Chile

After a scenic drive around the Lakes district, we arrived in Valdivia mid-afternoon and went out for lunch. The town is inland, not far from the coast and surrounded by 7 rivers so you can get really nice and cheap fish and sea-food here. After lunch we went for a walk around the city. It´s suppossed to be the most beautiful city in Chile, but initially I wasn´t impressed as the town centre just reminded me of Stevenage. The town was destroyed by a tsunami in 1960 so it was just rebuilt in concrete. Later on I went up to the botanical gardens and could start to see why it was meant to be so beautiful as it is surrounded by native woodland and rivers.

The next day we went on a boat trip around the 7 rivers, stopping off at a couple of the islands to have a look around. Unfortunatly the commentry was a bit beyond my level of Spanish, but it was still a good day as it was a very scenic trip, with a lot of very nice food and I did manage to learn a bit about the history and the area. On the slands we looked a couple of runied Spanish forts and saw a reinactmant of a battle for Chilean independance from Spain.

The following day we went horse riding in the morning. Had very nice horses that were perfect for beginners and went on a ride up through the native foresets. After this I had been persuaded that Valdivia is actually a really nice city. Spent the rest of the day in the town and going to the museum. In the evening we decided that going to the cinema would be a good way of trying to learn a bit more Spanish so we planned on going to see a nice kids film that would be easy to follow. but when we got there 30 days of night was just starting and it was the only film with subtitles so we decided to go and see that without really nowing what it was. Must be one of the most graphically violent films I have seen with limited language to learn, other than swearing. I suppose it was a good way to learn things that aren't commonly taught in Spanish lessons.

After long bus drive we arrived in Pucon in the evening. Its a small town in the Lakes District region of Chile and is popular with Chilean and foreign tourists as there are so many different activities to do there. It´s like the Chilean equivalent of Queenstown. We had booked to climb volcano Villarica the next day so had to go and sot out the equipment in preparation for an early start the next day. But after getting up at 6am, they decided it was too cloudy to do the climb so we had to postpone it until the weather improved. Instead we hired bikes and cyled out to a group of waterfalls and a lake as the weather away from the hills was actually OK. In the evening we went out to some hot springs, this had been planned as a good rest after climbing the volcano, but it was nice anyway. Didn´t get back into the town until quite late so ended up going out for dinner at 1am. Chilean people tend to eat late (about 9-10pm) and even at 1am there were a lot of places still open. So after a few drinks I finally got to bed at about 6am. Luckily the weather still wasn´t great so there was no chance of climbing the volcano that morning. Most of the people I had met on the tour bus ha to leave that morning, but there were 5 of us that stayed a few days until the next bus came. Spent the day in the town and walked out to some beaches further along the lake. The next day the weather still hadn´t improved and we were beginning to think that the volcano was just a big con to make people stay in the town and that it didn´t actually exist at all as we hadn´t even seen it since we arrived. But we spent the day at the Huerquehue national park doing a really nice walk and were suprised when it actually snowed most of the day, it´s supppossed to be the middle of summer here. But that evening we were told that the forecast for the next day was promising and we should get up early again to be ready to go. Luckily the forecast was right and we got our first glimpse of the volcano as we were on our way to climb it. THe volcano is about 2800m high andyou start the climb from about 1400m, so we were walking in the snow all the way. the fresh snow from the previous day made it quite hard work but it was worth it. The weather was perfect and we had amazing views over the area, including the volcan Llaima, which had been erupting since new years day. The colcano we were climbing was still active, you couldn´t actually see the lava on the day we were there but there was smoke coming from it that burnt your eyes and throat when the wind blew it towards you. The way down was good fun, because of the fresh snow we were able to sledge nearly the entire distance, so it was a lot quicker and easier than the way up.

For our final day in Pucon we had a relaxing day in the town and went out on a boat trip around the lake for a couple of hours. Pucon was a really nice town and could have stayed there longer as there was so much to do and the hostel was really nice, but the next day we got back on the bus and travelled south to Valdivia.

On Sunday I joined a tour bus to start travelling down to the far south of the country. We spent the morning on the bus, with a couple of stops at a village where they make traditional craft things and a huge hydroelectric dam. we arrived at Pichelemu in the afternoon, for our first overnight stop. The town is one of the main surfing spots in Chile, so we deicided we had to try it and went for a 2 hour lesson with an instructor named Elvis. After getting kitted out in the wetsuits etc. we went down to the beach where we did a warm up of various stretches and had a run along the beach. then we spent a while on the beach practising how to stand up on the board. this was hard enough on the beach so I was starting to think that maybe it wasn´t such a good idea, but changed my mind once we got in the water. I wasn´t very good at it, but it was amazing fun trying. By the end of the lesson I had managed to stand up a few times, but 2 hours really wasn´t long enough and its something I will have to try again when I get the chance. Later on we went further down the coast to the area where the expertt surfers go to see how its really done.

In the evening we had a good meal in the hostel and to celebrate my birthday I had a suprise chocolate cake with Happy birthday in English and Spanish. Later on we went across to the pub where I got to try a lot of Chilean drinks, wine, locally brewed beer, tequilla and various other spirits, but I never did find out what they were. After that much to drink, I think my Spanish was much improved so I got a lot of practise speaking to the trainee guide on the trip who also wanted to practise his English.

After a very late night, getting up for the bus at 7am was a bit of a challenge but as it was a long way to travel, there was plenty of time to catch up on sleep. we were on the bus most of the day, with only one stop at a town called Santa Cruz where there was a huge museum with evreything ranging from fossils to classic cars. We arrived in Pucon late in the evening and I´m staying here for a few days now.

So, I arrived in Santiago yesterday after a very long day. I spent the morning in Auckland getting myself organised for flying again, had my last vaccination that I should need for a while, did a bit of shopping etc. My flight left Auckland at about 5.30pm, but 11 hours later I arrived in Chile at lunchtime, about 4 hours before I took off. The flight was OK, gave me a good chance to start practising my Spanish reading a Chilean newspaper and playing hangman. BUt I didn't manage to get much sleep so once I'd found the hostel I didn't do much for the rest of the. The hostel I'm staying at is really nice, a converted mansion so big rooms and lots of courtyards to enjoy the sun in. THe weather here is a lot hoter than Auckland, so thats taking a bit of getting used to again.

Today I have had a busy day sight seeing as I've decided to start heading south tomorrow as I've booked on a tour bus that only leaves once a week. Santiago seems an interseting city, obviously a lot of European influence here so hasn't been too hard to get used to being somewhere else completly different. I've walked around a few of the parks and been to a couple of really good museums, one about ancient history in South America, and one about the communist poet Pablo Neruda both things that I new nothing about before.

So far my Spanish seems to be enough to get by with, people can understand what I'm saying, and I'm just very slow to understand and reply to what people say to me. But I guess I'll be getting a lot of practise over the next few months.