Some might think of it as ugly graffiti that is just defacing public buildings, but I quite enjoy looking at all of it. From the colorful posters and stencil art…

…the the full on murals…

…to the hand drawn chalk drawings expressing dietary suggestions…

…and you can’t have street art without stickers on street signs.

One street vendor even re-created a Happy Tree Friends cartoon character and framed it to sell.

I tell ya they’ve got it all here. I definately want to come back again when I have more time to take it slower and take more photos.

I keep noticing a lot of similarities between California and Chile. Valparaíso reminded me a bit of San Francisco with it’s various different neighborhoods and it’s extremely hilly topography…

…with old houses…

…of various pastel colors lining the streets.

They also have a busy harbor on the Pacific ocean…

…and even electric powered buses that follow the power lines hanging overhead. That’s so SF!

A couple hills over from our hostel was the Naval and Maritime museum that we perused to kill some time…

…and kill some encroaching enemy warships.

We lost a few good soldiers in the battle, so we paid our respects at the cemetery a few hills away.

And then it was full speed ahead…

…back up another hill…

…via one of the many rickety funiculars the city has so that we could find some food.

On the way back to the hostel we got stuck behind this bus with UTAH license plates!

Now I REALLY feel like I’m back in California! What the heck is this thing doing here!?

We were sent on our way with a farewell escort…

…and then herded along in the right direction by some wild sheep…

…who as it turns out were not quite sure of the right direction themselves.

So, we went the other direction, and left them to figure out how to get back into their field.

About 10 hours later, we had made it back to Santiago and were now headed west on the 68 freeway to Valparaíso, only to be stung by a traffic jam. Moments after exiting the toll booth, we were stopped dead in our tracks by bumper to bumper traffic. And we were making such good timing too! Google Maps had clocked the entire trip at around 16 hours, and we were so close after having only been on the road for 10. So we sat, and we waited. Sat, and waited. Sat, and waiting. Sat, and waited for the clean up crew to remove a large vehicle that had crashed into the side of the wall in a tunnel through a mountian. Finally after we got out of now smog-filled tunnel, we made it to Valparaíso in about 40 minutes with only a few drops of gas left in the tank and a few drops of room left in the bladder. After driving in circles for a good 20 minutes trying to find the hostel, we finally threw our map out the window and followed our instinct. Ahh good ol instinct comes through again. At least we now have a working toilet and a shower! Totally worth the drive.

Scaling the active Villarrica volcano!! Now that’s one thing Queenstown does not offer!

We woke up at the crack of dawn and grabbed a quick breakfast before walking over to the meeting point. After suiting up with our gear, and throwing some snacks, lunch and water in a backpack, we hopped in the truck…

…ready to trek over 9000 feet to the crater…

During a rough and bumpy 40 minute ride to the base of the volcano the guides presented us with the option to take a ski-lift part of the way up.

HA! We don’t need no stinkin’ ski-lift! We’re warriors!

Oh crap, 9000 feet is kinda tall. On second though we’ll take you up on the ski-lift offer.

And with that, the ski-lift took us up the volcano a little farther — just to the edge of where the snow was…

…which meant it was time to strap on the cramp-ons so we could dig in to the icy snow.

Despite the icy/snowy conditions, within the first 45 minutes I was already peeling of layers of clothing to cool off.

This hike was no joke! The heart was pumping and the sweat was pouring. We forged ahead, zigging, and zagging up the mountain side with our pickax and cramp-ons keeping us from sliding all the way back down to the bottom.

We kept up a slow and steady pace for about 4 hours! Only stopping 3 times along the way to take a few photos of the volcano…

…as well as other nearby volcanos.

We stopped once more for a lunch break and a few more photos…

…and then continued on up and over the jagged icy rocks…

…that had some really cool ice formations…

…that formed an ice throne for me.

Finally as the 5th hour approached, we had reached the summit! Exhausted and tired, we clawed our ways to the tippity top of the volcano…

…determined to see the lava filled crater.

And while the crater was just too deep to see any molten magma, we could certainly hear the burping and gargaling lava, and smell the farting sulfuric fumes spewing from the pit.

The crater was gigantic! Take a look at the full size version of this photo:

and check out how tiny the people are on the leftern edge of the rim to get a sense for just how big of a whole it is. It’s one of only 4 volcanoes on the world that has an active lava lake in the crater! I wanted to see if I could get a better vantage point to witness some actual molten lava, so I hiked all the way around the crater, taking in some great views along the way…

…including some cooled off lava chunks…

…and some glacier wave formations.

Unfortunately, even from the highest point on the edge, I still wasn’t able to see deep enough down the hole to see any magma. If only I had a helicopter to see far enough down the hole!

After about an hour at the summit, it was time to head back down. We had two options, hike or slide. Since hiking would most definitely result in some blisters forming, we all agreed that sliding down would be the best (and most fun) method of descent. So we put on all of our gear again, and slide down most of the mountain on our butts.

It was SOOOO much fun! Some trails were faster than others, some more windy than others, but every single one was a blast!

It brought me back to my days of Topstone Dr. in Bethel, CT where we would spend hours out on the hill sleding down snow covered hills. Eventually after about only 40 minutes of sliding, we reached the point where there was no more snow to slide down.

So we footed it all the way back down the whole way that the ski-lift had taken us, and all the way back to the awaiting van. We all piled in and headed back to the shop where it was decided that we celebrate or accomplishment with a barbecue back at the hostel.

Ya know you’re in South America when BBQ meat tastes this good! DELICIOUS!

A great way to end the evening. Relaxing in the back yard with some steak, corn on the cob and a beer with our friend Villarrica looking over us from off in the distance…

..under a firey sky.

A great day in Chile!

The one great thing that the hostel did have was a beautiful Norwegian…

…gorgeous light brown eyes. This big fuzzy brown (with highlights) guy was so friendly and playful. Such a sweetheart! There’s nothing like a big friendly dog to make you forget all your worries!

Today’s original plans were pushed back until tomorrow due to some minor weather issues, so today we explored the nearby lake with its black volcanic sand beach.

On the way back from the lake we saw a parking lot full of cars and bleachers full of stands. So we wandered a bit closer and found an equestrian show jumping event underway.

What better backdrop could you imagine for such an event?

Wish you could have been there to see it too mom!

I say “on” because I can’t poop in you. More specifically, the toilet here is broken.

I don’t ask for much, but I don’t think a working toilet is too much to ask for. I’ve been camping before. I’ve relieved myself in the shrubs. I’m not opposed to the idea by any means, but if I’m paying money to stay somewhere I shouldn’t have to walk out to the back yard just to take a piss. I don’t really mind it myself actually, but I’m trying to be considerate of the property owners and other guests staying in the hostel. Would you like to look out your window and see someone watering the plants? I didn’t think so. Neither did she.

In the last 6 months, we’ve stayed in some really nice places, as well as some not so nice places. This hostel here in Pucón is by far the worst. I’m really not too picky, all I ask for is that a place is relatively clean, and that things work. This place is clean enough, but nothing works.

I shouldn’t have to wait 25 minutes to pee just because there is only one toilet for the entire place, and someone else has decided to take care of the Three S’s. What about MY needs? Provide people with a second option. I’ll pee in a bucket if you OK it. Just give me something that works, anything!

I shouldn’t have to shower on the ground floor with a wide open window that doesn’t close.

If you want to watch me shower, I expect a generous tip! Similarly, I shouldn’t be able to look into the only bathroom/shower and see people using the only toilet while I’m standing between a couple bushes trying to pee. Don’t brag that you have a toilet and I don’t. It’s not polite.

If I can’t close the window, I should at least be able to close the frosted glass door to the shower/toilet area. But I can’t.

And if I can’t do that? Then I would at least expect that I could close the accordion style shower curtain.

Wishful thinking.

Wanna hang a towel up somewhere in the bathroom? Ha! Dummy.

Wanna put your toiletries bag and clean clothes down somewhere dry? Keep dreaming.

And please explain to me how with all of these things that don’t work…. how you managed to have a bidet installed?

There’s no need. Put a friggin piece of plywood over it and give me a place to put stuff down for petes sake! I’m sure it probably doesn’t work anyways. At least now it would serve some function.

Tired of this rant yet? Too bad… there’s more!

Wanna find your way to your room? Neh. No lights on anywhere.

Oh, you somehow managed to fumble and stumble your way through the dark up the flight of stairs past the constantly beeping alarm? Congrats! Now you can stumble and fumble your way over to your door that has a padlock on it. Yeah. A door that locks from the inside (with no way to get in) AND locks from the outside with no way to get out. Where’s Fire Marshal Bill when you need him?

Don’t you worry kids! If in the event that you found yourself locked in/out of your room, you could always just climb over the top of the door through the gap created from putting a rectangular door in a triangular door frame. You know the one, it’s that same gap that lets tons of light in when someone actually does manage to find the light switch in the hallway.

At least you are in a room right? Yeah, that’s true. A roof over my head right? I shouldn’t complain. Well I’m not in this case. It’s small, but that’s okay with me. I don’t need a hectare to sleep in. The beds are fine even if they are a bit close to each other. Whatever. I told you, I don’t ask for much.

Except… curtains or a screen on the window. Something to keep the bugs out and the light out in the early morning. When you stay up late at night ranting about your crappy hostel, you’re gonna want to get some Z’z so you can be well rested to make a run for it in the morning!

BUAHAH! I thought I was finished with this post… nope. The loud music just started blaring. No sleep for me.

It’s a shame really, I don’t want this to ruin the experiece of the town for me. It seems really nice outside of these walls.

Apparently there’s no way to turn around to go the opposite direction in Chile. Once you pick a direction, that’s it. It’s your direction for the rest of you life. You own it. That’s what happened this morning when we rolled out of Chillan on our way north to Pucón. The thing is though… Pucón is actually south of Chillan. Oh well. Too bad. We’re going north to get there whether we like it or not since there is no way to cross under/over the freeway to get into the southbound lane.

Finally, after driving for what felt like hours we found a way to get to the other side! Now I finally understand why the chicken did it! After all these years! It wasn’t because there was a horse over there…

…but because she could! And it was her only opportunity to head south on the 5. We also seized the opportunity, and we were finally headed in the right direction. That is, until we tried to find La Sala waterfalls. Google Maps couldn’t give us accurate directions (boo), so we were left with instinct.

So much for that plan. We drove down dirt roads, wandering aimlessly trying to follow a river upstream to locate some falls. We tried every logical step to find the stinking water falls, with no such luck. Eventually we came across the town of Yumbel. We were the whitest things to roll into town since Wonder Bread was first introduced here in 1974.

Determined to find the falls, we found an Internet shop (yes even way out here — Chile is ON IT when it comes to Internet) and re-checked Google. It wasn’t really much help other than hinting that it might be the other direction. So back we went. Why?

Because it was all worth it…

Even though the falls were a bit dry due to the dry season, it was still an impressive site.

Not quite Niagara status, but tall, wet, loud, and powerful. And very refreshing too I might add!

After taking a few more photos…

It was time to get back on the road so that we could get to Pucon before sun down. As we’d seen, it was already heard enough finding our destinations in the daylight. So we walked back up to the car, past the obligatory wooden chotzky tourist craps…

…past the cute Chilain girl in her pink dress drinking water from a spout…

…and into the Nissan Platina…

…on our way down South (yes, actually South) on the 5.

Our guide took us around a lot of the historical sites of the city…

…and we learned more about the history of Chile in the course of about an hour than we had in an entire lifetime in the US education system, which is sort if disappointing because there are some interesting stories in their history books, like the suicide of their president at the hand of a gun that was a gift from Fidel Castro!

We also learned about some interesting architecture.

And for the culture portion of the tour, we went to a “cafe with legs” shop. When he described it, we thought it would be something much more taboo, but apparently it’s like the thing everyone does after a hard days work. You go to a coffee shop where sexy women serve you coffee.

I guess if I ever had a reason to start drinking coffee this would be it.

After a latte and legs, we returned the bicicletas to the shop. The ladies at the front desk could sense our Americanness and told us about a pre-inauguration party that we might be interested in at a nearby bar. With nothing else planned, we decided to check out the “No More Bush” fiesta.

The bar had a large projection screen on the wall with CNN coverage of all the details of the night before the big day. Basic Bar is actually run by a group of three Californians, so they had all the essentials, hamburgers, beer, avocado, and RANCH FRICKIN’ DRESSING! Hell ya!

For the party the had a pinata with a photo of Bush’s face on it and an old Chilain women beat the crap out of it! Tell us how you REALLY feel Chile!

I’ve been waiting 8 long years for this moment:

Maybe “Customs” is just as tired as I am. Sheesh, I need a nap.

NO!

Must. Not. Nap. Must power through this to recalibrate.

Zzzzzzz.

Huh!? Waa!? Whoops, I must have fallen asleep there for a minute. But now that I’m awake again, let’s go wander downtown Santiago to explore a bit.

Wait, I DID go Back To The Future! Barney is still hip here!

I wanna go Forward To The Past! Get me outta here!

Ahh, I see a light at the end of the tunnel in Plaza de Armas

That tunnel lead farther into downtown where on every corner was a vendor cart selling “Copihue – Jugo de Huesillos”

What the heck IS it? I see everyone buying them. I’m getting one.

It’s sort of hard to describe. It’s kinda like a maple syrup flavored ice tea — with oatmeal in it!

And BRAINS!!

Or figs? Or something. Still not sure what it was. But this brain needs some sleep.