-spent two nights in a hostel called "La Bicicleta"
-climbed a volcano, Volcan Villarica
-went bikeriding and saw a Mapuche community
-got to swim in some "termas" which are naturally heated springs found in Pucon (hot springs)
Valdivia:
-one night
-went to a fresh outdoor fish, fruit, and vegetable market
-went to a cool art museum (but accidentally broke a piece of artwork by sitting on it because i thought it looked sturdier than it was...oops!)
Ancud (on the island of Chiloe):
-one night
-visited a penguin colony and saw two different types of penguins- cute!!
-visited some interesting churches
Castro (on the island of Chiloe):
-one night
-stayed with a random family that we met on the bus ride/ferry to Chiloe
-they took us to an outdoor market where seafood was being cooked in the ground, pretty cool!
Puerto Montt:
-one night
-stayed at a nice hostel and ate a yummy salad at a local restaurant, not too exciting
-flew three hours south from there to Patagonia
Torres del Paine National Park
-stayed in three different refugios for four nights
-climbed and hiked the "W" for hours each day with heavy backpack
-experienced extreme wind and rain but also some beautiful sunshine and warmth
-saw a glacier and some iceburgs!
-had to cook food on a tiny stove that we rented, tough but our food ended up tasting pretty good
Puerto Natales
-two nights
-while Caitlin and Amanda continued the "W" (no, i didn't finish it, my feet were blistered like crazy and the thought of sleeping in a tent in the freezing cold and rain was not appealing), Liz and I returned to Puerto Natales where I met some really nice people at the hostel i was staying at- people from Australia, London, Israel, Chile
-discovered a DELICIOUS vegetarian restaurant called "El Living" and ate there four times
Punta Arenas
-three nights
-visited the famous cemetery
-saw some cool churches
-went to some museums
-kayaked in the straits of magellan, really fun!
-saw "Twilight" with spanish subtitles at the only theater in town
then returned to Santiago last night at 10:30pm.
i'll let you know how argentina and uruguay go, i leave tomorrow!! :)
Besos!
Laurita
