Valdivia contin.

Saturday
We left our hostel Saturday morning around 9:30am, after a little issue of how are we going to pay because they don't have change for each of us to break 10 luca, while anyways, Lindsey and I had one more night in Valdivia so we decided to go to the hostel Torreón. I originally wanted to stay here because the owner had a Great dane (i cant remember the type of dog), but i wanted to see it. It turns out that the dog passes away a little less than a year ago.. it was sad to hear because the owner really loved her dog.

When we first got there it seemed like a pretty weird place, the owner just seemed pretty strange. Turns out they were really nice, and even let us use the kitchen to make our own breakfast the next day! After we were alll settled in, i mean just throwing our things in our room, we left to go and try to find a bus to Punta Curinanca. It was an interesting ride out there, the roads kept getting narrower and narrower as we moved away from Valdivia and Niebla until suddenly it was just a gravel road.. I was starting to wonder what  I had gotten myself into.  Oh and it started to rain as we got out of the car.. and i had forgotten my poncho back at the hostel.. and no one else had anything either.

About an hour later we arrived that the park only to find out we needed to get someone to unlock it. It was a mil each to get inside. It was supposed to take about and hour or hour and a half to walk the trail, it was a circle with different look out points of the surrounding area. So we started walking, taking pics, and getting wet. The rain wasn't too bad because of the trees, but it started to get heavier.

 We continued walking and walking, The forest was sooo beautiful that I could only try to capture it on camera. My pics def dont do it justice. So we continued walking, and walking, and then we someone lost the path... yes, we got lost on a trail that was supposed to be a circle, and it was still raining.. So we tried to go back the way we came, we we couldn't. We cam upon a fence that had barbed wire only on the top, and a hole big enough for all of us to climb through.

So, after climbing through the fence we walked some more, now being completely soaked without any cover from the trees. We passes a couple of cows, and realized we were on someones property... We walked a little faster just to get out, so we wouldn't get in trouble. We ran into a gravel road and started to follow that to town. We eventually found our way, and ran into the guy who let us into the park. He took us to a little grocery store type thing we the owner made us some coffee. While we were sitting there Jessica had pulled a leech off of her. It wasn't big or anything, but it was a little creepy. And we had no idea where it came from.

We caught the bus heading back to Niebla, so we could try and find a place to eat lunch. We found this random place with seafood and what not. I ended up getting a something al pobre,.. it had meat with fries and an egg sunny side up on top. I loved it.. not as good as churriano,(spelling maybe wrong) but it was good. Oh, and during the meal i had this itch near my ankle, turns out i had a leech on me too. It was the creepiest thing ever. so I yanked if off, and the waiter came and killed it. I felt like I had 10,000 leeches on me after that. But no more were seen.

After a lunch we headed back to Valdivia for the night. When we got back, Jessica and Freya grabbed their things, and we went to a little cafe thing to have pastel. That just means dessert. We were there for a while, just trying to burn time while Jessica and Freya were waiting for their bus. We then ended up going to this Pizza place.. i think it was called Golf something, but it was a golf themed typed restaurant. the Pizza was sooo gooood.. some of the best in Chile.

And then it was time for Jessica and Freya to leave. Lindsey and I headed back to hostel. I was exhausted and fell asleep as soon as my head it the pillow.

Sunday

Today was our last day in Valdivia. We took our time getting ready and eating breakfast. Lindsey took a run and I was just lazy and slept some more. We made ourselves breakfast in the Kitchen and put our things in the office so we didnt have to carry them around all day. We then left the hostel, and grabbed a bus to Niebla. We didn't have time to make it out to see Castillo Corral, but went to a different place that people kept calling el Fuente.. I don't know if thats the actual name or not, but it was still pretty cool to see. It wasn't complete like Coral, but it still had amazing views of the Pacific Ocean and the surrounding area.

cannons we couldnt go down there b/c there have been too many tourists and its getting destroyed.

We then went to this little place were they had all different stands selling food. I had a Crab something... it was a crab mixture with cheese. The lady wouldn't tell us what was in it, it was a secret recipe. We spent a while there eating and watching people dance the Cueca, a traditional Chilean dance.

We then headed back to Valdivia, spent a lot of time watching the sea lions one last time and then grabbed our stuff and headed out. We hailed a cab, and I witnessed the worst dog fight in my life. It was horrible there was this little dog and this big dog and the big on almost killed the little one! but a taxi driver mad a loud noise and distracted the big dog, and the little one took off running.


All in all it was a good weekend. Some ups and downs, but more ups than downs compared to la Serena. I'm never going to have a perfect trip, and something will probably not happen the way that its planed.. but oh well that's what makes trips interesting...

Next weekend I'm going to Mendoza, Argentina with the CAUC group from school. I'm excited, I've always wanted to go to Argentina!

Chau for now!
Leslie

trying to capture the beauty of Punta Curinanca.