Panguipulli here we come!

In true Chilean fashion we are abandoning Santiago for most of the month of February.  While rumor has it that January is actually hotter than February, like the French in August, the Chileans close up shop and head to the coast or to the South (or as I have learned more recently to the Caribbean and Mexico) for the month.

The kids have finished their January actitivies.  Jonathan had two weeks at the international school, three days at Estadio, and then 1.5 weeks being sick at home with me :-(    At summer "school" (this one is mostly for the grandparents) Jonathan was introduced to guitar playing and judo.  Here is a sample from the last day of the program:

Renee had four weeks of intensive gymnastics training at Stadio Italiano and has the callouses to prove it.  She socialized a bit with the other kids there and I asked her if they were more intrigued with her being American or Jewish.  It sounds like they had never met a Jewish person before - I forget sometimes how insular the Jewish community really is here.

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Elisa finished up four weeks at the Estadio summer camp with a presentation of Michael Jackson's Thriller followed by a cheerleading version of Toni Basil's Mickey (for those of you who are up on your early 80's music) and then a sleepover in tents at the Estadio.

The black "zombie" make-up was from the Thriller part of the presentation

Her counselors

Here is an overview of our planned travels created through a web-based trip mapping program.

Lago Panguipulli

We have rented a cabin on lake Panguipulli (I'll eventually learn to pronounce it) which is located in the Los Rios (the rivers) Region.  Of course, Los Rios Region is right next to the Los Lagos (the lakes) Region and we are actually staying on a lake - go figure.  The plan right now is to stay there for five nights and explore forests, forts, volcanos, hotsprings, kayaking/rafting and more.  Of course, the current weather forecast is for highs in the 60s and rain so we are bringing a lot of games.  We'll cross over the Andes to Argentina via the Paso Huahum which includes a ferry ride to cross a lake and then stay in San Martin de Los Andes for five nights.  At that point we plan to cross back over to stay with a colleague of Rob's in the Andes near Lonquimay for two night and then head back to Santiago to clean up.

I am looking forward to seeing some green forests and perhaps even a bit of the rain not to mention the mountains.  I am not looking forward to being in our car with the kids for many, many hours of driving but we have figured out how to download the audio books onto the ipods and hook them up to our car speakers so we are hoping that Harry Potter will help us with one more road trip.

We will then head back to Santiago to recuperate before heading to Punta del Este, Uruguay (by plane) to spend two weeks with my in-laws and Rob's sister and family who are planning on coming down from Victoria, Canada.  We have been there approximately once a year since we met but usually either in our summer (not the ideal time to visit a beach resort town) or in December which is just the beginning of the tourist season.  It will be interesting to visit during the full swing of summer.  Rob and I are planning a weekend in Buenos Aires sin hijos in there as well.  Thank you abuelos for taking on the babysitting challenge - at least there are no more diapers!

Then we head back on 2/28 and the kids are back in school 3/2 - it's going fast!

Photos and the real story of our trip when time and internet connections allow.