Homestay is where you live with a local family in their house, as one of the family. You eat with the family and spend time with them. It is a really great way to get to know a little about the local culture. We stayed with a lovely couple, Monica and Amador, their two adult children, dog, cat and guineapigs (pets, not food!) in Pucon, arranged by the local language school. Monica is the most amazing cook, and we had fantastic, tasty traditional meals every day - casseroles, shellfish soup, something like a cottage pie, fresh bread and homemade honey and jams. The family was very welcoming but despite our daily lessons at the language school and the family speaking slowly to us, conversation was very difficult as our Spanish is very limited. We watched lots of "novellas" on TV, which are like south-American soap operas, with lots of passion, drama and dollops of over-acting! We met lots of members of their family and learnt about traditional rural life in this area. Watching Monica prepare and spin wool whilst Amador drank mate (a hot herbal drink sipped from a special cup through a metal straw with a sieve on the end) was a great experience, as was collecting freshly killed pigs from a neighbour! A fab two weeks!
