After the adventures of our first day with the car (last Monday), we were able to find a nice campground . We were all struck with how much it reminded us of camping in the United States. In fact, throughout our drive to Puerto Montt, southern Chile has reminded me of Alabama, the Californian central valley, Colorado, and even the Midwest. Anywho, after our first night camping we made the 4 hour drive to Conguillio National Park. After some shoddy directions from a tourist information lady who’s English was even worse than our Spanish, and an ensuing 40 minute drive in the wrong direction, we made our way to the park. After a number of kilometers ( a fake unit of measurement made for Communist propaganda) of traveling on a rough gravel road, we made it to the park. They decided to charge us roughly $40 just to enter. When we got to the camping section they decided to charge us another $40. We hoped this trend would not continue. Though expensive, the view of Lago Conguillio and the surrounding mountains actually made us forget the price we paid. On top of that, the stars that we witnessed in the night sky were numerous as I could ever recall.
The next day, Wednesday the 16th, we took a hike up the mountain side to get a view of the lake, mountains, and volcanoes of the park. As we started the hike I was struck with the beauty of the Araucaria trees. They are shaped like a palm tree but are actually pine trees. The moss tangled among the trees gave the forest an almost prehistoric feeling. Finally at the top of our hike, we had an incredible view of the surrounding countryside. Down one side there was a ravine filled with pine trees. Down the other side we had a view of the deep blue lake and the incredible mountains. Just look at the pictures; it’s a bit too much to explain. Like my friend Tim Yutzy said when describing Yosemite, “It’s like the world is analog television and there it’s HD.” That’s the feeling I got. The only problem with the hike is that mutant killer flies that the Chilean government had created in case of a world war had escaped from their laboratory and now try valiantly to feast upon unfortunate hikers. We descended to the lake and took a freezing cold swim. We left the park in the afternoon and decided to head out for a lake that I had found on a map. Our plan was to find a free place to hike in around the lake. Of course when we got there we found out it was going to cost us about $32 to line our tents up beside a bunch of other families. We decided to turn back and find a field our pasture to pitch our tents. After him hawing around about where to go, we found a farm house and decided to ask if we could pitch our tents in his field. Not only did Jesus (both the farmer and the son of God) let us camp in his pasture, he also let us use his water and build a fire. It was an amazing blessing.
Thursday we headed south for Puerto Montt. I needed to bus back to Santiago to get the final papers for our car and the guys were going to start staying on an island in Puerto Montt with the missionary contacts we had made. More will be explained of this in another entry. We drove south and the GPS took us to a bus station in Puerto Varas which is about 22 “kilometers” from Puerto Montt. I was able to buy a round trip ticket and we decided to explore the town. We found it had an incredible amount of German influence and there was even a German festival in the center of the town. We gorged ourselves on the sausage and fries and realized that our stomachs had really shrunk in the last few days. After admiring the lake and the view of Volcan Osorno, the guys headed out and caught my bus back to Santiago.
Early in the morning I arrived in Santiago and caught the subway to the apartment complex Hans and I had stayed in for several days. I knocked on Jose Manuel’s (the 75 year old man we bought the car from) and his wife answered the door. My heart stopped for a second when I thought she told me he wasn’t back yet. Thankfully what she meant was that he was still sleeping. They offered me breakfast and then we were on our way to his lawyer friend who was doing the paperwork for us. Though struggling with my Spanish, I had a good time explaining what our adventure was. We got all the paperwork figured out and I headed back to Jose Manuel’s to get my stuff. Of course they offered me lunch. This consisted of an appetizer of queso fresco, peppers, empanadas, and bread. The main course was bean soup, tomatoes, onions, and a desert of peaches. Their hospitality was really wonderful. I went back to the bus station and caught my bus back. Before hand I had the amazing idea to buy carbonated water and zuko (kinda like cool aid but way better) and make an amazing drink. I did not realize, however, that this causes the carbonated water to fizz all over your legs and the seat. Also, I didn’t realize that some buses have water come dripping out of their air conditioning that’s right above your head. I did make it to Puerto Montt eventually and got a taxi to take me to the guys. I was really thankful that was my last bus ride for a long time.
No comments:
Post a Comment