Highlights from the Trip to Southern Chile

Pucon:

-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