Chile

Our time in Chile has drawn to a close.  Our last week in Pucon was quiet, with occasional rain and cooler temperatures. We had lots of quality time together at home in our sweet little cabana.  Daniel watched the movie “Epic” about ten times; I don’t think any of us were sorry to leave that behind in the DVD drawer!

Amor Del Lagos

A nice father-daughter moment

During most of our travels these past months we have been good about cooking at home, but we were all getting a little stir crazy so we went out for lunch most days for entertainment.  Usually we went to the excellent vegetarian restaurant, Ecole, but we did have a great lunch at a nice location just out of town that featured traditional Chilean cuisine.  We all loved the pastel de choclo, a pie filled with beef, onion, chicken, hard boiled egg, and an olive, and topped with sweet cornmeal.

Pastel de choclo, a local beer, and one of the several inexpensive, tasty Chilean wines we enjoyed

We enjoyed checking out the various crafts produced in this area.  The Mapuches make beautiful wall hangings, and there were several shops in town that sold incredibly realistic looking flowers made out of wood.

The kids enjoyed the park in Pucon, which featured electric ride on toys, and three wheeled bikes that you could rent for a reasonable fee.

Fun in the park

The people we encountered throughout our visit were helpful, friendly and tolerant of our limited Spanish language skills (though Daniel has become quite adept at ordering “agua, por favor” with his meals).  The prices were reasonable, even though this was an area catering to tourists.  For us, though, the biggest selling point for the area is the incredible beauty of the countryside.

Soaking in the sun after a day of rain

Lots of room to run and play

Just one of the many gorgeous sunsets we enjoyed

After two long days of travel, involving four flights (3 of which were late), and one crazy incident where we ended up on the wrong plane, we arrived safely in Cuenca, Ecuador.  We are renting an apartment by a river on the edge of the historic central part of the city.  It is huge, and is the least expensive place we’ve rented during our journeys.  No wonder so many expats are here from the United States!  Cuenca has a lot to offer by way of sights and entertainment…when we arrived there was a Pink Floyd tribute band rocking in the park across the river.  Stand by for more updates from this final stop of our trip!

We’ve been here in Pucon, Chile for almost three weeks now. Pucon, a bustling little town in the Lakes District of Chile, is a popular tourist destination for Chileans, as well as international visitors. According to our landlords, the area’s population is normally around 23,500, but it swells to 125,000 in February during the summer holiday season. When we first arrived, the streets were clogged with tourists, and parking was tough to find. It’s gotten better lately.

We are staying about 10 minutes drive out of town, on property owned by an American couple from Washington. They have a lovely home they live in down here about six months out of the year, and a great cabana that they rent out. The cabana has a stunning view of Lake Villarica and the surrounding countryside.

It’s incredibly peaceful here, with sheep grazing in the field below, and no sound but the wind in the trees and the occasional squawks of the birds. There is no TV (other than for playing DVDs) and no Internet access at the house, so we’ve been enjoying a simpler existence. Daniel, Bill and I have a nightly baseball game after dinner in the field by the house, and Caroline enjoys using the bow and arrows she fashioned from tree branches in the yard. The rutted gravel road leading to the property is lined with blackberry bushes, so we help ourselves to those whenever the mood strikes us.

The owners’ dogs come visit us each day, much to the kids’ delight.

On our first venture into town, we found parking on a quiet side road, across from an empanada shop. We gave it a try for lunch, and discovered that they not only had delicious empanadas, but also free wifi. It’s become our favorite place to stop for a snack and to catch up on emails. Our other favorite place to eat us Ecole, an inexpensive vegetarian restaurant with tasty food that also offers free wifi.

We did a fun white water rafting trip last week on the lower Trancura River. All the other participants that we talked to were vacationers from Santiago. The rapids were big enough to give the kids a thrill, but not so bad that we needed to worry about capsizing.

Pucon had a decent beach, with boat rentals, food stands, and a fun water obstacle course.

There are three volcanoes in the area, including the Villarica volcano, which provides such a pretty backdrop for Pucon.

There are numerous thermal baths to chose from in the area surrounding Pucon. We enjoyed out outing to one along the river about 30 minutes east of here.

We’ll see what else we can fit in during our last week here. Then it is off to Ecuador for the last leg of our trip.