Pucon, Chile

So we settled in Pucon, Chile in the lakes district. It is a beautiful area that is surrounded by old valcanos and one that is still active. The volcano was huge and covered with snow, while the town is very tropical. The lake was pretty big and not too cold, on the last day we were able to chill on the beach and cool off in the water. The beaches are all black sand from the volcanic rocks, it seems like a mix between Hawaii, Guatemala, and Lake Tahoe. A ton of outdoor activities but we just stayed in town trying to save our money. The town was very tropical and we liked the scenery. The Cañi trees are also around and they are the largest in South America, like the Redwoods in Cali. We really liked Pucon, although there were a ton of Americans who lived there, like an American oasis in South America. We liked the people, but it was one of the most expensive places that we have stayed. We found a few great restaurants, like Latitidue 39, a gringo restaurant (with great nachos, chili, tortilla chicken soup, and chicken thai pasta, even great burgers) we ate their a few times and loved it. We also had some sushi and hit up a happy hour for mojitos and cheap tacos! The first two days it was raining a lot and finally the last day we got to hang out on the beach and enjoy the hot sun. We did not get the job at the eco hostel that we were trying to get because we were to late into the tourism season. But thatś okay, everything happens for a reason! We spent a lot of the time in Pucon talking about our expectations during this trip and what actually happened and we are really happy with the way everything has played out. We got to see a lot of Argentina, Uruguay and Chile. We have been able to improve or Spanish,not fluent but much better, we will continue to practice. We found two places that we really think we could live in the future, Bariloche and Pucon. And we still have a couple of weeks to see a lot more, were are on the move. After a lot of talking we have decided to come back to the states by the end of this month and make some more money. We are greatful for the families help and can hopefully stay in the apartment in Garberville for a couple of months. We are going to road trip to see our friends in cali and then maybe go to costa rica for a month  in April or maybe visit Isabel in Hawaii, or our friends on the east coast. Who knows what the future has in store for us?? We were sad about leaving sooner than expected, but now we are really happy for what we have accomplished, learned about these countries, and learned about us as travelers. We will share it all with you when we see you in a few weeks. This has been the greatest experience of our lives and we know no matter when we come home we will be travellers for life. This experience has made us grow closer and become greatful for what each of us bring to the relationship. Travelling like this is not hard, but now we can see how rewarding it is. We are still enjoying each moment as it comes, and not stress about the little things. We are now in Valapariso Chile, a really old town. We are about to visit some churches built in the late 1400ś (more details and pics to come). So we hope you are all well and we are really excitied about seeing you all soon. More stories though before we come home, we have some of the best places coming up so I am sure the tales will be legendary. Again thanks for following the blog, we miss you all! Ciao from the South.

Us at susnet on the beach of Pucon.

Another shot of the lake, between rainstroms! If it rained on our trek like it rains in Pucon we would have been screwed, it pours here!

Our room at ¡ecole! We were next to a dorm of teen boys, the walls were thin, the sleep was scarce. One tough thing about hostels is how loud they can be.

Duck & Dog, classic right? Right?

The Chile flag, I have wanted to come here since I did a report on Chile in the 5th grade.

Another sunset shot!

A true profile picture of Amb

Chocolate and Tools, Amber knew that both of our dadś would love this. Oh man the chocolate is good here!

More flowers, these were all over Pucon. The ones in the front we even saw growing wild on our trek in Torres del Paine.

The Volcano, can you see the smoke?!?!

The town with the volcano in the background. A obvious caption, but it gets hard being creative towards the end of this blogging stuff.

Soaking it all up!

Finally a sunny day at the lake, it was so hot and the lake was cold and perfect for cooling off. The beach was packed with locals.

Sushi at Pachamama, bomb before a 12 hour bus ride.

Hereś an example of the buses that we take! This was one of the nicer, but still a 12-20 hour bus ride is not easy, good thing we are young and can recover quickly.