Pucóning Around

One of the best parts of going abroad with Rotary is the connections. I have a whole bucket of people to stay with, and apoyarme, now. Scattered throughout the world. Yeah. I have my host family and all my host relations, my chilean friends, my exchange student friends, the rotarians in my club and then innumerable other rotarians and exchange students who are gladly willing and prepared to let me stay in their houses, feed me and take me places. 

This weekend, we (as in me and Laura) stayed with the families of two of the guys (chileans) that are from Pucón and are going to Denmark next year. They were really nice and I had a blast. 

On Friday, the mom of the 1st family we stayed with made really yummy pizza and then the guys we were staying with and one of their friends took us around down town Pucón, which is quite lovely at night, and we just hung out. 

Then, on Friday the 1st family took us to the volcano Villarica (you know, the one that exploded last year). They said that usually by this point in the winter it's covered in snow and you can go skiing. But this year it's not. Gracias Global Warming! :( 

Anyway, afterwards we went to a restaurant in downtown Pucón and ate a giant chorrillana. mmmmm. They're like nachos, ok not really. But it was a pile of fries, covered in grilled veggies, meat, chicken, hot dog, spices, and oooo, the best part, three fried eggs that gooed all over everything. oooooo. yummm. 

Then, we walked around Pucón some more. It's bizarre after living in Temuco for a year. We walked in a complete circle around the city in like two hours. & that was slowly. 

In the evening, we changed to the other house, watched Dead Pool, and hung out.

On Sunday morning, the second family made us waffles with blueberries/homemade ice cream/syrup. I haven't eaten that since I left, and it was awesomely delicious. We also talked to them about our lives in the US and Denmark, and about ser intercambio. I honestly love sharing my experiences and opening up peoples minds to the world. If I can prevent one person from going back to their country in their exchange year, or make one person want to go to the US, even just to visit, my job is complete. :)

In the afternoon they took us to one of the like, 30? hot springs in Pucón. They told us that most of them are pretty industrialized, like a pool, and they have restaurants and such. But this one that we went to is still very natural. Which makes it even lovelier. <3 :) 

I had such a blast, but I'm feeling very bitter-sweet at the moment. Besides being very "tired" from my long weekend, I feel rather sad. I had so much fun with the people we stayed with, but there is a rather high possibility that I will never see any of them again once I leave for the states. Which is why these blog posts are so important. To remember the good times forever.