Washing feet in the kitchen sink.

..sounds gross I know. But, being in Pucon (the tenth geographical region) in Chile has been one of the most favorite parts of my trip here. We left really early in the morning for an hour flight to Temuco, then drove 1 hour to a town called Villarica. They also call this region the Araucanía, because it´s where the Mapuche indigenous tribe lived. Here we met up with our Mapuche tour guide.

We then drove up to his Mapuche village up a mountain, talked with a lady there, and then played this cool Mapuche game. It´s kinda like field hockey. Later on we hiked up this mountain that was literally completely uphill. I was dying, and realizing that me walking to the bus stop and around downtown Santiago is NOT exercise. We got to see an amazing water fall, and even walked behind it. The water was freezing, but after having disgusting dusty feet and being all sweaty, it was refreshing. Once we reached the top, the Mapuche ladies had prepared a great meal for us. It was sheep meat with potatoes and tomatoes and salad and everything. It wasn´t the most tasty thing I´ve had, but it was really honoring to know how much the ladies had put effort into preparing the meal.

Then, the guide offered to let us go rappelling. Here I thought it would be no big deal, I´m tough right? Then we see that we´re rappelling right next to the giant waterfall. I was scared to death, and was scared to death as I was going down. But we did it! Two girls got stuck in trees, but other than that it was pretty awesome. We hiked back down the mountain and ate dinner in Villarica, which consisted of cheese empanadas and these friend corn things that I love. Mom, you need to find a recipie for these cheese empanadas : )

We got back to the hotel and were in cabins of 6 girls. We all wanted to rush for the shower. However, hot water is a hot commodity down here. So, I sacrificed and showered the next morning. Well all of the sinks were taken up and my feet were GROSS. So...I did what my mom would not approve of and washed my feet in the kitchen sink. As I sat there I thought, what a good tired to be. We were in this beautiful places with mountains, lakes, hot springs, basically anything you could ever want.

The next day we visited a couple of beaches and these hot springs. It was really beautiful. Dr. Cass also brought all the girls red carnations with little bows on them because it was valentine´s day. Alex took me to breakfast, but we had a date the next night.

The next morning we decided to go canopying, but that only took half a day. So, the first part of the day we went bike riding through this beautiful trail around the city. There was the bluest water I have ever seen. Canopying was amazing, I felt like tarzan, because basically all you do is swing through the trees. We also decided to climb a volcano, the active volcano Villarica. This volcano had destroyed the town of Villarica back in the 60s so they had to rebuild it. Later that night alex and I went on a nice sushi date.

Saturday morning....6:45....about to hike for 10 hours. Not the most exciting thought I´ve woken up to. It ended up being one of the hardest but best things I´ve ever done. I was thinking that this hike wouldn´t be that hard...boy was I wrong. It was completely uphill...upmountain should I say. We hiked through volcanic rock, snow and ice. We had crampons, helmets, boots, pants, the whole nine yards. It was scary going up, but once we reached the top it was incredible. We couldn´t see any lava, but we saw smoke and whiffed in some toxic gas. But..the view from the top is amazing. God has created a beautiful world for us to enjoy. I am reminded of this everyday. I love pretty place....but the top of Villarica is one of the most incredible things I´ve seen. The way we got back down was cool too. They had these like snow slide things that we could just ride all the way back down. Kind of how penguins slide around on Happy Feet. I LOVED IT. Go check out Alex´s photos:

www.flickr.com/photos/chileanseabass

Until later, hope all is well! Chau!
Love,Bailey