Hey everybody!

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while, I've been pretty busy! But that also means I have plenty to talk about now!

Since my last post, I have been travelling quite a bit. Last weekend five friends and I headed down to a little town called Pucon. It's about 10 hours south of Santiago by bus, and it's a little mountain town that is a fairly common vacation spot around here. It's a beautiful town though, with quite a bit to offer. In fact, it looks very much like Steamboat, very quaint and quiet, with tons of spirit. The people there were just so much more relaxed and friendly, we never wanted to leave. Here they have a phrase, "onda", which refers to the vibe or feeling of a particular place or setting. Compared to Santiago, the onda of Pucon was so much more liberated and tranquil.

The first night we were there we had a BBQ with a class of students who were having a seminar on avalanche safety at our hostel. It was fantastic! Every social gathering here surrounds food, and for that reason, the food is amazing. They just cook huge slabs of meat, cut it up, and pass the plate around while everyone eats the little bits and pieces until everyone is incredibly full. It's incredible and the meat here is to die for.

The second day we went to these waterfalls that were fairly close by, and hiked all around the falls, which was fairly incredible. They can be seen here!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tessoconnor/9552187073/

After that we took the bus further down the road to some hot springs which were incredibly beautiful and very relaxing. We returned to our hostel, had a wonderful dinner and went to sleep in our cozy cabin for six.

The next day we went to a national park called Huerqueque, where we hiked about ten miles or so. We climbed up and some lakes and waterfalls which were immaculate, but why tell you when I can show you?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhKvNhBRoyA&feature=youtu.be
This is a wonderful little video my very talented friend Tess made to document the journey.