The fun started in Pucon, a town set on Villarica Lake and looked over by Villarica Volcano. Bex excitedly reunited with an old friend and travel buddy, Lizzie, who'd come from California with her brother Nick to enjoy Chile with us for two weeks. The four of us stayed with Lalo Bravo, the funny owner of our hostel BravoPucon, a big 'ol house on a quiet property surrounded by mountains. We woke up to the calls of roosters and sheep, played cards in the cozy loft upstairs, and had Lalo plan some exciting excursions for us.

After watching a thunderstorm soak the town, we woke up to find a raging river waiting for us. The white water rafting on the Trancura River was the most difficult and exciting we've ever done, going over several falls and using crazy maneuvers to get through the level 4-5 rapids. The rafting company treated us to Pisco Sour cocktails at the end, then we treated ourselves with an evening trip to sit in natural hot springs. The Termas Pozones rock pools were 45 minutes drive into the mountains, and after a peaceful soak, we stargazed out the window on the taxi ride home. The next day would be even more exciting... We planned to climb Villarica Volcano, the active Volcano that we'd been looking up at for days, but we had no idea how great the challenges and rewards of the climb would be. After trekking up the lower lava rocks for an hour, we continued up the snow and ice slopes for another three hours, with crampons on our boots and ice picks in hand. The slopes were steep and icy and the elevation was just high enough to give Bex a bit of altitude sick dizziness, but what we saw at the summit made it all worth it. Grey smoke plumes and red lava sprayed noisily out of the active crater and lakes; mountains, snow and glaciers were on display below us. And if that wasn't a good enough reward, we then got to slide all the way down the snowy slopes on our bums! We celebrated the day with a second trip to La Cocina de la Abuela, our favorite restaurant in Pucon, where Victor Jr. served us his mother's mouth-watering Chilean dishes and Victor Sr. chatted with us like old friends. It was some of the best food we've had in Chile.

Through a bit of spontaneous bus hopping, we made our way to Pichilemu, a chilled out surfers town in the north part of the Lake District. Lizzie and Bex walked around the sleepy town and on the black beaches while Brad and Nick took advantage of the huge surf. They borrowed wetsuits, surf and body boards from Nacho and his cool staff at Lobos del Pacifico surf school and rental shop, then had a blast surfing 5-8 foot left handers by themselves. Six kilometers down the coast, Punta de Lobos surf point captivated us with its cactus covered cliffs overlooking even bigger waves.

Heading further up the coast, we settled into Valparaiso, an old town of colorful houses spilling down the hills to the bay. No two houses are alike; some grandly showing a Victorian English influence, others not much more than shacks; but all full of color and personality. We rode several of the 'ascensores', or metal box elevators on 45 degree angle tracks which take you up and down the towns many hills, and stayed near the top of Ascensor Artillera, where we had sweeping views of the city from Hospedaje Margarita. Margarita and her husband Tomas doted on us like caring grandparents while we stayed in their two story home full of Tomas's inspiring paintings. From there, we easily explored the markets and city and rode the bus just 20 minutes to Vina del Mar, Valparaiso's more modern and manicured neighbor, where we joined bronzed holidaymakers at the beach for the afternoon.

Traveler's Tips:
**Throughout most of Chile, you can drink tap water, which is clean and tasty. If in doubt, ask the locals.

**When traveling with three or four people, it's often cheaper to take taxis than buses. Compare prices. You can also ask for group bargains for your accommodation.

**Chile has surf!! There are good, consistent big waves to be found at Pichilemu, Pichidangu and La Serena. The water is fairly cold, though, even in summer, so bring or rent a thick rubber.