One Extreme...

After my busy week with the press (I just love saying that), I was ready for some family vacation. Of course you all must be used to this by now, but I need to go into a little back story for you to set the scene. Whenever I spent the weekend at Tía Gloria's in Concepción, it was not unusual for Gloria to slip out "to chat with the neighbor." I quickly learned that this was code for, "I'm hitting up the casino with my lady friends." And so it came to be that whenever 9pm rolled around and Gloria announced that she was "off to chat with the neighbor," I would say, "Buena suerte!" (Good luck!). I would hear her tiptoeing in circa 6am (no exaggeration there, folks!).

A few weeks back, I was setting the table for breakfast when Gloria emerged from her bedroom with last night's make-up and a silly grin. I ventured a guess, "You won again, eh?" 

She turned on her heel and went back to her room. I heard her rummaging through her closet. She emerged with a coffee tin. She popped it open and it was STUFFED with wadded peso bills. In response to the surprised look on my face, she informed me that since I had arrived, she had simply not lost. Every time that she went to the casino, apparently she made a killing on the slot machines. She continued, saying that she wanted to invite me (her good luck charm) to go skiing in Pucón with her, my host sister Ivanna, Dani, and Dani's boyfriend. How could I turn down an offer like that? After all, I was the reason that she won all that money to begin with [insert skeptical look here].

And that's how I won my free ski trip to Pucón...dirty casino money winnings. I'll take it!

We stayed for a week in Pucón and went skiing on an active volcano. Very bizarre. While we were skiing on the snow-covered slopes, smoke was fuming from the top. At night, the snow reflected the moonlight but you could still see a red glow from the lava within the volcano. Quite a sight!

After just learning to ski this past winter (Stateside, that is), I was extremely impressed that I only fell once…and it was off a ski lift so that doesn’t even really count.

They say that pictures speak a thousand words, so I’ll let them do the rest of the talking:

Chilean roadtrips are much the same as those in America...singalongs (ugh), junk food, and no personal space:

A view of one of the many lakes:

On the way up the volcano:

Us by the lake (I think that might be the best caption that I have ever written):

Our humble abode for the week:

Ivanna and I:

Breaking for lunch!

We went to some natural hot springs one day...we stripped down and waded in despite the fact that there was ice on the ground.

A view from the entrance to the thermals:

We stopped in a market on the way home. I was told to sit next to the wooden statue and smile for the camera. Seba did the heavy lifting and out popped a surprise. Who knew the natives were so perverted?