Tres Amigos en el Sur (pt. 1)
This past week Jeff, Mark, and I took a trip down to the ninth region of Chile, Araucanía. “The heart of southern Chile.”
I had about two hours to pack after arriving back in Santiago from the church retreat on Sunday before I needed to be at Jeff’s house. I packed my things, plugged in the battery chargers, formatted the SD cards, and headed out to catch a bus. Well, if you have not heard, Transantiago, the transit system of Santiago, is horrendous. Understandably in the morning and evening commutes, but on Sunday evening. COME ON! Well after waiting ten or more minutes, the first bus arrives - FULL. Fifteen minutes later, another bus, PACKED to the second step. I have two backpacks on my back and front side. There’s no way I am catching a bus. So, cheerfully I flag down a taxi after another full bus flies by. I arrive at Jeff’s, we catch a radio taxi to the bus station and await for our bus. These buses are no Greyhounds or Chinatown Lines (”ahem, Robert”), these buses (TurBus) have seats that fold out in to beds and attendants walking the aisle to serve you a drink and lay a blanket over you.
We arrive early Monday morning to Pucón and walk down Avenida Brasil to Hospedaje Sonia. We get a room ($5000/person/night ≈ $10/p/n) and settle in. I love hostel travelling. We make plans for hiking and sightseeing, visit the grocery store, rent a car, relax by the fire, and get to bed early. Poor Mark, he slept maybe two hours on the trip down.
Tuesday, we wake up early. I am talking about six o’clock hour. Nothing is open, but we head out to see the city and wait for the grocery store (Eltit) to open (we forgot to get eggs for breakfast). We went to one end of the city to see a casino/hotel that completely burned down last month. It was quite a sight and at the same moment and from that point on, we had dogs following us. These dogs were not typical dogs either. There was one, a rather large dog, that picked up a stone and carried it in its mouth as we walked. It whaled and I mean WHALED the whole time. It even tore up a municipal flower box before our eyes in an effort to bury the stone, yet it continued carrying the stone and whaling. Well Eltit opened, we bought some b-fast items, cooked at Sonia’s, and ate up. Mark took me across the plaza near the hostel to Gloria’s flower stand. They were incredible (take a look at the photos to see what they’re made out of). Later in the morning we headed out for Termas Geométricas, but ended up at Termas de Palguín. It was a nice soak and cheap. Jeff had an accident which will forever be remembered. He ripped apart a wood railing in a moment of rage. On the way back to Pucón, we stopped at Salto El León, which was gorgeous. That night we enjoyed a dinner of typical comida peruana at Viva Perú. Try the Seco de cordero; it’s amazing.
More to come…
