Not all fun

As for those who think we are down here having the time of our lives, well that is not the case, yet. Atleast for me it is not. It rains here almost constantly. I grew up in Florida and thought it rained a lot there. I was wrong. Compared to here it barely rains at all in Florida. The highs are in the upper 40's and low 50's. The only way to heat the non-insulated house is with a little 1X2 foot fire place. We each have a small rock we take to bed at night. In an effort to cut cost we only shower about every 5 days. (plus side ...every shower is euphoric) We wash dishes and clothes in cold water only. When I say cold I mean it. The pipes are barely under the ground surface so the water get extremely cold. There is very little do to because it is too cold and wet to get out. So basically I am stuck in this wet cold hell with no friends, no way to socialize, no TV, and pretty much little else to do. Warmth and sunshine are a distant memory. We leave here August 31st and head north to warmer weather and hopefully some sun. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!

Volcan Lliama and Parque National Conguillio

Ken, the kids and I took off one Sunday to find a virgin Auracaria forest. I believed this to be in this National parque. Being adventurous we took the scenic route "Ruta Enterlogas" You may think this is a major roadway between towns. Wrong, this is a windy gravel road. We appearantly picked up a sharp rock along the way, which resulted in Ken changing a tire on the side of the road. We finally arrived at the park and were very surprised to not find a forest. I feel what we did find was a wonderful surprise. The park road winds right through the lava field from the 1994 eruption on Volcanoe Lliama. This was incredible. I have never seen anything like this. The massiveness of it is beyond words. We studied volcanoes last year and it was wonderful to be able to now stand on a lava flow and recap all we learned last year. This same volcanoe had a small eruption in April, which my brother witnessed. We were still able to see the hot side of the volcanoe and one of the vents still active. We also explored the nearby lake which had absolutely no fish, but did have algea evidents of its thermal nature. We discussed the exposed rock layers and the kids theorized about the possible geological events which would have lead to the layers. We also discussed why the rocks were different colors. We had an opportunity to show our kids the difference in where the actual lava flow was and the pyroclastic flow and how this affected the land scape and vegetation different. I could never ever ever have given my kids this kind of understanding about volcanoes in books movies or any other media. You just had to be there to completely get it. I would never have thought a lava field could be beautiful, but it was. The awesomeness of nature reminds me how small I really am. How something so devastating can also be so beautiful I will never completely understand. I just thank God for showing it to me. I did not miss the forest we set out to find at all. Our God truely is awesome! If you ever doubt it watch the birth of a child or stand in a massive lava field. You will be humbled.

Temuco

The day started with walking the few hundred yards to the main road to wait for the bus. This is something I have never encountered. I am aware you can stop a bus in the city and get on, even if it is not a bus stop. I know of no place in the US where you can stand on a highway between towns and flagdown the bus. So after allowing the JAC bus to pass we flagged the rural bus (it is cheaper) and boarded. Arriving in Temuco we got off at what we assumed to be an appropriate place, orientated ourselves, and set off in what we hoped to be the correct direction. We located the tourist office and acquired a map. This is a good thing to have. hehehehe. We did some shopping and had lunch. I learned that latin american women have small feet. I wear a size 41(eur) . Not only do they not carry this size anywhere, but I actually had a guy look at me and say, " 41, MUCHO GRANDE." This proves that Latin american men also say stupid things to women. We purchased a 50 liter pack, stopped at the market and headed for the bus terminal. Spotting the man hollaring Villarrica we approached him at which point he directed us to the small office where we could buy our tickets and told us the bus would be there in 5 minutes. After the passangers boarded and the seats were full we set off. I was soon to understand that when a bus's seats are full it is only half full. We stopped 3 more time before leaving Temuco for the 1 hour trip to Villarrica. There were people everywhere, even a few sitting on the dash. We arrive at our stopped and realized in the future we should take a flashlight, if we vplan to arrive home after dark. Luckily, my brother happened along in the truck at exactly that moment. Thanks bro.

These are pics on the return trip from Argentina. It is the exact same route the other pics were taken on only 48n hours before. It was tense and spectacular.

San Martin de los Andes, Argentina August 2-4, 2009

Due to our 90 day tourist card being up, we had to leave Chile briefly. We decided to go across the boarder to Argentina. This was to be a 6 hour trip over the Andes in a 40 passenger tour style bus. The bus left at 10 am and we were served the onboard snack of cookie covered in a chocolate flavored substance and almost undrinkably sweet coffee. It was a pleasant drive through National Parque Villarrica. I was amazed by the gravel road we were traveling. This would never happened in the states. No one would ride a bus on this road. We were subjected to some horrible 80's spanish music, but the scenery made up for it.
We found the Auracaria forest we had sought previously. These are amazing trees, which take 500 yrs to mature. Some of the ones we saw were 1200 years old. They are protected, which would explain why there was one right in the middle of the road. The boarder crossing was smooth. I only had to walk into the Argentinan boarder office to immeadiately notice a difference. The building was warm. This may seem minor to those who have no frame of reference, but when you have spent 3 month in winter in an area where the highs are between 40-55 and they feel no need to heat the interior of ANY buildings, this is incredible. I was also surprised by how simple the entrance into Argentina was. There was almost no paperwork, not even a customs form. There was a noticable difference in the landscape on the east side of the Andes, less tall vegetation. I think this is due to a reduced rain fall. One of the first things we noticed was how pretty the buildings were. Keep in mind, any statement is based on one town in Argentina only. They seem much more concerned with the aesthetics of things, not just functionallity which has been my experience in Chile. We arrived in San Martin, as I stepped off the bus i was immeadiately faced with the extremely pushy man trying to rent us a room in his house nearby. What makes this man think that getting in my face between me and my children as I am literally stepping of a bus in a new country might possibly cause me to want to do business with him, i will never understand. It did however cause me to feel the need to take him out at the knees so I could reach my children again. After recovering from the stress of refraining from flogging the idiot who got between me and my kids, we acquired a map and chose a direction in which we knew there were some hostels. We investigated a few and returned to the cheapest one, Secuoya Hostel. Nacho, the guy who works there was very helpful and nice. He recommended places and marked them all on a map for us. We set out and did lots of window shopping, got supper, stopped by the grocery store and returned to our hostel. Theodore spent the night hacking his head off, as the cold he was coming down with when we left Chile took up full residency. I feel so bad for the couple who were attempting to sleep in the room next door. We arose in the morning, and were greeted by a very nice woman who served the breakfast (toast and coffee) . Off for another day of shopping, equiped for the expected wet weather, we were happy to find Theodore in good spirits despite his unpleasant night. As the rain started to come down heavily and we were hungy we duct into Munich (a parrilla resturant). We all enjoyed some very good meat and being warm and dry. Since it was still raining and the shops do not open back up till 4 pm. We then slipped around the corner to a coffee shop called Havanna. The kids enjoyed the largest hot chocolate I have ever seen. Ken and I enjoyed a cafe latte negro ( coffee, cream, and small chunks of real chocolate. YUM~!!!! We hung out and enjoyed watching the effects of Virginia's sugar and chocolate induced euforia. This manifested itself as uncontrollable laughing. It was very cute and a bit concerning. We then did some more looking around. Went back to the hostel and spend a while talking with the owner and another guest. I really enjoyed hearing thier stories and sharing ours. We then went to buy the bus tickets for in the morning and go by the store to get food for supper. Back at the hostel, showers, supper, and packing. San Martin had good chocolate and excellent pastries. We medicated Theodore and got some sleep. Alarm went off at 4:30 am. We headed for the bus in the rain and dark. I was surprised at the amount of street lights. It was not far up the road before we encountered snow. We spent 40 minutes in Junin, i assume waiting on other passengers or the weather. I kept expecting someone to get on the bus and tell us we would have too take a diffent route due to the snow. After all, the Tromen pass is at 1207 meters and a gravel road which would certainly be covered with snow. This did not happen. We begin down the road at a slow cautious speed. As the sun came up God's beauty unfolded before my eyes. Seeing this untouched wilderness blanketed in a foot or more of snow was glorious. Had it not been for the occassional brief lose of traction the bus experienced and my overwhelming plotting on the best course of action to take in the event of an accident, i may have become completely entranced by the splender. I was truely amazed that we were actually driving this slippery route. We made it to the Argentinan border. I got some great pictures of the beauty around us. The snow here was more than a foot deep and still falling hard. Then onto the Chilean crossing. This took 3 times as long as getting into Argentina. The difference in the buracracy of these two countries is interesting. On down the gravel snow covered road. The winding past the lake (which you could not see due to the heavy snow falling) was a bit tense for me. I have a new respect for our driver. We arrived safely in Villarrica were my awesome brother was waiting to pick us up. Based on San Martin, I really like Argentina. Warm buildings make it move to the top of my SA countries of choice list.
After thought: Those of you who know of my great fear of bridges would be amazed by the wooden bridges I have crossed in these buses. Also, wood is slippery when wet and covered in snow.