Pucon

We left Los Quenes by the local bus. There were 33 people on a bus that seated 19 and we got there too late to get any seats. A nice girl gave up her seat to Toby and Cassidy. Toby promptly fell asleep despite the heat and bumpy dirt roads. So Cass and I sat on our luggage in the aisle and Dave stood, for an hour! We took a beautiful, modern train down to Chillan. We had a great ride through the Central valley. It looks a lot like Californias Central Valley lots of agriculture and really hot and dry. We got a bit sandbagged on a sleazy hospedaje but were rescued by the taxi driver who knew a better place. Our first real night "on the road"- a hostel room with 4 beds. A bit noisy but clean and safe. A wild goose chase to find bus tickets, a place to change money, and a functioning ATM. Chillan is a busy valley city- hot but reasonable. There was a really nice central park with artesanias and a place to rent little pedal cars. The kids zoomed all over I dont know how they avoided collision. The next morning we had a great adventure in the central market. There were fruit, vegetable, nut, spice, artisan, trinkets, and useless plastic crap from China. The kids had agreat time checking out everything. We found beautiful alpaca sweaters for reasonable prices dangerous. Then we survived a 6 hour bus ride to Pucon. The buses are amazingly comfortable but we were seated to close to the bathroom for comfort "huele mal" Now we are in the Lakes District of Chile at a supercomfy hostel "Donde German". A toasty day at the beach, it is beautiful, a bit like Tahoe with a live volcano in the background. We rented sea kayaks and paddled around. It is definitely tourist season but still reasonable. Perhaps it is because there are fewer cars but it felt nothing like Hampton Beach. We have adjusted to Chilean time, dinner last night at 8;30, kids in bed by 10. We are still early for Chile but a long way from our US schedule. So far so good, some of you will be happy to know that the mullet has made a strong comeback here. It is genuinely fashionable with the dinner at 1130, cigarettes and dancing til dawn set. I have seen several mullet dreadlock combos. We hope that the travel gods continue to smile on us.