We've been in Pucon for three weeks and it feels like forever - in a good way! This was one stop we had planned in advance because we'd heard things get really busy here in Chile with the holidays and summer break coinciding. We were told to have a plan for the holidays because we might be stuck without a place to stay if we winged it like we've been doing. So, based on where we projected we'd be at this time and knowing we'd enjoyed Pucon during our visit in '09, we figured it would be a good place to set up shop for a while. 

We arrived from Temuco on December 23rd; just enough time to settle in and get ready for Christmas. We'd done our holiday shopping in Temuco thinking there would be a very limited selection here in Pucon based on our previous visit.  Well this place has changed!  When we were here before, it was a fairly sleepy little town that attracted adventure tourists. Kayaking, hiking the active volcano, water sports, horseback riding, biking, the lakes are the draws here. It's still the same but so much more crowded and commercialized.  Definitely still charming and quirky, but there are now three major supermarket chains and a department store.

The place we're staying is a bit out of town on a gorgeous property overlooking the neighboring hills, the lake, and the city below. Surrounded by pastures, we have a mama pig and 11 piglets, cows and their calves, horses and bunnies running around the property all the time.  The kids are thrilled!  To top it off, there is a tina (a South American version of a hot tub that is wood fire heated) perched on the edge of the property. It's all pretty dreamy!

Early on, Ross had worked a kayaking connection he had from White Salmon and learned of this property.  The woman who owns it is from the states but has decided to settle in Pucon; along with much of her family which includes seven siblings and all of their families!  We've been fortunate enough to get to know a couple of her siblings' families.  They're wonderful and have welcomed us like family.  On Christmas eve, her sister and her children came caroling to our place and brought us Christmas cookies and fresh lavender.  It was heartwarming and helped us get into the Christmas spirit!

We were glad to learn that a couple of the neighboring properties are owned by families.  The closest is a family with two young children.  They are all very sweet and we've really enjoyed getting to know them. They've had friends visiting from France who also have a little boy who is a week younger than Nash.  The kids have had fun together chasing bunnies, jumping on their trampoline, and playing in the dirt. We've also gotten to know another nearby family with kiddos who also happen to have an adorable little puppy named Brownie.  Tabor is smitten and we've become its surrogate family.  

For our lead up to Christmas, we got a little Charlie Brown Christmas tree, decorated it and invited the neighbor kids to decorate Christmas cookies. On Christmas eve, we hung our stockings and put out Santa's cookies and a note.  Before bed, the kids had hot cocoa and we Skyped with Grammy and Papa and they read the kids 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.' It felt good to have the familiarity of holiday traditions amid all of the change inherent with travel.

Christmas morning the kids were ecstatic to find Santa had indeed found us in Chile!  We enjoyed a rainy morning with Santa Hat pancakes and playing inside with the kids' haul.  That evening, we went to the neighbor's for pizza. It was cozy and we definitely enjoyed a merry little Christmas! 

For New Year's Eve, we invited the neighbors over for Thai curry and a little celebration.  They had yet more friends visiting and these brothers were from Australia and 1.5 years into a 2 year around the world motorcycle tour.  Super interesting guys with a great story!  The kids played and somehow we all made it to midnight (Chileans are night owls so we figured "When in Rome")! We rang in 2017 with champagne and toasts all around.  

In the new year, Nash has pretty much given up his naps, learned to ride a pedal bike, and decided he's done with diapers - all in the same week! The big 3 looming has lit a fire under him!  Ross has been enjoying kayaking the many rivers here in Pucon. He and Nash also went for a raft trip on the Lincura. We've been horseback riding, hiked up at the volcano, went to visit L.J. on his property outside Pucon, explored town and located the best icecream shop, and made lots of visits to the park in the town square to ride bikes. 

These three weeks have been filled with much needed downtime.  We've had time for reflection and the space to unwind. The absence of constantly researching our next move and packing and unpacking has been a relief.  I'm afraid we've gone a bit soft though and maybe gotten a little too used to this relaxed pace!  We're so relaxed that we haven't been doing blog updates and are getting called out on it! Sorry guys! Soon enough, we will be back to the gypsy life as we move south to the Futa and into Argentina.