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Days 1-4
We begun our 40 hour journey to Temuco on Wednesday 23rd January leaving from Heathrow.
After stopping off in Brazil for a couple of hours we flew to Santiago. Upon arrival we were greeted by a flurry of taxi drivers, all knowing that we were tourists, trying to persuade us to come with them. Eventually we decided on a taxi driver who offered us a decent enough price; however, this turned out to be a massive error! The first indication that this taxi was a pile of crap was the fact that the driver had to prop the boot open with a bamboo stick! When our driver eventually got the car going we were a tad unsettled by his slightly agressive and suicidal style of driving, especially as there were no seatbelts in the car!
When we got to the bus station, we got our tickets for the night bus that we would be taking on the last leg of our journey to Temuco, 8 hours south of Santiago. We then had 9 hours to kill waiting for our bus so we decided to have a little look around downtown Santiago. The first impression i got of Santiago was that there is a lot of poverty. Building are old and in very poor condition, and from what we saw some even had bullet holes in. On top of this there are many stray dogs and homeless people. However, the friendliness of the local population is not representative of this poverty. People are very friendly and willing to help you in any way possible.
In the bus station we met an Argentinian girl called Sol, which means "sun". After having a nice chat with her, and resisting the urge to say that she was called sun because she was hot we got on the night bus!
Day 3 was the end of hour 40 hour journey to Temuco. Jack and I were met by Charles Stanton, the brother of a family friend back home. He took us back to the house located on his 240 acre farm. Upon arrival, after being mugged by their six dogs that have a tendancy of headbutting your crotch, we met the family. This consisted of Cheryl (Charles´wife) and the two kids Joshua (9) and Hannah (7). Shortly after the introductions I crashed out for my 4 hour siesta! When i woke up i went outside to find that Charles´brother Robert and his family had come over for dinner. This consisted of his wife and three sons: Will (21), Lawrence (20) and Matthew (18). After a lot of beer and banter they went home and the rest of us went into the hot tub under a very starry sky.
Day 4 After a slow start Charles, Cheryl, the two kids and Jack and I left to go to a friends chalet style holiday home situated next an enormous lake at the base of Chile´s largest volcano, Vierica. After having lunch with the family friends, we all went down to the lake to swim and chill out. Jack even tried waterskiing despite crying beforehand!
Later that afternoon, we said our goodbyes and went on to the Stanton´s cabin situated on their own lake. This beautiful lake is at the base of the volcano "Llaima" that erupted on new years eve. Later that evening whilst having a few beers, to our amazement the volcano erupted again! So we cracked open a bottle of bubbly and watched it for over an hour. This had to have been one of the most spectacular and beautiful things i have ever seen, and probably ever will. Unfortunatly, because it was night time i couldn´t get any pictures!
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