Many Lakes, Chile!

Chile
2/2/2009

Once we left Puerto Natales, we headed to Punta Arenas for an uneventful 15 hours, and then got on our 30 hour bus ride to the Lake district of Argentina and Chile. Originally we were supposed to go to Puerto Montt, but while we were under way we made the decision to get off at the small town of Entre Lagos, which was not as far south as Puero Montt, so we would not have to back track.

The Bus ride went from very boring, the patagonian pampas, grasslands to some really beatuiful mountains and large lakes of the area just north of Patagonia. As the bus was rounding turns, you could see tall mountain peaks covered in snow as well as crystal clear mountain lakes the size of a small city. There are many trees here, which is a relief for me because in patagonia, there are pretty much no trees at all, and now we are in an area which is not so unfamiliar to me, The lake district is similar to what I think of the rocky mountains, and parts of Idaho.

Getting off in Entre Lagos was Lainas idea, We didnt think much of it, because Entre Lagos is a very small town on a lake that has a large tourist poulation, of all Chilieanos. The lake was beautiful, we set up camp for cheap, (2000 Chilean Pesos, 3.33$US) and headed for a swim. That water was very refreshing, cold, but crystal clear. Later in the afternoon, we rented a Paddleboat, (handmade from plywood) for an hour and goofed off in the middle of the lake. Laina says it reminds her of rivendell, and playing in the lake. We caught a beautiful sunset, soaked up the warm weather, and got ready to head north to our next destination, Pucón.

We started the day out Hitchiking, out of Entre Lagos, to get to Pucón. We waited for 3 hours before we got our first ride, who was a very nice old man whose father owned many acreage in the area and ran a farm. He could speak a little english, and we ended up hitting it off with him, and had a wonderful ride, full of laughter and jokes. Then we decided to catch a bus the rest of the way. We only made it to a small town called, Villarica, about 30 km away form Pucón before we decided it was too late to keep going, so we decided to stop and see this town, Villarica. Once we found camping we headed into downtown and into a festive, summery, touristy night full of energy. Villarica is another destination for many Chileanos during summer. In the town, there was a Mapuche(native americans of the area) exibit, and many handycrafts to look at. We walked around and then Laina saw another festival that we had to pay to get into, but the food inside looked so good! We got entry and headed to the roasted meat stand right away. The smell was so good, meat cooking over a smoky fire. Cory bought a roasted pig shouder, I got a dozen empenadas, and laina got two beef shish kabobs. The food was needed and very savory and delicious. After the food we walked around the fair and looked at all the animals, compared quiality in different meat sheep, got scared by a charging cow and wond up in the honey stand swaping stories of Hawaiian honey. We found out that our friends in the honey stand were selling their version of mead(honey wine) and we bought a bottle. I loved it, the mead was sold in a old 2 liter soda bottle and you could tell they just made it a few days ago, every day since we bought it, it has been getting more alcoholic!

In the morning we caught a bus to Pucón saying our goodbyes to Villarica. Once in Pucón we meet up with some couchsurfers that we will stay with while we are here, Tomas from Chezch, and Kate from the UK. We hit it off with them immediately, and after a quick meal, we headed to the lake to fly tomas´s full size parachute kite. Pucón is a very quiant(is that how it is spelled?) touristy, and fun town. It is full of adventure tours, and Chiliean beachgoers. There are also many more internaitonal tourists then in the last two towns we were in. Oh yeah, Pucón is dominated by a 8000 foot tall VOLCANO! covered in snow at the top, Volcano Villarica is the icon of the area and Pucón. Lake villarica is also a very large lake with very clear, refreshing water and beautiful, dramatic mountains, and one huge volcano!

Tomas´s kite is soo cool. When we first started, the wind was small, and really good for learning how to use it. There are two handles and they can turn the kite each way by movin the handles towards and away from you. A little later in the evening, the wind really picked up and the kite would give you a run for your money! The wind was strong enough to drag you through the sand on your feet about 15 feet. Once the wind got strong enough, you couls jump and the kite would pull you like 5 feet off the ground and pull you like 10-15 feet forward, not very far, but it was quite a rush!

Today we washed all our laundry(much needed) and walked around town. Tommorow we will head to the national park in the area for a fun day hike. On the 3rd, we will head to Santiago, the capital, and spend some time with our friend, Philipe, who we met in Rio de Janeiro, at the beginging of the trip!