Chile: Pucon

My trip to Pucon didn't go quite as expected.

I went to Pucon, Chile (southern Chile) a couple of weeks ago with two of my good friends Emily, and Jamie. Since Pucon is so far south, it took us 10 hours in a bus to get there... and since we took the ride over night we arrived at about 9:00 AM on Friday morning, the 30th of September. We stayed at what is called a hostel, which is like a hotel but much much cheaper. The differences from a hotel are as so: the rooms are not private. They are usually bigger, and if you are only traveling with three people but staying in a five person bed room, you will get to meet two other people, and sleep in the same room as then - male and female alike. Each hostel is different, but the one my friends and I stayed at was very very good. The beds were super comfortable, there was a great breakfast included in the morning (an unusually feature) of fruit, eggs, bread, and a fruitshake. The best part (and point of staying in a hostel) is that it only cost 14 dollars per day/night... including showers.

Through the hostel my friends and I were brought to awareness of plenty of activities that were available to us in Pucon. We ended up planning on this schedule for the weekend:

Friday: 4 hour horseback riding tour during the afternoon, rest at night.

Saturday: Zip lining in the canopy, and taking a tour of the area. During the night we'd partake in the asado put on (but paid separately) by the hostel.

Sunday: Climb the active volcano. 7 hours up, 1 and a half down. Sunday night: HOLY CRAP WE WILL NEED TO REST BECAUSE THAT VOLCANO WAS HUGE.

Monday morning: head back.

So that was our plan... and for the most part it was filled out... by Jamie and Emily. I, however, was only able to participate in the horseback riding on Friday. Saturday morning, as Emily, Jamie, and I were exploring the town on foot, I because quite sick. I didn't really know what it was at first, but I basically my whole body was sore (sore from horseback riding yes, but in a different way as well), my stomach was weak, and I had a headache. When we finally (what felt like forever to me) got back to the hostel, I right away went for me bed. I started to get very cold as I broke out with a fever and decided not to go with the girls. When they left to continue our plans (I guess some people apparently think that was mean of them, but I need to set this straight. It would have been extremely selfish of me to ask them to stay with me in the hostel on our vacation (and a spendy one at that) so they could be there while I slept for the most part. I am very glad they did not stay with me, I would have felt terrible.).. so when they left to continue our plans I slept for the most part, watched movies on my computer, and worked on my music on my lap-top a bit. My fever broke, came back, and broke again... and I spent more of the time in the bathroom.

Sunday came, and I woke up with the girls hoping that I'd feel better enough to climb the volcano with them... sadly I was not feeling better and ended up spending another day in bed.

Annnnd that was the end of our trip. It was a big bummer for me, especially since my body waited for my first vacation - and as I said a spendy one - to become sick. We spent the whole day on the bus, for which luckily I was feeling better for the most part... although I still had no desire to eat any food.

So in conclusion, even though the weekend didn't go as planned, I still got to see the south of Chile, take some great pictures while horseback riding, and spend some time with two of my newly found good friends here in Chile. Oh! And I met some pretty cool people in the hostel all around the world: Denmark, Ireland, Israel, England, and of course Chile :) The coolest part of it all was that we could all communicate in English whether it was our first, second, or third language. It's incredible how language studies enables people to connect in a way that would otherwise never be possible.