Blackberries

While we were in Southern Chile, especially Pucón, there was an abundance of Blackberries ready to be picked pretty much anywhere you went. This is me picking and enjoying the blackberries after our rafting trip.

Cave

Our first day in Pucón we visited a cave that was formed by the volcano. We learned that the volcano, known as the Villarica Volcano, is the second most active in South America. The last activity was in 1998 and it erupted in the early 70's. We saw a diagram of what towns and areas would be affected if it erupted again. The most active volcano in South America is in San Pedro de Atacama. We'll be flying there tomorrow.

Here we are all waiting at the base of the volcano to go on a tour of the cave. From left to right: Sylvia, Jorge Jr., Sita, Jorge Sr., and Hari.
This is a view of the surroundings before we entered the cave. You can see volcanic rock covering most of the ground.
This is the opening of the cave.
As we walked down into the cave I was reminded of Carlsbad Caverns. The drop in temperature as you enter is very stark. I was the only one under-dressed and far too under-dressed at that. Our first day in Pucón was cloudy throughout, this ensured that it was jacket weather outside the cave, but once we were inside it must have been less than 50 deegrees F and I was in shorts and a t-shirt.
A view of the entrance from inside the cave.
Just a few dozen feet into the cave you see the last natural light for the rest of the tour. I thought this was a pretty cool natural "sky light".
Sita urging me to go deeper into the cave. I guess I was going to slow taking all of the photos.
A neat viw of the ceiling of the cave.
The whole tour was guided by lights near the ground except for when there were some interesting sights above which would then have lights focused on them. Because of the non-uniform nature of the cave bottom there were many wooden bridges, steps and walkways throughout. At the very end of the tour the tour guide asked us to turn our cameras and cell phones off and ensure we were on solid footing. He then turned the lights off and asked us to remain as silent as possible. It's not often that we can experience such darkness. This darkness combined with the silence (which, despite kids being present on the tour, was amazingly quiet) was for me actually the best part of the tour. It's the surprising/unexpected experiences that make great vacations. Without that I certainly wouldn't have thought the tour was worth the 10,000 pesos we paid per person (By the way, 10k pesos is a little less than $20).


The tour guide asked the kids if they liked chocolate and they excitedly responded "si", he then pointed them at the following cave wall which he proclaimed to be similar in color and texture to chocolate.

Views of the Volcano and Sunset

From our cabin I took pictures of the volcano and sunset almost everyday, here they all are arranged in an artistic manner.

This was the best picture I got showing the smoke. Most of the time the smoke wasn't going straight up and it was barely visible in the photos taken during the day.
Our second day in Pucón was really cloudy and actually a bit cold you couldn't even see the volcano at times but when you could I took pictures off it.

The sunset we were blessed with after our long drive there on our first night.
The sun would set into this little nitch and make nice colors every night. These pictures may seem like they were taken at the same time, but they were taken through out the week.


Sometimes the colors appeared in layers.



I decided to take pictures of the volcano at sunset on the first night because I thought it was easier to see the smoke under those conditions, I had no idea I would end up with such a nice array of pics of the volcano.

Cabin

We stayed in a placed called Mirador los Volcanes which means viewpoint of the volcanoes while we were in the south of Chile.

Here Sita is standing on the deck in front of the cabin that we stayed in.

Sylvia, Sita and Jorge on the deck with some other cabins in the background.
A side view of the cabin with Jorge Jr. on the deck.The cabin was almost all wood, the outside and inside walls, the ceilings and the floor.



Although you can see 3 volcanoes from this place the other two are a real strain to find in comparison to this one, which I'm (Hari) standing in front of.
The first thing we did after arriving was "tomar once" this means to take 11. It's a bit like "taking 5" (a break) only with food and a different origin. Eleven comes from the fact that there are 11 letters in the word "aguardiente", this is a term for alchohol. People used to use this as a code to signify it was time to drink alchohol, but now it usually does not involve alchohol. It usually involves tea with bread and other snacks. In this case we were eating bread with avocado, cheese, tomatoes, along with a Chilean/German delicacy known as kuchen (pronounced coo-hen). "Once" (pronounced "ohn-seh") is a very Chilean thing.
Jorge Sr. looking at the view.
There was wildlife all over the place including these strange birds with long beaks that would make sounds kind of like a duck.

There were also chickens and more prominently turkeys that roamed the place.
The owners also had their sheep grazing amongst the cabins.

Here's Sylvia posing with the sheep.
This was the view from our bedroom window. I was leaning back with my toes in the window. I think it's obligatory to say "wish you were here".