Pucon, Chile

Day 8

We arrived in Pucon at around 10am after a long 12 hour bus ride. This was our first long haul bus ride so wasn’t really sure what to expect. The long haul buses are very comfortable & I managed to get a few hours sleep in once the couple behind us stopped making out! (this is a PG blog so won’t go into details). The Chilean’s sure do love their PDA (Public Display of Affection).

We picked up our backpacks and were off down the small town to find our hostel. The town was bustling! It is school holidays at the moment so a lot of families are visiting the town as it offers a lot of outdoor adventures from climbing volcanos’, white water rafting to fly fishing! As we were walking, I turned around at one point to look for a sign and then then BAM! I got smacked in the face by a giant volcano skying over the town. The photos look cool on the internet, but it is so much bigger in real life! The name of this volcano is Volcan Villarrica.

We checked in to our hostel (our window has views of the Volcano) and chilled out for a few hours planning our activities for the coming days. The big one – I am going to hike up the massive Volcan Villarrica!

Ellen has a really sore left foot due to (we think) racking up to many miles in her Teva’s, aka, bird watching shoes. So we decided it probably isn’t the best she does it as we are doing a multi-day hike in a few weeks time! It is a bit disappointing but at least she will now wear something more supportive and not to mention, more fashionable!

In the afternoon we wandered down to the beach. It is on lake Villarrica, the sand was very different to Australia, it is black volcanic rocks/pumice. The beach was literally like Bondi though, so packed full of people! I am so confused where all these people are staying, Pucon is only a little town. El & I had a quick dip, and snuck away in the shade, read a book & had a snooze.

I then went to the Supermarket to get something for dinner, forever walking around with google translate looking for all the ingredients! Success! Pasta for dinner & a $2.50 AUD wine! We met some Aussies who are travelling South America for a year, they were much better at Spanish than us and did some hitch hiking to save money. Maybe we should start doing that!?!

Day 9

The day of the Volcano climb! I got up around 5:30am to meet the tour guides – feeling a bit sad Ellen couldn’t come but it will be worth it when she hikes the W-trek in Patagonia! We put on our gear and were loaded into the van. There were 12 of us with 4 guides. A good ratio incase anyone can’t make it and needs to turn back. I was a little bit nervous heading up to the starting point as I have read a few reviews and it sounds freaking hard!

Once at the starting point we all swiftly got out, put our backpacks on and headed up. There are a lot of different tour companies doing this and it seemed we had the smallest group and also the most guides. At the starting point we had to make a choice, either catch the chairlift for the first section and pay 10,000 CLP ($23 AUD) or walk. Saving dosh & feeling ambitious I decided to walk along with 4 others in our group. The rest took the chairlift the cheaters!

We plugged away and we were around 1 hour behind the rest of the group that took the chairlift! The pace wasn’t overly strenuous and we had a few breaks on the way up. The views were amazing and just kept on getting better the farther we went up. Once we hit the snow we put on crampons which made a hell of a difference when trekking through the snow.

After about 4.5 hours of trekking at a steady pace & climbing around 1300m+ we caught the rest of the group almost at the top! Glad I didn’t get the chairlift – they must have been going slow! We had around 20 minutes at the top to take some photos and have a look in the crater. Gas masks were required at the top due to toxic fumes. Unfortunately the lava at the moment is very low so we didn’t get to see it. Next time!

The way down the Volcano was the best part by far! Instead of walking we got to slide down on our bums in the snow and ice. A few times I got up so much speed I thought I was going to slide of the edge of the volcano! It took us only 2 hours to get down to the bottom. It was a big day. When we finally we arrived back we had a beer with the tour guides. I am glad I have ticked off the Villarrica climb. It is a must do if visiting Chile! Maybe we will do a de-tour on the way to Canada so Ellen can do it!?

Ellen & I almost drank another bottle of wine for the night! The Chilean’s need to put the price of wine up, it is starting to get bad for my health.

Day 10

We found an activity Ellen can do which wouldn’t make her foot any worse – Bike riding! We hired dos (two) mountain bikes and headed off out of Pucon not really sure where we were going but ultimately trying to get to Lake Caburgua which is around 26km outside of Pucon.

We need to do more bike riding, it is much better for taking in the scenery compared to driving! We were cruising out of Pucon with the massive Volcano Villarrica skying over us. We rode for about 30 minutes and found ourselves at a random creek crossing. The water was a really nice blue colour and soooo clear! With the backdrop of the mountains and the volcano it was just beautiful. And I think for the first time on our trip there was finally no tourists around! Piece and quiet phewwww.

We kept heading on the dirt backroad out of Pucon. Man it was hilly. I envy the quads of bike riders. El & I both have big quads, but they are just for show – our quads don’t have much go in them at all! Huffing and puffing for an hour or so we found ourselves at a pretty hectic tourist attraction called the Salto los Copihues. It is a series of waterfalls which pool into a little cove. It was quite nice but we weren’t allowed to swim which is a shame. We had a quick bite to eat here and took off trying to get away from all the obnoxious tourists!

From here we had to gut out another 9 km of up and down the dirt road until finally, we hit the main road and it was all downhill to the lake! It was really nice little town, a lot less busy than the Bondi beach equivalent back in Pucon. Looking back on the main road which we just came in on, the huge Volcano was still skying above us, the crest was centred perfectly with the road. I wonder if the engineers designed the road like this on purpose.

A bit tired and hot, we found some shade and had a read of our books and had a nap. After a couple of hours we decided to head back. This time on the main road all the way to Pucon. It was alllll down hill! yay!

We finally made it home in just under 2 hours! I am spent after a big volcano climb and then a big hilly bike ride. Time to have a relaxing day tomorrow I think! My face has copped a battering from the wind and sun from the last 2 days.

Day 11

Nice and relaxing day. Woke up, breaky, watched the incredibles 2, packed out bags and chilled in the hostel. We had some yummy coffee at Cafe Berlin. This town has a German heritage.

We caught the bus at 4pm to Puerto Varas! It was a 3 hour bus ride. We checked in at our hostel and had an early night! A day full of activities is already planned for tomorrow.

More photos are located here: