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**