hola!

hola buen dia! how is everyone? well, lots to update. too much in fact. after puerto montt, saying goodbye to thiago, and taking the rental truck north, we made 300 km in the first day up to villarica.

we stayed in the town for 3 days. the first night was spent in a swiss hospedaje downtown. the following day we headed out and hiked up towards volcan villarica, high into native arucania (monkey puzzle) forests. it was amazing. we were probably 10 km from the summit of the volcano. great views, great photo ops and a great hike. we all really enjoyed the day.

after our hike we decided to head to pucon, a popular tourist destination, for dinner. but afterwards we decided to head back to villarica. ralph had found a flyer for dog mushing, so we all agreed to head back and check it out. we arrived late at night. the couple, as it turns out were german (perfect for ralph), were very nice and welcomed us despite the late hour. they had one cabaña left and it was a great one. we spent two nights there. the first day thomas and i took a jog with one of their dogs. later, thomas and ralph rode horses and at the end of the night we had a bbq. salad, meat, potatoes, beer and wine. it was an enjoyable night. our time spent there definitely remains a high point on this trip. ralph also left with the possibility of a winter job. reluctantly, we left the following morning. and we were headed for the coast without any real plan in mind.

by the end of that day we were exhausted yet we all felt like we hadn´t really gotten anywhere. all day in the car and where had we ended up? we spent the night in a cabaña and left the following morning with the intention of doing some wine tasting and maybe some sightseeing of some of the towns along the panamerican highway.

we headed north, and our first stop was at villa alegre; an older, well preserved town with houses and streets that date to the 19th century. that day we ended up running out of time as we didnt leave villa alegre until 5 pm and we weren´t able to stop at any of the wineries. as we moved north, we encountered heavy air pollution, freeways, lots of cars, people, and traffic. it was a considerable change from the sleepy and slow paced south. back into civilization i suppose.

and now it has been 3 days since we first arrived in santiago. cities. people. lots of them. craziness. its like my head is constantly spinning. the pollution is bad. its almost nearly impossible to see the mountains that sit no more than 20 km outside of santiago. in any case we´re all adjusting. we´ve been staying at nice hotel (hotel paris) down in a lovely, quiet part of town. we´ve just arranged a rental car to head north to visit the atacama desert. ralph and thomas both have booked return flights for the 8th of may. i will continue north to arica and then peru and hopefully find a way to visit machu picchu. thats my plan and ive booked a flight from a lima, peru to vancouver, bc on the 1st of june. so it seems we are all set. and i guess thats it for the updates. we´ve packed away our bikes, dissembled our trailers, and we´re ready for the trip home. tomorrow we head north, say goodbye, and move our own separate ways. anyhow, i hope things on the homefront are going well. talk soon. chao chao.

:]


zach