Maggie, Turner and running against the headwind.

We got to Pucon. A new rustic type of wooden town(think aspen, whistler, etc. lesscorporatebutneedssnow). We stayed in a log cabin run by German women who liked to chat, smoke and party late and wake up early. There is a volcano here. It is majestic and white and we took pictures in the morning. It´s always cold here, and windy and we wore layers and lizzie wore Keds with holes in them and a flannel with the pockets cut out because she lost her purple raincoat. The first night we ate at a crap italian restaurant and they played Michael Jackson music videos on a big screen while blasting club music in spanish and sometimes the dancing matched up. We taught Xandre all he needed to know about MJ and his life, and then we ate crap food while the restaurant billowed with smoke from some mishap in the kitchen and no one cared and no one apologized and they turned on a small fan and put Shakira on. The smoking section came back to bite us in the ass.

We woke up, went to the closest coffee shop, ate bland food. it was lovely. We walked to the lake and I met Maggie, the german shepperd, who ended up following us for the next 3 days. She was well behaved and lovely and I wish I could take her with me. We walked around the lake which was glassy and cryptic and then walked through the streets and I bought Maggie some cheap ham and she ate the whole pack in 2 bites. Xandre was certain she had an owner, and was all bah humbug after hamtime. We all bopped around (Maggie included)and finally decided to go on a bus tour of the area(No Maggie). We saw beautiful rivers, and rapids and blue water, and waterfalls and the forest. wonderous splendor. We got to talking with Anka, a nerdy but sweet German journalist who liked to talk. The trip ended in a visit at the Thermal Hot Springs. This was like a miz between the local YMCA pool and a eurpean bathhouse. Set in a beautiful woodsy outdoors, but all enclosed so you might as well be in Kansas. They weren´t that warm and there was skin floating around. We wore neon green and blue swim caps and looked like we worked at hot-dog-on-a-stick. Frothy Lemonade? Anka talked and said interesting things. We left finally. It was still very cold outside. Maggie was there when we got back. We ate good food that night and Maggie ate salame that was leftover. We went to a bar to wait for Anka (We had stopped by her hostel earlier and left her a note inviting her to drinks later since she talked about being a lonely traveler and eating picnic food alone). She never showed. Lizzie and Xandre drank as they do on most days and I sat and we talked. Music was loud and they played reggae and we talked about Robbie Dietz and we all saw him singing along in our heads.
Next day, lizzie and I spent the day walking around Pucon with Maggie and Turner (a fellow friend, german shepperd and chow chow mix who looked like a tiny bear). Xandre did the canopy tour, had the time of his life. He came back with Brian, a schoolteacher from Texas with an accent and an awkward way about him. We dined together. He was quaint.

I am tired of typing.
We are in Bariloche now.
Look up images.
It is INCREDIBLE.
We love you all.