Pucon y Valdivia

Anna, Melanie and I set out for Pucon on a midnight bus last Wednesday night and early Thursday morning we arrived. After a lovely breakfast at a hostel co-op, we found our own hostel. We checked in, rested and headed to the nearby black sand beach! We grabbed a beer and found a spot for ourselves away from the few people there. The black sand comes from the lava of the Volcan Villarica, which is stunningly visible from the beach.

We made black sand castles, and barely dipped our toes in the freezing water.

From there, we ate some mariscos (seafood), relaxed and decided to rent bikes to explore. We followed a route that took us down an old country road lined with dense green trees, a river, and the beautiful sunset in front of us. We then road our bikes through town, looking at all the restaurants and cervecerias along the way. It was a great way to see the town. We made dinner, drank wine and relaxed in our hostel before another bus ride to Valdivia.


The first thing we did in Valdivia was eat. We picked a restaurant and it happened to be one of our favorites in Chile yet. We ate delicious mariscos for reasonable prices and enjoyed people watching. I could already tell Valdivia was my kind of place. We then found our hostel, which turned out to be great. We were greeted with a friendly face and an invitation to drink beer with friends later that night. We also learned that the next night happened to be the Festival of Valdivia. We came at the right time.

Our next great find was the suggested Jardin Botanico (Botanical Gardens). Turns out, it was more of a botanical forest and marsh wonderland in the middle of a University campus. (And I thought my campus was pretty...)

After connecting with nature, we connected with some Valdivians in our hostel.

The next day brought more adventures including museums (which I will dedicate another whole post to), a trip to Niebla for their famous food, and the Valdivian Festival. The festival was packed of people watching decorated boats (quite literally "floats") on the river. Confetti was everywhere and there were lines of vendors. To me, it seemed like a life size version of those games you find in restaurants where you send a claw down and it picks up a prize for you (sometimes). We enjoyed the sights, then went to bed to wake up in time for our early bus ride home. On the way to the bus at 8 in the morning, we encountered at least 3 stumbling drunks still yelling about the night before.

I arrived in Santiago in time to wish my host sister a feliz cumpleanos and hang out with her friends. I must say, it was almost impossible to understand them but it was interesting for me to take in.

The trip was a huge success. The sights seemed quite surreal at times, but I did my best to soak it all in. See the rest of the photos here.

Aprendiendo mucho,
Lauren Adele