Day 3 and 4 of weekend super-awesomeness-fun-fest 2009 (Really "getting" our goat"

We were told it was going to rain...

and it did. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, unless you're a llama.


Since I've been in Chile, it's been beautiful. Sunny every day, and HOT (at least for me). I don't really know how hot it's been or really is, because apparently the folks down here go by a different standard for their measurements, I call it a 'secret code'. All I'm saying is the rain was more than welcome as far as I was concerned.

Breakfast was included with the price of the hostel BONUS!!


Over Breakfast we met a really nice Canadian couple, traveling South America with their baby. We were drawn to each other because we all spoke a similar language. The Canadian couple was camping. (not staying in the hostel, but in the absolutely gorgeous campground on the same property.) At breakfast we invited them to join us for dinner due to the fact that it was raining, thus difficult to cook outside, and the fact that they are incredibly nice people. They accepted.

They had REAL Coffee at breakfast, thus, durring breakfast I drank 3 cups of coffee, which for me is too much. About an hour later I couldn't just sit anymore. We decided we would take the bus to the town of Lonquimay. Mac decided to hang around the hostel due to blisters and sore spots caused by the previous day's awesomeness. Her is a picture:
Poor Mac. Francis Jake Lia, and myself mannaged to take enough time to get ready so that we missed the bus that we were trying to catch. Thus, hitch hiking ensued, but to no avail. We would stand in this little hut untill we heard a car, then 2 of us would run to the road, and give it our best. The other 2 would hide, we didn't want to intimidate with 4 people. Every car we would swich groups of 2.


Eventually another bus came, and our hitch hiking turned into a $1.50 or so bus ride. We got to go through the longest road tunnel in South America, and yes I tried to hold my breath, but again I was hit with failure. This was a LONG tunnel. Here's a picture:

We got to Lonquimay, it was slightly less rainy, but the town and the area was beautiful.

We found our selves just sort of cruising around, looking in stores, and such, one store was particularly interesting, it had products from fancy jewlry, to new clothes, fake I-pods, and this:

I just thought it was funny, it was out on intentional display.

Another funny thing we ran into was this huge poster on the side of a building for safe sex.
The funny part is the figures in the red on the background of the poster, go ahead... zoom in... it's pretty funny. (At least it was for Jake Lia, Francis, and myself.)

Here's me in Lonquimay


When we were shopping for other souvenirs and stuff, we stumbled upon this poster:
Bike Race?
Yes Please!
The only bummer is that it started at 5:00pm and our bus left at 5:30. I only got to go up for a bit to watch, but it looked like a pretty good time, and some worthy trails.
They had music blasting, and people just messing around on bikes. Here's the finish jump, it's a good little drop.
We jumped back on the bus, back to La Suisandina, and started to make dinner. It was Mac's turn to be Iron Chef.
The Canadian couple joined us as we finished making dinner.


We had a wonderful dinner
Afterward we were rewarded with an absolutely stunning sunset.

We hung around, drank wine, and cleaned up

The Canadian couple went to bed, Jake went to bed, the rest of us hung out for a bit, a glass or so of wine.

This is where things went from, 'super awesome beautiful fun weekend' to 'super awesome beautiful fun crazy fantastic weekend'


DAY 4

Just as we were about to go to bed, a Chilean family walked in from their adventures in the Lonquimay area. We got to talking, and one thing lead to another, and we were invited to a "asado de cabra" on their property with their family. This family owns a large portion of forested land, as well as potential farm land. They don't have a house on their land yet, thus the reason they were staying at the hostel.

Francis and I got up early and went for a run. It was nothing but a beautiful day, with absolutely stunning trails.


The llamas were much happier today

We had another AWESOME breakfast, this time I kept the coffee in a comfortable range.

The Father of the family picked us up, and we headed out to his property.

This was the plan, he would drop us off, we would go for a hike, he would go "get" the goat, we would return to a part up the canyon on his property and meet him and his family, eat, enjoy, then return to the hostel.

We drove to the small town near the Hostel, took a dirt road, and headed up into the mountains, about 2 or so miles in, he stopped, and told us to keep following the road, then follow the trail, and meet him at the 2nd abandoned house at 2:00pm.

Here is a picture of a Volcano, Volcan Lonquimay to be exact

I know what you are all thinking, and it wasn't sketchy at all, and you need to stop watching movies like 'Hostel".

This is where the hike began

Here is abandoned house #1

The rest of the crew found some horses to go look at, I'm just not a big fan, plus, I figured we have horses back in the old EEUU, so I would pay more attention to other things... like abandoned houses.

This is a picture of the road, and there are no camera tricks or special lenses used, it's just that crazy.

The drop off on the other side of that road

A while later we came upon abandoned house #2, trust me it's there, it's under that tree.

More Brown Barbaloots in their Barbaloot suits.

From there the trail got a bit rougher.

These are some of the amazing views that were the fruits of our labor.





We had to turn around here so as to not be late for lunch.

We arrived at the lunch location shortly after our hosts arrived. He had the goat that he had "gotten" on a spit and a fire set. We sat around the fire, ate home made bread, and salsa, played some soccer, drank wine and mate (it's like tea) talked politics, and hung out







After we had eaten, we ALL (9 of us) piled in his ford ranger, and headed back to the Hostel.

He then gave us a ride to our bus station in the next town. Our great adventure came to a close

after a very serious 'face making session' on the bus.

Day 2 of weekend super-awesomeness-fun-fest 2009

So... We arrived in the morning on Friday after a short 9 hour bus trip. The Hostel was called La Swisandina, as you know from keeping up with your reading. We were allowed to put our stuff in our rooms even though it was like 8 am, the place was georgous, the air was clear, and the rooms were comfortable.

This is a view from the front porch of our hostel dorm building, toward the main house.
I could not help it... This sign was posted on the outside of our building, I guess they don't want cats inside.
We inquired about a hike. Normally when being asked "Wayne, How far is it to River Ranch?" I respond with, "about 4 miles" When we asked "How long is the trail?" The response we got from the Once-Ler was 8 hours. The people that ran the hostel didn't know any distances, only time, which is interesting. (I'll address this later) They gave us awesome directions, and sent us on our way for our '8 hour' hike. Here's some photos, with light words and stuff, because you get more for your money with photos:

Hike photo section:

This is the beginning of the trail, and for those of you that are wondering, that little yellow sign reads 'Wanderweg' which I believe to directly translate to 'Welcome to Dr. Suisse's truffula forest"The ladies: McKenzi, Lia, and Francis

"Now get a shot of me like this"
Jake and grickle grass
Francis, Lia, and Jake
The Truffula trees would open up every once in a while, to these great meadows of grickle grass.
Truffula Trees:
This is a map
"Now get a shot of me like this"

We were looking for brown barbaloots in their barbaloot suits when we came across this sign. I only brought one bottle of water with me, so this sign looked welcoming, except for the fact that there was no watter anywhere around.
Brown barbaloot in its barbaloot suit.
This is volcano Lonquimay, and me, I'm the one on the right.
Me, volcano, truffula trees
Same as before -Me
Hiking

These are sturcturs actually built by the Lorax for us to enjoy the Truffula forrest.



The hike ended in a small town called Malalcahuello, and by small I mean small.

I was under the impression that we could go to the market and pick out what we wanted to make for dinner, and get all the ingredients. I was wrong, but not necessarily disappointed. As some of you know, I really like cooking, and with the program, we aren't exactly allowed to set up Iron Chef competitions in our host family's house. So, I told everyone I would cook for that night. After a look at the market my plans of a 5 course meal, with silverware, crystal wine glasses, and fine china, were taken down a bit. I decided fried rice would be our dinner, with a tomato and avocado salad. We bought the stuff we needed, jumped on a bus back to the hostel, and dinner was under way. It was delicious. I forgot to take pictures of the meal. It was early bed, because we were exhausted.

For those that didn't get it, watch this, and it will all become clear