Travelling alone again

The hugs of goodbye with Felix and Amelia were full of warm feelings. But I wasn't sad, because I knew it was time to take our own roads and I just had to accept it. After two weeks of staying at hostels I changed back to Couchsurfing. And got what Couchsurfing is at its best: having the locals taking me to places I otherwise couldn't go to and enjoying local food and drinks with them. I had just arrived in Valdivia Friday night, and Saturday morning my host Rodrigo presented me his plan: we could go to Las Cascadas for the weekend to visit his friend. My decision was quick: "Sure, why not?! Let's go!" So I went back to lake Llanquihue and saw volcano Osorno again. Las Cascadas is on the northeastern shore of the lake, I had been to Puerto Varas on the southern shore. But I didn't mind at all. I had just arrived in Valdivia, but was happy to get out, to a place so peaceful and beautiful. I had a nice weekend at a holiday house close to a beautiful black sand beach with Rodrigo and his friends Annelisse and Carlos. I had my first Chilean asado (= barbeque) and drank some pisco (= Chilean alcohol) with them. I also tasted 'piñones de araucaria', nut-like seeds of araucaria tree - and developed an addiction! The seeds were the basic nutrition of the native Mapuche people. I liked the piñones so much that I'm cooking them right now, leaving them to boil in water with sugar for two hours, before letting out my inner squirrel.

Visiting a weekend house made me think about sauna. In Finland it's such an essential part of a summer cottage - as well as residential houses. Despite the lack of sauna I desided to be faithful to my roots and traditions and dipped in the lake. I've read that there's already been some warm, summery days in Finland. I'm sure my family has started the season of going to the summertime sauna by the river. And here I am, wearing thermal underwear and a warm jacket! When can I walk around in flip-flops and T-shirts again?! Well, it was my own decision to come here, I'm not complaining and I'm still enjoying the trip.

Sunday evening it was time to leave the holiday house. I wanted to continue straigt to Pucon, but there were no buses, so I had to return to Valdivia. I decided to give the city a chance to show its beauty, so on Monday I chose the midday bus instead of the first one in the morning, allowing me to walk around for two hours. And here's my conclusion: If you want to see sealions, go to Valdivia. Otherwise... don't bother! The river in the city-centre is nothing compared to the lakes and volcanoes in other places.

It's great to be travelling outside the tourist season: I have the whole hostel for myself now! There hadn't been any guests for ten days. The owner left for Santiago last night and since then I've been 'babysitted' by her friend, mountain guide called Rodrigo. It's been raining the whole day today and I've been inside reading my book. I'm trying to give my knee a rest; it's been stiff since hiking in Torres del Paine. It worries me a bit, as I love hiking and would like to visit a lot of national parks. Here in Pucon you can climb an active volcano and see some boiling lava inside the crater. But I need to save my knee and money...