Trip to Lakes Region
Trip Start
Jul 13, 2005
1
17
32
Trip End
Mar 02, 2006
Pucón,
Chile
Monday, November 14, 2005
It's been a busy, busy last week around here. Today marks 4 months in Chile. It's really hard to believe that its ending. I'm already missing it. Plans are starting to fall in place for our 2 month trip. We bought tickets to Quito for Jan 4th, and should be buying tickets into and out of Brazil this week.
Last week was fairly routine, though it's starting to get into the talking about final papers mode and stuff. I'm only worried about a couple of classes, and I don't know what to expect. Classes have kind of been secondary during my time here, and I haven't particular been overjoyed with any of them. A few classes have been good for me but for the most part they have been kind of boring. Of course with the whole language thing, everything is different.
Flute lessons were interesting. I've finally gotten into the altissimo thing which is challenging and sounds horrible. In general I'm going to have to practice a lot before I let any of you hear me play! Painting class continues to be good although its pretty much done as well, we are just showing stuff in our class, and then we´ll be done with that.
Some crazy things are happening down in Chile, I don't know if any of you have heard in the news (although it probably wouldn't make that big of a splash) First off, elections are fast approaching so there are political flyers, billboards, graffiti and the works EVERYWHERE. In some places the signs are a real traffic hazard because there are so many it obstructs the view. Second... in the continuing problems that Chile always has with its neighbors, some recent developments. Last week the Peruvian congress unanimously passed a law that basically takes over Chilean fishing waters. I think it's about 350 km square of prime fishing waters. Needless to say Chileans were outraged. There's been a lot of open hatred for Peruvians around Chile, there's been some unusual troop movements, lots of speculation, tabloids running front pages that say ´¡GUERRA!´ (war!). Nothing has happened yet, but it's looking like something that will have to be settled by the UN or the USA or some outsider. Also, past Peruvian president Fugimori recently snuck into Chile via a long route that also involved passing 'undetected' on a
commercial flight from Japan to Atlanta. Very strange, but anyway Chileans are very happy that we have him here in Chile, while Peruvians yell and scream for us to extradite him there to face charges. Apparently Fugimori is also interested in running for president again in Peru where apparently around 50 percent of the population 'support' him.
All of these things are rumored to be for politics sake, because elections in both Chile and Peru are coming up in the next few months. It will be interesting to see what happens. Obviously I'm hoping that it doesn't come to blows, because I don't want to be traveling through Peru later with my Chilean documents! I'm not too worried though!
Thursday night at 9pm we boarded our ´turismo´ bus for our trip to Pucón, which is about 12 hours to the south. Everybody was real excited to get away for the weekend with our last program trip and our last weekend together. Of course sleeping (or trying to) on the bus was annoying and it took a few hours to get the neck cramps out, but it was fantastic to wake up with the sun pouring in the bus windows and everything GREEN. Things here in Valpo are really pretty dry, but in the south of Chile, it rains lots, and so it's a totally different landscape! We came in on a route through Villarica (for those of you with maps at home!) with the stunning vista of Lago Villarica (one of the biggest lakes in S. America) and behind it the looming snow capped Volcan Villarrica.
We got to our beautiful luxurious cabañas (cabins) and I took a shower to refresh! Our cabin was huge and it had three rooms (and there were four of us) We drew cards for who got the master suite and I won. I haven't slept in a queen size bed in a while, and there was a whirlpool tub and everything. Very neat. The setting reminded me very much of Michigan, what with the lake, the trees and the type of soil.
We had a big huge breakfast with everyone together, then threw the Frisbee around until it was time to depart for Curarehue, a small Mapuche village up near the border with Argentina. We spent the rest of the day there with the indígenas learning about their culture, participating in some of their rituals and dancing, chanting, etc. There was this old guy who was playing a horn that was about 20 feet long. It made a very neat sound, but when I tried to play I couldn't accomplish much. We also did lots of talking about stuff, and then were served a huge meal of Mapuche items. Lots of types of bread, and various vegetable concoctions that tasted really good!
After this we boarded the bus to head back to Pucón. We had free time to sign up for tours and find food on our own. We decided to climb the volcano, so we went to the tour agency and tried on all the equipment, paid, all that good stuff. Then we went to the
supermarket to buy stuff to cook an asado. We walked back and needed lighter fluid so we stopped at a shell station. We asked them if they had any fuel to burn charcol for an asado, and they were like....uh no. But then they were like we´ll get you something that'll work. So we walked over to the diesel pump and the attendent filled an old water bottle with 100 pesos of diesel. We used that to start our grill and made tons of hamberguesas, completos, salchichas and then some French fries, veggies and stuff. It was a blast and we ate sooo much. So far no effects of the diesel.
The next morning we got up at 6 to eat some breakfast (though we still were full from the night before) and then were picked up by micros from the tour agency to go get our stuff and then head to the volcano. We started up at about 9 with our ice picks and packs and
lots of sun block. It was a fairly easy hike (for me anyway) and thankfully I experienced zero knee troubles. It was really fantastic to feel the volcano trembling and you could hear it rumbling and stuff and see the smoking summit. The views of the surrounding Andes, lakes, and green fields between the cities of Pucón and Villarrica were incredible. We reached the 9,000 ft summit and congratulate ourselves, put on our goofy mountain suits and walk around the crater at the top. Most of the time there is a steady wind, so the toxic sulfur gasses all blow to one side, but every now and then the wind shifts and you get overwhelmed by a choking hot gas that makes you feel like you've been smoking for 30 years. That's probably the effect it had on our lungs too, but we'll forget about that!
The crater itself was one of the most spectacular things I've seen in my life. To see this beast spitting out red hot molten rock was a once in a life time experience. It completely involved all the senses and it was fascinating to watch the red lava turn black within a few seconds. I have pictures but they will never do it justice. The last time the volcano actually spilled lava was in '84, and they of course scientifically monitor it. (they even have a little monitor light in Pucón, like a traffic light its got green yellow and red to indicate activity. It was green for us)
To descend, we sat on our pants and slid down the snow. Yes that's right we became human toboggans sliding down a 9,000 ft volcano. It was soo fun, but I can only imagine what you could do with a sled there, actually you would prolly die. Great fun!
When we got back we went for a swim in the resort pool and then went out to eat with the whole program. It was Haydee (one of the directors) and her daughter's birthdays so after a yummy meal we sang feliz cumpleaños and there was a cake and the works. Very neat. They were excited and everyone was happy. Afterwards we got supplies to make s'mores which we cooked with the leftover diesel, and had a great time until real late.
The next day we went on a tour of some really neat waterfalls, one of which I stuck my head under because 'es buena para el alma´ (its good for the soul). It was glacier-cold.
We ate lunch and then went to some termas (hot springs) for a few hours. This place was situated in a beautiful river valley and the springs were really hot and relaxing. As part of the experience, you go in a hot spring, then go submerge yourself in the rapid glacier-fed river which ran along side, and then you go back in the hot spring. ¡Que loco! The temperature changes were insane, but fun.
We then came back to the cabins, had a huge asado with meats and veggies and good company. The resort then gave us all t-shirts that say ´CIEE Valparaíso 2005 ¨ on the back. It's weird to think that in a few months we'll all be in different places and this program will be a thing of the past. I'm really gonna miss all this, and all the friends I've made here.
We returned home on the overnight bus to get back at 7am. I had a paper due at 10am that I had sort of been working on during the trip, so I finished that quickly, showered, and then came here and wrote you this big long huge email that you prolly will need a week to read. Not for the faint of heart, congratulations if you made it though.
I hope to get some pictures up on webshots soon, maybe tomorrow. I hope that you are all doing well. If you have a minute, drop me a quick note and let me know how things are going in your corner of the planet! I only have about 2 more weeks of easy internet
availability, however I will continue to enjoy your emails, I just may not be able to respond anymore.
Take care everyone! Until next time.
Abrazos,
