It was the eve of our departure, and with much excitement and anticipation, we all met at the DFW airport on Fri Aug 3. By some flight delay fluke, all 4 of us boarded the same overnight flight to Santiago. It didn’t fully sink in that winter was upon us until we arrived in Temuco.

The locals at the airport spoke surprisingly little English but were very friendly. We almost acquired a cute black dog that greeted us with affection. After we picked up our 4×4, the journey towards out final destination Pucon continued. The highways and local roads through the countryside gave us much perspective on the lives and culture of Chileans. We caught peek-a-boo views of the volcano most of the way.

We stopped at a local seafood restaurant in the town of Villarica and had a fabulous lunch of local cuisine. The fireplace hit the spot for Scott. Jayne tried to translate the menu. The food was well presented, and the price was very affordable.

Our hotel was on lake Villarica in the town of Pucon. It had a black sand beach that seemed white at night. We checked into our 2 bedroom condo and debated with the bell boy in broken Spanish on the best route to our building and room.

That same night, we shopped for groceries at Eltit (pronounced el-TEET), and Jason gave it the name of the Teet. There were 2 of them across the street from each other, and Jeff said his favorite place was right in between them. Unfortunately we could not find parking between the girls. The neighboring town has one big Teet instead of 2 symmetric adjacent ones, and we all felt that 2 were better than 1.

Some quick brainstorming on breakfast and not so speedy shopping got us out of there with loads of groceries. After Jayne mused over the amount of hot dogs Jeff can eat and stuff down his boots, we settled in for the night and dreamed of riding the next day.

Day 2 started with our drive up the narrow mountain paths to base lodge. The landscape was beyond words, and a 360 panorama from the second lodge gave us a view of 4 lakes, multiple mountain ranges, and 2 smoking volcanoes. First run of the day was icy, and the lifts were uncannily slow but surprising uncrowded. The terrain had stripes of soft snow and hard pack, which made it interesting to navigate. Scott demonstrated cart wheels and 180s down ravines while Jeff launched off the roof of the lodge. There were quite a few bloopers as Scott and Jeff traded off manning the camera.
A quirky note for foreigners: it is common for locals to cut in line, without any warning, and they will ski over your snowboard to do it. We got scratches to prove it!

At dinner, Jeff and Jason fought over the last fish curry dish they had. This little cozy hostel was running low on food. Afterwards, we made good use of our condo’s free Wi-fi service, and ironically, we chatted and joked about the smell of a fire on our way back to our room. We were stunned to find that the joke was on us! Our kitchen was scorched black, and apparently there were flames and even an explosion that covered the floor with glass. On the bright side, at least the gas stove had not set off a chain of explosions throughout the building. The fire had smoked out the head honcho of the hotel living on the floor above us, sending him to the rescue before our belonging turned to ashes.

The hotel staff was very kind, and with many helpers on hand, moved us into another condo, laundered our clothing, and fed us free breakfast. The stench and soot left on our belongings were quite disgusting. We were so disturbed by the memory that we jumped every time we thought we smelled burning plastic. Scott took full advantage of the free service, and laundered many things beyond clothing. Breakfast was good with local fruits, pastries, and also many eats familiar to us. There was a leg of an animal we did not recognize on display, and it reminded Jayne of Body World.

Unfortunately we could not ride on the third day due to the laundry service. We did have a wonderfully relaxing day at the Termas Geometricas, a local hot spring that turned out to be an unforgettable adventure. Jason drove as the rest of us turned into aggressive back seat drivers. Funny, the drive back seemed much shorter with Scott commanding the wheel while we donated our kidneys to the pot holed roads.

After several stops for directions and pee breaks, we reached the hot springs hungry and cold. We practically had the place to ourselves. We devoured much food, drank a plenty, and soaked from one pool to the next. It had over 15 pools with mineral water of different temperatures from frigid streams and waterfalls to boiling hot ponds. The lush ferns, steaming water, snowy ledges, and red bridges were so beautiful that our pictures and videos did no justice. We shared an ultimate state of nirvana and are now truly jaded.

The next morning, the winds picked up, and the rain clouds blew in. There was so much surf that it could have been an ocean outside of our window. Shopping day! Jeff searched for a dinner bell, Jayne looked for a souvenir spoon, and Scott shopped for goggles. Somewhere along the way, we found a wonderful café/restaurant/chocolatier. We munched on divine desserts and dried our soaked clothes next to the fire. Each day ended with Scott’s nightly entertainment of daily pictures and videos from all of our cameras and camcorders combined.

We woke up on day 5 to a huge “Powderball” (Jeff’s jargon for volcano covered in snow) outside Jeff and Scott’s window. We were so giddy to drive up the mountain road and pass all the people with 2-wheel drive. The snow banks were at least 4-5 feet higher, and the outdoor cafeteria completely disappeared under the snow. We had a blast, and the boys enjoyed the natural half pipes formed by the lava flow. On the way home, Jeff tried out his Spanish and artistic skills on a wood crafter to carve a dinner bell for an unique souvenir.

The weather stayed clear for the following day, and Jayne decided over drinks and dinner the previous night to board down the mountain in her bikini. With the assistance of Jason, who looked like a stage hand with a cyborg protrusion from his head, she stripped down as quickly as possible. Some ski school children nearby might have been permanently traumatized by this event. She rode a few hundred feet before turning bright red from the cold.

The remainder of the day, we all rode, ate, laughed and flew the snow kite, taking in the majesty of the mountain. We ended the evening at an Arabian restaurant and stuffed ourselves with deliciously foreign foods we could not pronounce in Spanish or Arabic.

Day 7 was the anticipated volcano climb. The summit is at 9000 ft, and the climb from the top of the lift in snowboard boots on a steep incline was a challenge for all. It was a humbling experience, especially for Jayne. Jeff would have carried her up the slope just to keep the group together (Cindy, you lucky girl). Scott’s words were: “the mountain kicked our ass.” The accumulating clouds and pending snow prematurely ended the exhaustive hike, and the lighting took away all depth perception. Many wind blown icy protrusions were encountered on the way down. Our boards could not dig into the ice on the steeps. Even our guides fell multiple times. Scott fell backwards and dug in with the tip of his board before becoming a missile down the mountain. Jason fell down a 5 foot ledge and landed with a smack. Jeff almost slid off of a narrow ridge, and the younger guide almost took some of us out with his skis. Jayne, who ended the hike early, tried going down the hill sitting on her board, crotch rocket style. She became airborne, and landed with a snow spray and the nose of the board up her ass. After this, her board was taken away by her guide and was given 2 ski poles to go down the rest of the mountain. She could not figure out how this could be done and waited for the boys’ rescue.

We ended the last evening at a beautiful hotel restaurant with waterfalls, grapevines, modern rustic interiors, and huge glass windows. We drank Chilean wines and ate like kings while the sun set. We chatted about the trip and wished we could have stayed longer to explore the native lands. This is definitely an adventure to remember!