Viviendo!

Ok, so I'm pretty bad at keeping this up to date, but I'm going to try to get this to be once a week. Uniweekly? Semi biweekly? twice a fortnight? Something like that. Every Wednesday is the plan. I know, I know, its thursday.

Past adventures: Went to Pucon! Pucon is a small town a ten to twelve hour drive by bus south of Vina. Its a volcanic town, right next to a partially active volcano. For a steep price, that I paid, you and group of people get a guide and a bunch of gear and a chance to hike up the volcano. I say chance because we couldn't make it the whole way up. We were about half way there, trudging up through ash and rocks when the mountain started shaking like crazy, spewing lava all over the place! And then- aliens.

Ok, entirely made up. But we did have to turn around while climbing the volcano because of bad weather. It was really windy. Like very. We had to take tiny steps to maintain balance. Too much time on one foot meant falling over. Or something close to that. It was fun. I have some pictures, but I need to figure out a way to get them on both picasa and facebook at the same time instead of having to create captions for both. (Plea for Matt's help. If you read this) Some great views though. Unfortunately we still had to pay full price for the trek even though we didn't make it all the way up the mountain. Live and learn.

Next! Went to a bunch of waterfalls and hot springs. Some really cool places, tough to capture on camera, but I have pictures all the same. Also, white water rafting! Yes mom, they have helmets and lifevests down here. And electricty. Haha, it was really fun though, a bit more intense than maine in that it was less rapidy and more waterfally. Pretty intense. I did not fall out of said boat, of course.

And now, I am in Vina for the week, making up for the past over budget week with an underbudget one. Plans for the weekend: Fiesta with my family and gringo friends, fire on a spot overlooking the city and ocean. Sunset on dunes by the ocean? Salsa dancing? Ok, I'm not going to write about things until they happen.

Learnin spanish quite a bit. Observe: Estoy aprender espanol. Impressive, I know. But really, I have learned a good deal, and can actually talk pretty well right now, though understanding what chileans are saying is another story. But hey, one step at a time.

Ok, I think the sun just came out, so I'm going to the beach. Chao!

-Brian

Favorite spanish phrase of the week: "Puedo dormir cuando soy muerto."