We decided to hop off the tour bus in Pucón and stay another week. We found another hostel (couldn't get out of this one fast enough). It was called Ecóle. Not only was it a great hostel, it had a vegetarian restaurant inside! We were about to get spoiled!

Pucón is considered the tourist capital of Southern Chile. There are less than 20,000 people there now, but that number will go higher than 100,000 during their summer months. People will flock here to go white water rafting, hiking, swimming, horseback riding, and visit the hot springs.

The weather took a turn during our week in Pucón. We had one more good day, then it rained and became colder, cloudy and windy. In fact, no one was able to climb the volcano for the next 8 days so Maeve and I felt glad that we took advantage of that opportunity when it was presented. We were able to rent bikes one day and explore the city. On another day Michael and Liam went fly fishing while Maeve and I went to a salon where she got a facial and I got a water free pedicure (very strange experience).

Another great view on the streets of Pucón

Most of the week we hung out in the hostel, ate amazing food, rested and caught up on school work. Toward the end of our week, Liam and Maeve met a boy named Luca. He was the son of one of the ladies who worked at the front desk. They all had the opportunity to play while his mother Paula worked.

Luca spoke English and Spanish fluently. He was an energetic and tall eight year old boy. I overheard him talking to Liam. He asked what I thought was a profoundly interesting question. "What is your favorite word?" Hmmm. Liam paused and Luca jumped on that moment to share his own favorite word or words. "Mine is son of a bitch!" he exclaimed. Liam's reaction was priceless. He was just as surprised as I was, but he didn't say anything. Luca told us heard this in a movie and seemed to enjoy saying it. Actually, Luca enjoyed speaking his mind in general. He joined us for dinner one night and didn't seem to have a filter at all. He commented on my big mouth as I ate dinner and Michael's gray hair. The kids were laughing hysterically...Michael and I....not so much.

Maeve reading by the fire place in our hostel

Luca joins us for dinner and the boys can't handle a serious picture

We truly enjoyed this hostel. It was so relaxing and we could get a variety of vegetarian meals whenever we wanted. They also served wine and beer, so that was a bonus too. The great thing about hostels is the variety of people. It's always hit or miss. Our first night we were stuck with a bunch of drunk French people. They were guests, but were out partying and drove back to the hostel very late our first night. As if that wasn't dumb enough, they parked in front of our room and played their music in the car so loud that the whole street could hear. Michael almost got in a fight with them. It's a long story, but suffice it to say that the calm and helpful man at the front desk stopped Michael from running out to their car in his bare feet. The remaining nights were uneventful.

The ages of guests at this hostel ranged from 20's to near 80 it seemed.

I was impressed with this older gentlemen multi-tasking with a tablet and a laptop.

On the other hand, multi-tasking can be quite tiring.

By the end of the week, I was ready to explore more. Unfortunately, no one was willing to join me. Luca's mom told me about some waterfalls near here. She explained that it was easy to take the bus there, but it only leaves at one time each day. I decided to go check out the area on my own. I got the bus without any problems. The driver was kind enough to show me the road that I needed to walk down to find the waterfalls.

Walking toward the bus stop back to Pucón

I enjoyed my solo excursion. It was scenic and peaceful. I left to flag down a bus on the main road. I was told they come every twenty minutes. After twenty minutes I began to wonder. The buses stop running at 8:00 pm. and it was about 7:20. At 7:30 a car stopped by me. The man in the car asked if I was waiting for a bus. He spoke Spanish and I told him I was catching the bus to Pucón. He said there were no buses after 7 because of the upcoming holiday weekend. Now this presented a problem. I know Paula would have told me that, but I was also there over twenty minutes and no buses passed me. The man had his five year old son with him and offered me a ride to Pucón. I didn't think it was a problem since there was a child in the car. All ended well thankfully as he dropped me off in the center of town without any issues.

We definitely enjoyed Pucón, but it was time to leave. Instead of catching the Pachamama bus in Pucón, we decided to leave and meet them in the next city Valdivia. The bus usually spends one night there, but if we left early we could explore more of this city with an additional night or two. Valdivia was just a three hour bus ride from Pucón. So off we went.