BIRTHDAY WEEK!

What an incredible week!

Bear with me here as I share stories and photos of this past week with you... :-)

First of all, I feel I need to explain the title of this entry. Last month, my friend Jessica on the program here managed to take on an entire birthday week with several celebrations to mark her 21st birthday. So I decided to take on the same privilege and have an epic, Chilean, fun filled, travel heavy birthday for myself. My actual birthday was on April 4th, but my birthday week started a few days before...

On March 31st the entire CIEE group got on some buses and drove about 12 hours down this skinny country to arrive on April 1st in a city called Pucón.
In the region of Pucón there is a strong history of the indigenous people if Chile: The Mapuche. We were able to spend a day with the Mapuche and learn about their culture, history, and struggles in modern day Chile.

They also held small breakout sessions to demonstrate a bit about their food, music, textiles and handiwork.

I attended the lesson on textiles and learned a bit about how they take wool and process it into yarn. I even had the chance to make and hand spin my very own little ball of yarn! The word Mapuche literally means People of the Land, and they demonstrate it well in the way they live. They are constantly aware of their environment and how their actions affect the earth around them. I look forward to learning more about their history and seeing their progress in the large Chilean government.

The next day, April 2nd, we were also given the option to take advantage of several outdoorsy activities. My choice was to hike up Volcano Villarrica. I had never really seen a volcano before, but this one looked especially interesting with a constant cloud of smoke fuming from the peak...

The hike up was awfully void of life, with a rough rock path zigzagging up the slopes. As we climbed, the view of the surrounding area kept getting more amazing with views of multiple lakes, rivers, and the Andes Mountains. We stopped for lunch at the base of the glacier that resides on the volcano, attached crampons onto our boots, and continued the zigzag approach towards the crater at the top.

When we approached the top we took off the crampons and our guide informed us that we would only be able to spend a few minutes at the crater, as the fumes would be pretty strong and dangerous. So we headed in and got an incredible view at the size of the crater at the top. Unfortunately (or maybe not), we weren't able to see the lava inside, but we were able to hear it deep inside the crater's center. The fumes were intense but I was able to stop and get some pretty cool pictures!

Then, one of the guides motioned for some of us to follow him to the other side of the crater, a few of us followed, some turned back, but moments before I reached his spot on the ridge I was certain I was going to pass out from the fumes. Thankfully, I made the last few steps and came out to a blast of fresh mountain air sweeping up the slopes and when my eyes stopped watering I had an amazing view of the land around the volcano. Those of us that made it to this point stayed a fair amount of time appreciating the joy of breathing and the great sights from up above.

To get back out, we walked the ridge of the crater back to where the rest of the group was and headed back down to the glacier.

This is where the fun really picked up. Rather than traversing back down the tricky glacier, we strapped on a culopatín (quite literally 'ass-skate'), sat down, and had an incredible sledding session. What took a good hour or more to get up, was a quick 5 minute slide down :) Hilarious fun to do, even more fun to watch others  give it their best!

As if the day wasn't long enough, a bunch of people in the group decided to celebrate my birthday that night since we were all together and wouldn't have the opportunity to celebrate later based on everyones different travel plans. The night was great fun, fueled by some rather passionate birthday-party-celebrators. But what really topped it off was the creation that Chloé and Megan pulled out as a 'cake'. It was an incredible structure of 3 things that I have come to appreciate here in Chile: Fracs (a type of elongated, super delicious oreo), glued together with Manjar (thick, delicious dulce de leche), with a bottle of Pisco (classic Chilean liquor) standing in the middle. To say the least, I was amazed. Thank you to my CIEE friends who helped me celebrate my 21st birthday!

On Sunday, April 3rd, the group was bussed around to some beautiful sights of the Pucón area, and finished the afternoon at some wonderfully relaxing and rejuvenating hot springs. As an end to the organized part of the adventure, we had a nice dinner back at our cabañas and went our separate ways... Some went straight back to Viña/Valpo, others took advantage of the schools "Semana Santa" week and headed out for their own continued travels...

~INTERMISSION~

Alright, not done yet. I contemplated splitting this into two blogs, but it would still be the same amount of information so lets continue with a nearly perfect week:

After we ate with the group, Jessica, Katy, Chloé, Megan and I headed on down the road on our own adventure. We stopped by the bus terminal to get tickets to our next destination then found some cheap camping site and slept there for the night...

April 4th.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!
That morning we got up early, packed up and headed to the bus station to get to Osorno. Only, the lady at the terminal the night before forgot to mention to us that this particular bus leaves from a different station. Oh and it is 10 minutes. ...And it is about a 20 min walk from here. So we packed up, started down the road, and luckily there was a colectivo (type of chilean taxi) coming down the road. We flagged it down, crammed us and all of our bags inside and he got us to the terminal way faster and easier than we could have done alone. We made our bus, and happened to be on the same one with some of our friends, Jeff and Susana!
A dramamine induced coma later, our group of 5 got off of the bus in Osorno, Jeff and Susan continued on to Chiloé. From there we got onto another bus to take us to a town called Aguas Calientes in the National Park Puyehue, which boasted some pretty cool hot springs.

In Aguas Calientes we pitched our tents and set out in search of some free hot springs that our travel books mentioned. Across the river and a short walk down, we found a spot where hot water was simply pouring out of the ground. With a little bit of rock shifting we managed to create a shallow pool that all 5 of us could lay in and relax in the cool misty day. It was absolutely beautiful.

However, we had the hardest time finding people who would be willing to take our money. We went to pay for the camping site, but the lady insisted that they were closed. She was confused about why we would want to stay there when they had no electricity, running water, or bathrooms... She also didn't understand what we meant by CAMPING. SO after some debate, we packed up, and headed back to Osorno, a city we would have had to go back to anyway to get anywhere else. When we got in, it was late and we decided to find a cheap hostel. We found one mentioned in our guide book, but the lady told us she had no room, which I am positive was a lie and she just didn't want to deal with us. Instead we found another place, begged the lady to host us, and found ourselves in what I thought was a low grade hostel (keep reading). Finally someone who wanted our money.
We got in late and the lady at the hostel didn't want us to use the kitchen, so we broke out what we had in the rooms and whipped up a birthday dinner I certainly will never forget. Somehow we concocted a mixture of tuna, cream sauce, salt and seasonings in the bowl I was carrying and ate the mixture with some wholewheat crackers we were lucky to find in the store. Yum...

April 5th
Worst Day.
That dinner hit me like a brick in the stomach. All day long I had the feeling of what my brother used to refer to as "Pueping". Say it aloud, I am sure you'll figure it out.. Maybe even relate.
Anyway, we got bus tickets down to Puerto Varas, I changed my seat number to BAÑO, and we continued south.
When we got to Puerto Varas we went looking for a place to stay, but conveniently a nice man in a van speaking English pulled up and sold us hit pitch on his hostel just up the hill where we could camp in the back. Not exactly roughing it in the camping situation with internet, kitchen use, hot showers and provided breakfast. Oh well, still fun :-) As the day went on I started to feel better and we wandered around the cute town and caught some great views of another volcano across the lake.

While in Puerto Varas I realized how well Nathan and I could live there and really fit in as locals! It is a SUPER german town, complete with blond haired/blue eyed and freckled redheaded Chileans. I don't know this town's history, but their German roots run deep.

April 6th
That morning we loaded up our things and headed out to a little town called Petrohué on Lago Todos Los Santos. This place must have been one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited in my life. It is a huge lake surrounded by steep mountain sides and our campsite was essentially at the foot of Volcán Osorno.

Absolutely incredible. The water from the lake was so clean you could drink right out of it, and every where you turned there would be a picturesque scene waiting.
I let the girls I was traveling with work their magic on the locals and we ended up have a fresh caught trout meal prepared for us for lunch :-)

April 7th
After packing things up in Petrohué, one of those enchanted locals loaded us up in his truck and showed us around some of the less frequented spots around the lake and river that branches out. To top it off, he got us into a certain part of the park for free where there was an incredible view of the river water ripping through thick, dark, lava rock with the huge Volcán Osorno standing in the back. Words and Pictures simply do not capture this place.

When we finally left, we went back to Puerto Varas to catch a local bus down to Puerto Montt.
From there we booked a ticket to Castro, the capital of the Island of Chiloé.
The bus to Castro was super convenient since it drove straight onto a a fairy, crossed the water, and went on down the island.
Here is where I was proven wrong about that hostel in Osorno... We got off the bus kind of late at night, and there were obviously some people there ready to offer gringos a place to stay. The girls felt ok about it and after a very tense car trip we took separately, we arrived at a hostel. This place was super grungy with various men without teeth walking around, and a water heater in the shower... I started to loosen up when a pudgy little toddler waddled by, because babies always lighten the mood. The lady showed us up to a room with five beds and after a brief inspection of the sheets, we rolled out our sleeping bags and slept on top of the beds.

April 8th
That morning we packed up quickly and headed out the door to see the city of Castro. We visited an old church made entirely of wood:

And also visited the houses on stilts, called Palifitos that stand along certain parts of the bay. They were cool, but would have been much more interesting if the water level was actually up to the stilts...

After visiting those land marks of the city, we went on down to the port area and ordered ourselves a staple food of Chiloé. This pile is called Curanto which is a compilation of 3 different types of shell fish, pork, chicken and potatoes. A TON of food that we couldn't even finish.

To burn off the mixture we inhaled, we found a pub that rented out kayaks and set out onto the bay. We had a great time paddling around the water, checking out some cute houses on the water front and simply enjoying being active.
While getting our things together to head out, we were making plans to head to the west side of the island to visit a national park, but the locals told us that the last bus out there left hours ago. So we modified our plans and headed up to the bus station to get more tickets! Thankfully Megan was on her game that day: she noticed a sign that said the next bus out to the park would be leaving in 2 mintues... so we got on! A few hours later we found ourselves in Cucao, a small town that sits between a lake and the ocean.
The bus driver was helpful enough to point us in the right direction of a place to stay and found ourselves essentially in someone's yard, using their grill and wood to cook up a delicious dinner.

April 9th
We got ourselves up early to get a move on to check out the national park a bit before beginning a long day of travels. On our way to visit the lake, our friend Jim came walking down the street! He told us that the ocean view was absolutely incredible and we started walking in that direction. What we found was a beach unlike any I have ever seen before. The sandy coast stretched out at least a mile in both directions. The waves were breaking far away from the coast so the water was relatively calm. And to really make it special: we were the only ones there. This is another time when photos and words really don't capture how incredible this beach was.

As sad as it is, it had to come to an end. We packed up our things, ate some of Jim's food, and sat on the side of the road waiting on the next bus to bring us back to civilization.
Here begins 20-some hours of travel.
Cucao-Castro 1.5hrs
Castro-Puerto Montt 3.75hrs
Puerto Montt-Viña del Mar 15hrs
(plus a little waiting time in between)

April 10th.
Made it back to my Viña home. I was a little concerned when I came trekking up my hill to see that the cars of the extended family were outside of the house... I was not looking at all presentable after lots of hiking, fires, and many days without shaving. Luckily I came in and everyone was out somewhere, so I was able to hop in the shower and scrub down before the Chilenos descended. It actually turned out that it was the Grandma's birthday party and they were able to toss mine in there as well.
A good cap off to a birthday week.  :-)

Great job for making it this far down my blog! I had an absolutely incredible week filled with 4 national parks, volcanoes, 2 hot springs, lakes, rivers, oceans, beaches, food, and amazing company.
Thank you so much to Jessica, Megan, Katy and Chloé for a great week.



Well I had better get back into the swing of school now...
With love,
Matt

PS.
For more pictures from Pucón click here
For more pictures from the adventures of Semana Santa, click here

A general map of where I visited...