19/10/2019 – Volunteering, Pucon, Chile

We had coffee in bed before getting up slowly. In the morning we headed into town to try and find Josh a tee shirt, to no success. We grabbed a few bits from the supermarket then came back to the hostel and made some lunch. After lunch Josh and I went kayaking on the lake. The water was cool but really clear, and the scenery was very beautiful. I had forgotten how heavy those big kayaks are though! We got back in to the hostel and relaxed for a bit before our shift started at 17:00. We met Kris at the bar and she showed us how things work. We got to taste the beers. There are three craft beers from a company based in Pucon. We learnt how to pull a pint and change the barrel etc. Josh and I did our first shift behind the bar together, which was fun! After opening up together Kris left us to it. It was a Saturday night and the guests were up for a fun night. Almost immediately two of the barrels needed changing, and afterwards both were pouring really frothy! After trying to sort it out ourselves we eventually spoke to Kris who said that sometimes it is just a bad barrel. That meant we were only left with one beer, the least popular one! It seemed that the guests didn’t mind too much, we sold loads of them. I do have a new found respect for bar staff – remembering an order, changing money, pulling a pint whilst all the time engaging with the customer is quite the multitask! Josh and I took it in turns to pull pints and the other to entertain the guest and change the money while we got the hang of things. My pints were quite frothy so it wasn’t uncommon to have to scoop the head off with a spoon! Haha! Still, quite a good place to learn - the customers were pretty chilled about it. Having said that, our first handful of guests were all bar staff before they came away, absolutely typical! I think they quite enjoyed watching us struggle and giving us tips! We had a really busy lively time in the bar, and there was a great atmosphere. We closed up the bar and sorted the till, and lots of the guests and staff went out to a bar in town. Josh and I cleared up, showered, and were in bed by about 01:30. It had been a pretty funny night!