Entries from Friday, April 6. 2007

Pucon is an outdoor enthusiasts dream town.  The town is made up of mostly tour operators, hotels and restaurants so there's not much to do if you're not interested in getting out of town and into the mountains.  One of the big attractions is the climb up the Villarrica Volcano.  Half our group did that, but I opted for a more relaxed day and later start time and did a hike in the Huerquehue National Park.  The trails in the park were surprisingly well maintained and we enjoyed a couple hours of wandering before relaxing over lunch next to one of the lakes.  Later that night we ventured out to some natural hot springs to help relax our aching muscles.  I've been to several hot springs in the northwest but these were among the nicest I've seen and again surprisingly well maintained with a changing room that even had stairs directly down into the springs.   The rest of my time in Pucon I've spent relaxing at the beach and catching up on the internet.  I went 4 days without touching a computer (probably a record for me in my adult life!) and I have to say, it was just what I needed to recharge from the daily grind of life at home. I think we all need to disconnect like that every once in a while.

We spent our first afternoon in Pucon swinging from the tree tops like monkeys in the sport of Canopy.  Part of the group went white water rafting but I decided I wanted to try something new and this looked like fun.  As I climbed up the first shaky ladder I began to get nervous and question what I got myself into.  The first time the guide hooked me up to the rope, told me to sit and let me go it freaked me out a bit.  But after a few trips down the rope, it was just great fun.  The scariest part was climbing up the series of ladders and waiting on the shaky platforms in the tree tops.  As the wind picked up a bit, I thought to myself that we're all gonners if one of the trees gets blown down!  Fortunately, we came down safely and all had an enjoyable afternoon in the trees. 

Getting from Argentina to Chile was a bit of an adventure.  Since our guide couldn´t get bus tickets, he arranged a van to the border.  We then checked out of Argentina and walkd a couple hundred meters through a national park to Chile where we went through customs and got on another van to Pucon, Chile.  We were fortunate that this travel was fairly seamless and only took a few hours.  With the one hour time difference (Chile is the same time zone as New York), we even had time to enjoy an afternoon activity in Pucon.

Continue reading "Bienvenidos a Chile!"

Our last stop in Argentina was San Martin.  It´s a small town on a Lake (shocking, in the Lake District!) and was really charming.  We only had one night there, though it could have easily been more as our guide had some challenges getting us bus tickets out.  Oh, the joys of traveling... one must be flexible and ready to change course at any minute.  In any case, we enjoyed a lazy afternoon in San Martin and sun bathed on the lake.  We also indulged in some shopping where I was finally suckered into a leather handbag (Lori bought 2 in Buenos Aires). 

We met the crew for dinner where I dined an a smoked deer pizza.  It was surprisingly tasty and I really must start photographing food for my blog since that´s such a part of my experience here!

I got so caught up with the activities and scenery in Bariloche and the next couple days of travel, that I´ve hardly had time to blog.  But today is a ´day off´from my vacation so I´m catching up on the next few days.  The town of Bariloche is nestled in the Lake District of Argentina.  As you may guess from the name, there are lakes everywhere! 

  The natural beauty and abundance of outdoor activity are what attracted me to the tour that I am on.  I haven´t been disappointed by any of that.  However, I haven't had as many moments of ´wow´as some of my fellow travelers and I believe that is because I am fortunate enough to live in a place where natural beauty is everywhere.  We have it really good in the Pacific Northwest and I look forward to taking advantage of that as the sun starts shining, somewhere around the 4th of July! :) 

During our time in Bariloche, we did an all day hike to Cerro Lopez.  We caught a local bus to the trail head, hiking about 4 hours, then we still had to walk 2 hours to catch the bus back to the center of town where we were staying.  We had a couple near misses with members of the group nearly getting lost!   It was a long day, but I felt like I earned my dinner that included trout, a local specialty.  We fished for rainbow trout with my grandparents as a kid, so this brought back memories as I had forgotten how good it can be.

 In addition to our hike, we tried our hand at kayaking.  This reminded me that I need to get to the gym more!  My arms were tired in the first five minutes.  They finally warmed up and despite the challenge of keeping our boat going straight, it was an enjoyable couple of hours on the lake.

The rest of our time in Bariloche was spent eating and enjoying beers at the local Irish Pub.  I´m sure your shocked that I would enjoy beers while traveling, but I can attest to this being a cultural experience as well.  I learned a new word in spanish - frambuesa (rasberry) - while ordering my girlie rasberry beer.