Pucón

What to do for thanksgiving in a country that does not celebrate the holiday? Have an adventure!

Pucón is a town on the eastern edge of Lago Villarica and north of the volcano of the same name. (Don't worry, this one hasn't erupted since March.) Nobody will be surprised to learn, it's gorgeous there.

We stayed at a place called Mirador Los Volcanes, which is up the side of a nearby mountain and gives an incredible view.

The kids were able to zipline right in the yard, shoot bow and arrows, play volleyball, and swim.

The real excitement came when we ventured out, though. We accidentally found a lake called Caburgua where they had paddle boats and motor boats. Geraldo and I said this weekend would be "all about the kids," so their adventure wishes were our command. The motor boat driver only charged $5.000 CLP for each time the kids requested, "¿Puede usted ir rápido?"

After all the boating we got to Parque Nacional Huerquehue, where we hiked the Sendero Ñirrico -- a short but beautiful path aong the lake, with lots of red-winged bugs buzzing around and clumps of dead bamboo-like stalks (likely chusquea) bent over providing shade.

I will admit that the food in Pucón was a little weird. Io had "fried shrimp" and "salad." We ate lots of heavy pasta, and of course we always ate really late because . . . Chile. But we did have a glorious meal of "burger and beer" the first night we got there at a tiny restaurant blaring Chilean funk, which put us in a great mood for the weekend.

Over the weekend we also made it to the termas, although not the one we had planned to visit. There's a cheap but supposedly beautiful public party terma spot open 24 hours . . . but closed when we got there. So we drove to the next one located at a swanky hotel called Termas Huife. It was hot! Good and hot.

On the drive to and from Pucón, the roads were lined with this yellow plant that is all over southern Chile -- it's stunning when you see a field of it from the top of a mountain. Driving through it every day sort of made me feel like Dorothy in a field of poppies. It's not poppies, though. In the States we call it canola. Why? Because its real name is rape.

The highlight of the trip came the last day, when I insisted we try to go kayaking. Io has gone with her friends a couple times, but I don't know anything about it and didn't realize you need a few months of training before you can actually go on rapids in one of those little dingies. But one of the adventure places in Pucón said we could "ducky boat," and ducky boat we did! The boats are sort of a cross between a canoe and an inflatable raft. Geraldo and I each had one of our own, and the kids went with guides. The guides were terrific and taught us well. That didn't keep me from falling in the drink twice, but even that was exciting! At one point, Io was paddling along in

the front of her boat and she yelled back to me, "Mom! I think this is the most fun I've had in our whole trip to Chile!" My heart was happy.