Southern Chile

Life in Chile has been really easy. It is nothing like traveling in Peru. The food is delicious, most water is potable, and you can even flush your toilet paper in some cities. We spent about a week and half in Northern Chile in Arica and National Park Lauca. We decided to take a 31 hour bus ride from Arica to Santiago because there was not much that we were interested in see in between. We loved Santiago it is a wonderful city everyone is nice and very helpful. The metro is clean and safe and walking around you wouldn´t know if you were in DC or Santiago everyone smokes cigarettes. Since leaving Santiago we took a 4 hour train to Talca, because that is as far as the train goes due to the earthquake that did some damage to the tracks about 6 months back. We did not stay in Talca, there is not much there, we then took a bus for two hours to Chillán. Which is the birth place of Bernardo O´Higgins the Hero of Chile.
We walked around Chillán, looked at the tile mosaic that depicts O´Higgins life and wanted to see murals that were donated by the Mexican government in 1923 after an earthquake, but due to the recent earthquake 6 months ago, the murals were being fixed and the upstairs of the building was closed. We were only able to see 2 paints they were very large and the one that was crumbling was gorgeous a large man, a compus and a rainbow with something else that I can´t remember. We ate at an amazing vegetarian buffet called Arcoiris which means rainbow in Spanish. Our first hostel in Chillán was absolutely terrible, it smelled of cigarettes, was really dirty and was freezing cold, plus they were charging way to much. The next hostel we stayed in was much better smelled clean but was still a bit a cold and expensive, 21,000 pesos, which is about $40. From Chillán we took a four bus to Temuco, where I paid a bit too much for first class seats because I thought I was getting deal. Then from the bus terminal in Temuco we had to take a taxi to the other bus terminal where the Jac bus took us to Pucón about an hour and a half away.
We have been in Pucón for five days and we are leaving tomorrow to Valdivia. Since we have been here we have walked and biked around town, had espresso (which can be hard to find because the only coffee here is instant), people watched, took pictures of Lake Villarica and Volcano Villarica and today we went on a tour of Pezones Hot springs and a few waterfalls it was a great day. I was sick for almost two days with some sort of upset stomach. I went to the pharmacy to buy Pepto Bismol, but of course that does not exist here so I ended up with some sort of if we were in the USA would be prescription medicine. I had to put 35 drops in to a glass of water and drink it, it tasted horrible, but made my stomach feel better. I cannot figure out what made me sick other then a random bug that I contracted. Everyone says the water is pure and is as good as it gets and Jason has been drinking it and feels fine, though he does not drink as much water as I do. But I now have a new rule that any town where you cannot flush your poo-paper and have to throw in the trash it is the best bet to not drink the water.
Traveling around has been great, it can get a bit stressful purely because dealing with money is stressful, not speaking Spanish as first language, and constantly being on the move is not easy. Jason and I have become much better at getting around. Life is good.
Sending all my love from South of the equator