Vacay Part 2!!! :)

Well, here is Part 2 of our vacation at the end of the program. So the basic rundown is that after Valparaiso we drove 11 hours south to Pucon...an outdoor HAVEN! We loved it! After taking a night bus we got in at 8am or so. Then in the afternoon we went white water rafting. That was super fun! We unfortunately don't have any pictures of it though. The next day, after white water rafting, we met at 7am to hike up Volcan Villarica...or the Villarica Volcano. Finally, on day three we rented bikes and went up into the hills. It was so beautiful. So...bring on the pics!

Here is a little shot of the city Pucon.

This is the looming Volcan Villarica! We were super excited to climb up this sucker!!! It was cool because when we first arrived there was a perfect view of the volcano. Usually you can't see it very well because of cloud coverage!
Here we are getting ready to go up! We were the "brave" (or stupid? haha) bunch who chose to climb from the bottom instead of using the ski lift that took you half up. The two guys in the picture are Swiss. They are biking from Ecuador to Patagonia. Basically, the were insanely fast and every time we stopped for a break I was barely breathing and chugging water. What did they do during the breaks? They lit up cigarettes! haha.

Jason's all prepared for the climb!!!

A peak at what's to come! :)

We made it!!!! Yay!!!

A picture of the volcano...well, the inside! It's rather active and apparently on clear days you can see the magma. We didn't. We DID though inhale a very unhealthy quantity of toxic fumes. haha. Our guide took us around the volcano and then stopped at a point that he declared as "the most dangerous part of the volcano". The fumes were so strong that I literally couldn't breath with out coughing. It was an experience though :)!


So, we hiked up in regular clothes and just the gators (sp?) because all the climbing made you hot. Once we got to the top though the wind was pretty cold so we put on all the gear! Here is Jason rockin' the blue and orange! We got to use icepicks! :) That was fun. We also had the option to use crampons but I felt ok not using them so never got around to putting them on...though it would have made me feel pretty hard core!

This picture is of us going around the top of the volcano...this is a couple of minutes before we breathe in all the toxic fumes! haha

And another one of us going around the top. There is no snow because the volcano is obviously hot at the top...being that it's active.

A picture from the top of Villarica of another neighboring volcano. There were tons in that area.

When we walked around the top we came to this edge! haha. Who wanted their snowboards?!? We did! That would have been rather fun!

Ok! So now for the best part! Once we went up the volcano, in order to get down we were given "butt-protectors" which we strapped on! You basically slide down the face of the volcano on your bum. You could get some serious speed! haha. So, here we are modeling our very fashionable apparel! :)

Very nice Jason! Me gusta!! :)

Ooooh! Who's hard core??? Jason is!!! hehe

And, here is the butt sliding in action. I think that this was someone else doing it. If you brought you knees into your chest and didn't use the icepick to slow yourself down you could fly down! haha. It was awesome!

This is before "take off"! :)

And now we are off the mountain and it's the next day. We decided that it would be a good idea to go on a 5 hour bike ride after hiking up the volcano. haha. We were a bit tired but it was a beautiful ride none the less!

We found a water fall on our ride that we were actually supposed to pay a fee to go see! We didn't. haha. oops!

I found a green pasture with sheep!!! I kind of wanted to run into the middle of it with my arms stretched out singing, "The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music". I didn't though. It was private property :)

On our ride we got see these beasts! hehe. Jason was embarassed that I took a picture! I thought they were cool though!!!

So, after our 3 days packed of exercising we rewarded ourselves with coffee and big slices of cake from a cafe. It was super good but a little much. We probably should have had a normal meal after that long bike ride buuuuuut...cake is just so good! Who can resist cake??? Not I!


And now.......welcome back to the USA! This is me in the Houston airport. I bought a Starbucks and I was using the internet on our iTouch. Hmmm. We felt that it was a perfect picture of our re-entry into the USA! Easily accessible internet on our technology and Starbucks! haha. Hey, I was a happy camper! :)

Wow! So, I think that just may be the last post on Chile! How sad! Oh wait! There's another one! No need for tears yet! :)