Hey all so just in case anyone was left out of the loop Stacy (me) made it safely back to the good 'ol USA on Jan. 11th. Praise the Lord! I had a great time sharing this experience with Thomas and thank the Lord for the amazingly great travel we had as well as the time to connect.
Ok so Tom and I have split the responsibility of catching you all up on the final leg of our grand adventure. I will now cover January 5-7th and leave the 8th-10th for Tom. Enjoy!
January 5th,
Ahh our final day in Pucon, Chile :(. I think this was my favorite place on the trip. The overall living space, town, and attractions really appeal to my taste.
Ok so today Tom and I got up early packed up our stuff and headed into town. We went straight for one of the many tour agencies to book our spot on a trail ride with the Hurst Family. Thankfully there were still spots available. We took off for the trail ride at around 10:30 joined by Greg Hurst and two of his girls Kayla and Hannah. His wife Faith and youngest daughter were unable to join in due to an injury.
Our guide was a native indian to the area and was able to inform Greg of many customs of their people and ways of the land, which Greg thankfully translated for me :). Our ride was filled with various adventures. First, soon after we headed out Tom was experiencing problems with his horse. My best guess is that a shoe was bad cause he kept catching one of his back hooves before setting it down. We patiently waited while our guide rode back to get another horse. As we began up the mountainside trail we soon realized that all the rain from the night before combined with the steep incline of the mountainside would make for slow progress. It is safe to say we all were more than a bit nervous in some areas as our horses would sometimes stumble and have to catch themselves to stay on the trail.
We stuck with it and enjoyed a beautiful view of the lake bordering Pucon and nearby Villarrica, as well as the surrounding hills and mountains. We took some time for the horses to rest and to shake our legs out a bit. All of the girls agreed that we would not be comfortable going down the trail on the horses and decided to walk, as did Greg. After the guide proceeded to tell us that no one had ever made that decision before, Tom decided to ride down "Man from Snowy River style" as he would say. In the end we all made it down one way or another and enjoyed some time running our horses in a nearby pasture.
On the final leg of the trip back Tom's horse was getting a bit antsy to get home, as were all the horses. However, Tom wanted his horse to walk not trot anymore as the trot was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. Sad thing for Tom is that his horse did not care what he wanted and continually broke out into a trot all the way home (hehe).
When we returned to town we stopped at a souvenier market and I was finally able to find some small gifts to bring back for a decent price! We headed back to the Hurst's beautiful cabin they had rented for their vacation and enjoyed some time of relaxation. On the property was a clay tennis court that Tom and I decided to make some use of. We discovered we are both equally untalented in the sport of tennis, but were still able to enjoy our time. After supper we joined in for another game with Hannah and Greg. Lots of fun!
Jan. 5th into the 6th
At 10pm on the 5th Greg dropped us off at the Villarrica bus station for our trip to Santiago. I was starting to have a bit of a sinus problem so I tried to stock up on toilet paper before we took off. The bus ride went through the night and we arrived in Santiago at about 7am? the next morning. If you take a similar trip I suggest getting the comfortable bus, rather than the typical coach bus seat...not so comfortable for sleeping.
In Santiago we arrived at the subway station during peak rush hour YAY! We endured a short yet tightly packed ride on the subway from our bus station to our hostel's district area. At the hostel we were told our room/beds were not ready until 1pm so for the next two hours we stored our luggage in a safe place and did our best to occupy our time.
When we were able to get in our room both of us were tired enough to sleep for about 5 hours so in order to accomplish two things at once we put on our suits and headed outside to the hostel's pool. (I specifically booked this hostel for that reason) I managed to fall asleep on my stomach and stayed that way a little too long effectively burning the backside of my legs. That night Tom and I enjoyed some delicious steak at a nearby restaurant and headed to bed early.
Jan. 7th BEACH DAY!!!
Today Tom and I headed back the the bus station to get a ride to Vine del Mar, which is about a 2 hour ride from Santiago. We found a bus easily enough and were soon on our way. Upon our arrival we decided to walk to the beach in order to save on some money. The walk took about a half-hour putting our arrival at around 2pm in the afternoon. Needless to say we were both quite hungry. I was excited to see a Pizza Hut nearby and glad when Tom happily agreed to eat there. I don't think Pizza Hut has ever tasted so good. After pigging out to our stomach's content we headed down to the water.
We spent three wonderful hours enjoying the Pacific Ocean. However, almost all that time was spent on the sand as the water was quite cold. I would compare it to stepping into an ice bath. We were entertained for awhile by a stray dog enjoying playing in the waves and racing up and down the beach. I again effectively burned myself, however this time it was my front side so I evened things out a bit.
We headed back to Santiago and again packed our things up to prepare for our early flight to Arrica in the morning.
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