Amy: I am surprised that a week has gone by already. Since Patti’s last entry we hopped on the Pachamama (or the hoochi mama as I like to call it ) bus and got out of Santiago. Our first stop was a surfing town called Pichilemu. We arrived early in the afternoon and had time to enjoy a beautiful afternoon. The sun was warm but there was a breeze coming off the ocean so it wasn’t too hot. Some of the people on the bus with us opted for a surfing lesson but we chose to go for a horseback ride on the beach. It was a great ride that first went through an enchanted forest and then returned along a section of the beach. It was very fun to ride along the ocean. The beach was 6 km’s long and had black sand. There was an area of the beach that seemed to be most popular for surfing and it was elbow to elbow people. Around 8:30 pm we headed out to a rocky point a few kilometres away to watch the sunset. It was quite cloudy but we did catch it just before it disappeared for the night. One of the differences in culture that I am having trouble adjusting to is the time of evening when they eat supper in Chile. When we were with the bus tour we were eating anywhere from 9pm to 11pm. Not quite the 6pm I am used to.
After a very long drive on day 2 we arrived in Pucon, Chile. Pucon is considered “the” destination for adventure travellers. It is located at the base of Volcan Villarrica, which is Chile’s most active volcano. It is possible to see the smoke rising from the mouth during the day. The bus tour spends 2 nights in Pucon to allow people to take part in some of the activities but we decided to hop off the bus here so we could spend a few extra days. We decided to join Yop (a guy from the bus) on an overnight hike in a nearby National Park. Yop is currently living in France but is originally from Turkey. He can speak pretty good Spanish so he did a lot of translating for us. We left at 5:30am on Wednesday morning and took a cab to the start of the trail. We hiked 21 km’s to a remote community where we arranged for a room and a meal at a place that also had a natural hot spring pool. The hike was quite tiring as it had over 1200 meters of ascent. We probably spent the first 4 hours climbing which was a little much for my out of shape legs. It was nice to soak in the hot springs that evening. We also had the opportunity to visit with some local families (through Yop’s translating) which made the evening extra special. The original plan was to hike out the way we had come but we decided to have a lazy morning instead and arrange for a cab or bus to get back to Pucon after lunch. That ended up being a bit of adventure that entailed 2 truck rides and 1 bus ride but we did make it back safe and sound. Tomorrow we are planning on going canyoning for 4 hours as several people here have told us how much they enjoyed it. One of the best things about taking the hoochi mama is the ability to meet people and learn from their travelling experiences. We plan on getting back on the bus on Sunday and heading South to Puerto Montt. I am sorry to hear about the brutal weather in Canada but feel lucky that we chose this winter to be away. I will try and upload some photos soon.
