Temuco

This morning we left our room in Hostel del Rio to go down stairs to get some breakfast. The lights in the breakfast room were out, but the door was open. We went inside and turned on the lights. All the tables were set, one of the hotel people came in and said that someone had to got and get the bread. Breakfast at EVERY hotel here consists of some sort of bread, butter, jam, gouda cheese, coffee or tea, and juice. Since we don't drink coffee or tea they always bring us hot milk and we put sugar in it to sweeten it up a bit.

Anyway, back to this morning, we were waiting and this guys comes in and asks if he can sit with us. There is no one else in the room and there are plenty of other tables, but OK. So he sits down and then asks if we are from The States, in English. This guy totally looked Chilean but he was to tall to be Chilean. Turns out he is from Germany and he is doing research for his Thesis to get his Bachelor's degree back in Germany. He will be in Chile for 6 months studying the effects of sun burns on apples. He said that he was studying about agriculture and wines, etc. His name was Martin and he was a very nice fellow. He said he was from Stuttgart in the south. He is 25 and has 3 sisters back home.

The hotel woman came back in with this kind of pie (Jake and I are only guessing it was a "pie") that was the color pink that doesn't occur in nature. It was kind of a pink gelatin filling in a think crust. I don't really know what it was. It has almost no flavor, but she wanted us to have something to eat while we were waiting. Soon after the bread arrived and we ate and chatted with Martin. We mostly talked about the Soccer game that took place on Saturday. Chile won the game and they are going to be able to place to possibly go to the world cup. After they won the game on Saturday night they entire town went crazy. From our hotel room we could hear people honking their car horns, yelling, whooping, & hollering for a least 3 hours after the game was over. On Sunday morning the plaza was covered in trash and bottles from the party the night before. South America and their football :)

After we left the hotel we headed to the bus station to caught a bus to Temuco that was supposed to leave at 11:00, or so the website said. It was a liar. The bus didn't leave until 12:15 and we had to cross the street and go to the other bus terminal. The "other terminal" didn't have many places to sit and was much dirtier. It smelled more like a meat market than a bus station, but we only had to wait an hour.

Our bus was just a little bit late, and our sets were in the back of the bus right next to the bathroom. IT actually gave us a bit of entertainment because someone got themselves locked in :) It took a few minutes of them trying to lock and unlock the door and someone on the outside to pull on the door really hard to get them out. I will never be using one of those bathrooms any time soon. The bus ride was about 6 hours, so we were really excited to get off the bus.

We arrived in Temuco about 6:00 and we went straight to La Casa de Juanita. This is still the greatest place in all of Chile. She was building new cabins when we were here last and they are all complete now. They are clean, and have private bathroom. Each room has its own wood burning stove, which is wonderful for tonight. It is quite cold here right now. The farther we move south the colder it is getting. It will only last til the end of the month or so, and then we will be wishing for the cool weather. What is also great about this place is the Juanita lets us use her washer and dryer! We will have clean clothes tomorrow! Juanita is a really nice lady. She lets us use the kitchen when we want and she invites us into her home to sit and talk. La Casa de Juanita is my home away from home here in Chile. We will be here just a few days for us to get a car and then we will be heading to Pucon!

Everyone here is telling Jake to just buy an car and then sell it when he leaves instead of renting a car. This might work out better in the long run but Jake is only given a certain amount of the money at a time and buying a car for $6000 and then selling it back when we leave will only work if Jake can spare the $6000 up front with the grant money. We will be walking around Temuco tomorrow trying to see what the best deal will be. Wish us luck!

We will be praying for Trent so that he will get better soon! Hope everyone at home is doing well!

Mandy & Jake