and Cony, his younger sister just graduated high school so she came up to Santiago for the week as well). We spent the whole week living the college-weekend life: parties, clubs, alcohol, empty fridge (except for beers), sleeping until 14h, etc. -it was gross. But I managed to do some things in order to maintain my sanity -and health- at least a bit. Everyday, I got up at 10 (even if I had only gone to bed at 8), went for a run or to the gym in the building, and then went out shopping and made a really nice "lunch" (usually eaten at 17h). I also got the chance to see some more old friends from my exchange!

On our last day, Claudio (Seba and Cony's father) came to pick us up and head back to Linares. Upon our arrival, we frantically prepared for Cony's big graduation party which started 3hrs later. They went and ought a huuuuge, fancy speaker system, lots of beef to grill (Chilean style of course), tons of alcohol, and then went to set up the party which was held at a friend's "quincho" (a small property outside of the city with a small building perfect for get-togethers, a grill, a pool, etc. After some electricity and water complications, and lots of hustling around, friends started to arrive!

The festivities finally came to an end at about 10 the next day. But, at about 2am, one of Cony's friends forgot he had an alcohol limit. The glass he dropped was cleaned up by me -during which I cut 3 finger-tips to the bone, and the pile of digested food and liquids were eaten and re-digested by a hungryyyy homeless dog. 

The next day was tough day for me. When I woke up from my morning nap, Tío Claudio and Tía Lorena (Cony, Seba, and Cata's parents) called a doctor to the house to check out and dress my cuts. In times of sickness or injury while traveling, I always get homesick. And on top of it, I wasn't allowed to do ANYTHING. Not help make lunch, or sweep the floor, or take out the trash from the party, , not cut my own food, not even sit down by myself; and for those of you who know me, I love helping. So, I actually got angry about that...and was homesick. Tough day.

I spent this past week in Linares with Cony's family, doing anything I could think to do in that small town from bike riding with friends, to cooking yummy things, to going to soccer practice with my team of boys, to searching for colleges. It was a quiet week. But I know I'm getting too comfortable here...

The Molina family decided to take me on a little vacation to southern Argentina for a week. So, Sunday morning, we packed the car full with our bags and some food (to hopefully make the trip a bit cheaper), I made crepe, and we hit the road. It was impressive to watch the changes of surroundings as we traveled south to Patagonia. Everything was more green and juicy, and it became a noticeably colder as we traveled.

5hrs later we arrived in Pucón, Chile, a popular vacation destination in southern Chile. We found a cabin for 2 nights and then set out on the town. We went out to eat (like they do 1 or 2 times a day) some yummy Chilean food! As we were walking around they showed me the beautiful landscapes surrounding the city: Villarrica Lake, Villarrica Volcano, and other mountains. 

When I saw the snow capped volcano I knew I had to climb it. It turned out to be quite a pricy trip (at least on my cheap-travelers budget), but I decided that this was just what I needed: some alone/quiet time, meeting new people and travelers, and most of all, ADVENTURE!

That evening Tío Claudio, Cony, Seba, and I went to Los Pozones -incredible, completely natural hot springs! Wow, they weren't amazing! And we had the entire "pool" to ourselves. We went to the springs at 23h and arrived back at the cabin at 3am. 

At 5:30am I got up, packed some fruit, nuts, chocolate, and water, ate breakfast, and headed to the agency with which I would take on this crazy endeavor. 

**Villarrica Volcano ascent in next post**

Empowered in Valpo

After a wonderful 11 days at the Nona B&B in Valparaiso, I am yet again on a bus, heading to Santiago. This Workaway was both the most busy and demanding, and the most rewarding and empowering work experience I've had yet. I came into a household of a mother and father in their early forties with twin 4 month old baby girls, and the 75 year old grandmother "Nona". They opened their house about 6 years ago to tourist who wanted a beautiful, conveniently located, homey, and comfortable place to stay while visiting the this city which holds so much personality! 

I'm sure that those of you with children -and even more so if you have twins- can imagine how having 2 little needy cutie pies at once takes up every minute of everyday, and almost all the time requires both parents, especially being their first children and every little cry gets treated like it's the end of the world... Plus, the grandmother tries to keep her distance in order to let them do things their own way.

Anyway, the point is that they were in great need of help running 5 room, 11 person B&B in a popular tourist section of Valpo (Valparaiso) during the summer season. 

On the afternoon that I arrived, René (the father of the babies, and the owner of the B&B) checked me in as if I was a guest to show me the process, and he told me to make myself at home and to go explore a bit of the city (which later -well, the next day-  came in useful as I was the one expected to give the new guests advice on where to eat, drink, dance, go shopping, take tours, how to get to the beach or any of the various tourist attractions, which buses to take to get where and how much that ride cost, etc.). So, I unpacked my clothes into the shelves in my small room (which I really never do while traveling because I'm either moving around too much for it to make sense to unpack, or I don't want to get too comfortable making it hard to leave...), and went for a walk up and down the colorful streets of Valpo.

The next morning I was shown how to clean the bathrooms, strip and remake the beds, vacuum, etc. in order to prepare the room for the next guests. I was shown how to make breakfast each morning for everyone, and of course the various places to do the daily shopping for the fresh breakfast I'd serve and any other supplies needed. And then after lunch, a couple from Germany arrived, being my first guests to receive. 

The daily tasks usually had me working from about 7am until lunch time (14h), and then in the afternoon I'd do any necessary shopping, and if I had time and didn't feel motivated to go to the beach or explore the city, I'd bake something yummy that would put shining smiles on the family's faces and have Nona (the grandmother) writing down my recipes "for when the girls were old enough to cook".

It was a lot of work and I was in every practical way running the place on my own. And sometimes on top of the tasks asked of me I'd offer to help with other things like cooking meals or picking up the in laws. It gave me a sense of achievement, and I think that I'm one of those people who loves helping people as much as I am able to and who loves feeling needed (not always a great quality). But they truly appreciated my "help" and treated me like family and not just like a worker. 

I was very lucky to also have been given the opportunity to do some (expensive) activities with the guests -and I went for free since I would then be able to promote the businesses! I got to go to a wonderful Chilean Cooking Class which included some great wine education as well! I was also sent on the horse riding trip over the "Duñas de Con Con"! Such a rush galloping for miles along the beach -a dream I've always had!

Saying goodbye was sad, but for me it was the right time to go, to move, to break down more self- and society-built boundaries, restrictions, and presumptions!

Onward...!!!!