Hola everybody from Pucon, Chile!  Well, I´ve survived my second week here in South America with only a couple scratches and am doing well.  This week consisted of learning a bunch of past tenses in spanish and making plans for what I should do after here.  In the mix of this week were some funny situations and all in all a good time.

First, I have to say this, conversing in spanish is way difficult!  Whoever said that spanish is an easy language to learn deserves a quick kick in the butt.  In english for example, the verb ´to go´ has maybe 5 variations, go, going, went, goes, are going.  In spanish, the verb ´ir´ (to go) has about 50 different forms, each of them very specific.  Despite all this, I am learning how to speak about things in the future, past and present.  The past tense is the hardest because there are about 7 different forms; so far I´ve learned 3 of them and can wait to learn the others.  The other biggest problem I have right now is my limited vocabulary.  I will keep working on that and I feel that it will come with time (and plenty of difficulty, but what can ya do?).

This week Monica made crapes for supper one night, though here they call them pancakes.  I got the great idea of making breakfast for them the next day, and since she didn´t have any pancake mix, I made french toast.  It was kind of funny because the night before I went to the store to buy some peanut butter for the french toast (something I feel is very important for french toast and pancakes) and some syrup.  Well, ends up you have to make your own syrup, which Monica did later.  What I was shocked by was the fact that the peanut butter was very expensive.  Apparently the peanut butter is imported from the US, accounting for the high price.  When I made the french toast the next morning, everyone said they thought it was very rico, or very rich (good).  However, Anita and Francisca weren´t big fans of the peanut butter with the french toast but another tasty spread found here in Chile (to be honest, I wasn´t bummed about that; more peanut butter for me!).

I wasn´t sure if everyone had actually liked the french toast that much or were just being nice and saying it was good to be polite.  Well, two days later, I was told that I was making supper for them!  I had no idea what I was supposed to make until Monica told me that Anita wanted the french toast again for supper.  Of course I had to oblige her and I made the french toast again for everyone.  There are some action shots of me doing this in the lastest photo album, compliments of Anita getting a kick out of me wearing an apron.  All in all cooking here was pretty fun.

Friday night I went out with my teacher to the bar.  I haven´t been going out much because I learn a lot just talking at home with my family here, but I thought it was important for me to talk in different atmospheres as well.  So we went out and had a couple drinks at her favorite bar, Mamas and Tapas.  It was fun because I love joking around with my teacher in spanish and we had a good time.  Later on we joined some of her friends there and she told me to talk to her friends.  By this time the drinks had loosened by tongue up a bit and I was speaking spanish much faster and more fluently then I usually had done in the past.  It also helped that there was six girls there very interested in what I was saying and only one other guy!  I chatted with the other guy there and he was actually the guy I had spoken with earlier about hiking up the volcano later next week.  He would be my guide he said and said that we would have an awesome time.  I would have gone this weekend but the weather looks like it will be better later in the week and rearranging my classes to allow me to go is not a problem with my teacher.

So I´ve been in Pucon for two weeks and have had an awesome time here learning spanish and how chileans live here.  However, I´ve decided to move on to Bariloche, Argentina at the end of my third week here.  Everyone I have talked to has said that they either loved Bariloche or have heard that its awesome.  I found a place where I can take class and live with a family and I made the arrangements.  It helps that its about half the price for class and living than here in Pucon, so the decision was easy for me.  It also helps that Bariloche is a beatiful city of about 100,000 people facing a gorgious lake and surrounded by mountains.  And while I wil be leaving Chile, I will be very close and I´m sure I will be back in Chile soon.

So thats about it for now.  This next week I am looking forward to enjoying my last week here and, even more so, hiking up the volcano.

Until next week, chao!

Goody