Southern adventure...

We just got back from a pretty incredible trip south - after meeting Andrew at the airport in Santiago, we flew down to a city called Temuco where we rented a (thankfully huge) minivan and then drove to a town called Pucon. Pucon is right at the foot of a huge volcano and alongside an enormous lake:


There were a lot of great mountains right around Pucon. Here are a few pics from a hike we took the first day there (that's Meg tip-toeing across a pond in the first one):



On our second day we went along with a group to hike to the top of the volcano. We started at a ski lodge about a third of the way up, and we were all given some pretty hilarious gear - pick-axes, helmets, butt-protectors...


After about an hour we were up in the snow:


Here we are during a break (and here I am trying to sneakily get into a photo):


More hiking (pretty steep!)...


Terry and Kris nearing the top...


All of us up at the top (you can tell by the way that my shoulders and back are filling up that windbreaker that I took ample opportunity to carbo-load before the hike):


Once we were up there we had about 45 minutes where everyone could explore the rim of the volcano a little bit (I tried, unsuccessfully, to spend the time not being terrified of falling either into the volcano or down the side of the volcano):


Impossible not to think about the opening scene from Return of the Jedi with the monster that lives in the sand hole:


Here is a shot from one side of the rim looking at people standing on the other side (retrospectively, I can't believe that they let people walk along the icy rim of the volcano that you see in the picture. We definitely stuck to the rocky side...):


One of the best parts of the hike was that we got to sled down the volcano on our butts at the end! We used these little flat pieces of plastic to just slide down. Super, super awesome:


Meg and Claire at the bottom:


Here's a final shot of Pucon (from the lake)...


Our next stop was Puerto Varas, a few hundred kilometers further south. We spent our first full day here doing some zip-lining (our second opportunity in two days to look like huge nerds and wear goofy helmets).


Here are some pics from the zip-lines (Kris in the first one, crossing an enormous canyon - Meg in the second one, where you can see Vulcan Osorno in the background - and me in the third one, trying not to pee in my pants)...




After zip-lining we took a drive towards Osorno. We didn't climb all the way to the top, but here's a pic from about half-way up...


From Puerto Varas we drove to an island called Chiloe. Here we are ferrying the mini-van across a channel to the island:


We stayed in a town called Ancud (home of the biggest ever recorded earthquake - a 9.5 on the Richter scale in 1960!). From Ancud we took a boat out to see some penguins...



Sea otters were a definite bonus (the fact that they are called "chungungos" in spanish was another bonus):


From Chiloe we headed back north to Chillan, where we had another chance for a really great hike. Here's the whole family looking ridiculous on the top of a ridge that overlooks the town we stayed (Las Tranceras, about 80 km east of Chillan)...


Claire and Meg at the VERY top of the ridge...


... and then back to Santiago last night. A very, very awesome trip. We will be sad when we have to take Kris, Terry, and Andrew back to the airport tonight for their return to the States.

After much anticipation, here is the mullet that I have promised - this is a picture taken from the back of my head this morning:


Okay, just kidding. This is actually some dude that we saw in Ancud (the Frosted-Tip Mullet). I haven't gotten the Justin Mullet yet because research suggests that Argentina (and Buenos Aires in particular) is ground zero for south american mullets, and because we're headed there tomorrow morning I figured I would wait. If you're going to do something you might as well do it properly, right?

Happy holidays everyone!

The last week has been a great one because my family has been around - my sister flew in about a week and a half ago and my parents flew in on Christmas Day. Tomorrow we meet my brother at the airport in Santiago and then fly directly to Temuco. From there we rent a mini-van, and for about a week the six of us will drive around what is called the Lakes Region of Chile for a week. We're very excited, and we're hoping to have some pretty spectacular pictures for our next post. There should be some amazing hiking to be done and we are really excited.

We've spent the last few days exploring around Santiago. On Friday we drove to the coast and visited Valparaiso. One of the coolest things about Valparaiso is that there is some really intricate graffiti and murals. Lots to look at as you aimlessly wander.


Valpo is full of cool street art. Here's a particularly interesting piece:


Here we are in front of Pablo Neruda's Valpo house (beloved Chilean poet/politician/collector). Very cool house - built overlooking the harbor, and designed to be like a boat. He was of extremely eccentric tastes and his houses are amazing.


Here's my sis and mom hanging out with Neruda in a park after the visit:



On Saturday we got back in the car and checked out some vineyards about 60km west of Santiago. We toured an organic winery and it was very cool to learn about how they are able to keep the growing chemical-free (llamas were part of the process!). Amazing wine and amazing food. I guess the family knows how to deal with a generous wine tasting...



We spent today around Santiago - here we are with my dad, checking out the view from San Cristobal (the hill that has the huge statue of Mary on top).


We miss everyone back at home, especially now that it's the holidays! It was great getting to check in via skype with Justin's fam over Christmas, and we're looking forward to seeing more of our nephew Jacob's army-crawl! We'll be traveling for much of the next month and a half but we'll blog when we can!

Chillin' in Chillan

Hola amigos!

Last weekend we headed south to Chillan with our friends Ian and Lissa. We couldn't make the whole 400 km on Friday night, so we stopped and camped along the way. The site was right along a river, so one of the first things we did while it was still light out was take a quick swim. Because it's Chile, there was a dog hanging out at the site that followed us around (even into the water):


The campsite had a cat too, and Claire was pretty delighted at its moustache (the complete opposite reaction, in fact, that she had to my Top Gun moustache in October):


We found marshmallows at a store a couple of months ago and were excited to roast them around the campfire, but it is HOT here these days and by the time we pulled the bag out of the car it had become one giant marshmallow. We were undeterred.


We also made the most out of the campfire by using a long-exposure to write a message in fire to everyone at home...


On Saturday morning we made it to Chillan, a city about 6 hours south of Santiago and surrounded by a chain of volcanoes. We stayed further into the mountains, but on Saturday we stopped in Chillan to check out their market. Lots of stuff (fruits, vegetables, alpaca sweaters, zubaz/hippie pants that tons of people wear around here, and a muppets "Animal and the Electric Mayhem Band" t-shirt that fits Claire perfectly).


The Plaza de Armas in Chillan also has what I'm pretty sure is a statue to fist-pounding (which, by the looks of this guy's hat and sideburns, people have been doing here for a couple of hundred years):


We stayed at what ended up to be a pretty great hostel in the mountains. Here's the view we had from our bedroom:


The landscape was really incredible - the town was in a valley that looked like it had been carved out by a glacier, and on both sides there were volcanoes with very visible lava flows. On Saturday we hiked a mountain one side of the valley. In the background you can see the mountain range that we hiked the next day.


When we got back to the hostel we took advantage of their pool (and wood-powered hot tub!). The days are getting long here in Santiago, and they were even longer in Chillan. It's probably around 8:45pm in this picture, and you can see how bright out it still is.


Sunday morning we got up and headed to the other side of the valley for another hike. This one took us right along a lava flow from about thirty years ago. It was like being on another planet or something - everything was black lava rock, and there weren't any plants anywhere near us.


The lava rock was incredibly porous and so even big rocks were really light (the one below is probably only about 2,000 pounds).


Eventually we parked the car and hiked the rest of the way.


The flow stopped really abruptly right at an old, abandoned ski lodge.


There was another family hiking around the lodge and the son was particularly proud of a catch he had just made:


We started up a climb that ended up being about 1,500 meters in elevation gain. Chileans don't seem to be big fans of switchbacks on paths, so a lot of the climb was pretty steep.


Lots of really great views along the way up:


A pretty cool lagoon at the top of the mountain:


Finally, to the very top...


Right near the peak we found a really weird-looking grasshopper/scorpion/thing that probably only a biology nerd would find cool (I thought it was awesome):


The way back down:


We had Monday off for a Catholic holiday, and so we had time to investigate some waterfalls we had spotted on Saturday's hike. Here they are:


Then... back to work on Tuesday.

You'll notice that I am NOT including a mullet shot in this blog installment. This was done intentionally to build up anticipation for the next mullet. It will possibly be the best one yet: the mullet I will have after school gets out this Friday.

I hope everyone is doing well.

Happy Holidays!