Pucón/Bariloche...The Lake Districts of Chile and Argentina

Hello to my faithful readers, I apologize that I have gone AWOL from the blogosphere for quite some time. I have recently been juggling my volunteer work, my initial medical school application process, and a job search as I prepare for my return to the U.S., so I have had less time to do much of anything else. I promise this is the absolute last post I will be writing about my travels throughout South America (I realize it has my trip was about 3 weeks long and the blog process has taken more than 2 months). For any of you who may be wondering what I have been up to in Paraguay, I hope to write a few more posts about my daily life as well.

When I last wrote, my friend Jason and I had just embarked on a ten hour, overnight journey between Santiago and Pucón, Chile. The journey was uneventful for the most part, besides the beginning few minutes, when I am pretty sure one of the bus drivers offered to tuck us in for the night. After sleeping most of the drive, we arrived in Pucón at about 8 am on Sunday, January 25. Pucón is located in the Lake District of Chile and is known as its adventure capital, surrounded by a number of volcanoes, mountains, and scenic lakes. I had been advised by numerous friends that it was a must stop location for the sole purpose of climbing an active volcano, an idea that really intrigued me. We had hoped to buy advance bus tickets out of town for Tuesday the 27th, but were unable to find anything and just decided to head to the hostel. We arrived at a hostel we had booked in advance to find the owners and all of the guests in a somewhat dazed state from the night before. After some confusion about our reservation, payment, keys, the list goes on (the owners were struggling, to say the least), we showered and got settled. Afterwards, I headed out to investigate the options for climbing the volcano, as well as other adventure activities I could possibly book. We planned on staying two nights, so Monday was my only chance to do the all day ascent. Some people stay in Pucón for a week and do not get a day with good enough climbing conditions, so I was definitely taking a chance. Jason was not all about the idea of climbing for the better part of a day, so I was on my own to make my plans. I happened upon a company called Aquaventure, listed in the Lonely Planet, and booked my volcano climb for the following day. Since I still had the better part of Sunday to kill, I decided to sign up for an activity that afternoon. After contemplating kayaking and windsurfing, I decided upon canyoning. I set up my trip for the afternoon while Jason booked a horseback riding adventure, and we headed to the center of town for some lunch. After a nice meal at a sun soaked table of an Arabian restaurant, Jason and I split up for our separate plans. I walked around the city for a bit, bought some socks for hiking, took a closer look at the lake, and then prepared for canyoning.

For those of you who do not know what canyoning is, I will do my best to explain. Basically, it is climbing through rivers, canyons, waterfalls, and dry land in a wetsuit, sometimes using rock climbing gear such as harnesses and ropes. It is a very unique combination of activities that is no surprisingly, somewhat tiring. I arrived at the company around 2 pm and suited up in a wetsuit, water shoes, and a climbing harness. We had a small group of me and two Chileans, plus two guides. It was my first experience taking a tour/doing an activity that was completely led in Spanish, something unique that gave me a sense of accomplishment concerning my language skills. We loaded the gear in to a van, drove about half an hour to a river at the foot of a volcano, snapped a few pictures, and were off on our adventure (unfortunately, we were not able to bring our cameras with us on the trip as they would have gotten destroyed by water). After starting off with a somewhat tame part of the river with a few small jumps and descents, we arrived at the first of 3 waterfalls that we were to repel down. I had previously had some indoor rock climbing experience, but never anything like this. The guides rigged the ropes and we were ready to descend. I was hooked up to my harness, shown a bit of technique, and was sent on my way down the approximately 40 foot waterfall. After a few moments of hesitation, I leaned back, put my trust in the ropes, and began my descent with water falling between my legs. I must say, walking down a waterfall is a very exhilarating experience. After everyone was at the bottom of the waterfall, we regrouped and continued down river. At times, the footing was very slippery and there were a few falls, making it more challenging than I had expected. We slid down rock formations like slides, ducked under overhangs, and descended two more waterfalls of similar heights to the first one. By the end, we were all a bit cold and ready to head back to town, but it was a very interesting and enjoyable experience. I would recommend canyoning to anyone who has not yet experienced it.

I went back to the hostel, showered, took a bit of a rest, and then met up with Jason. We had initially planned on going out for dinner, but the owners of the hostel were organizing a cookout for all of the guests and we decided to stick around instead. I ended up talking to people from Omaha, Nebraska, Australia, Holland, Germany, France, and Argentina. This was one thing I really enjoyed about staying in hostels, all of the random, interesting people I was able to meet. We had a huge dinner of steak, chicken, pasta, potatoes, onions, salad, beer, and wine (that sounds good now). Afterwards, some of us decided to head out for a few drinks, which ended keeping us out until about 3 am (not the best choice before an all day volcano climb, but hey, vacations are to be enjoyed).

The following morning, I was awakened by another person in the hostel who was also going on the climb. Apparently, when you are about to do an all day trip, getting 3 hours of sleep is not the best way to wake up to an alarm clock. I had a bit of breakfast, packed my stuff, and headed for Aquaventure base camp to gear up. Each person was equipped with hiking boots, a helmet, an ice pick, and a backpack that was filled with a windbreaker, snowpants, mittens, a sled (explained later), and all of the food/water you chose to carry. Sunglasses were also recommended as the light reflecting off of the snow was almost blinding. Once prepared, our group of about 30 people, including guides, headed for the base of the 9,500 foot Villarrica Volcano. Once we arrived, we were divided in to groups of about 5 people per guide, and were given an important option. We could either pay a couple of dollars and take a ski lift the first 1,000 feet of the climb, or we could hike it instead. Although I was not feeling the sharpest, I had already told myself that I was doing the whole climb without the lift. When they asked for a hand raise to see who wanted to do what, I was literally the only person in the whole group who did not want to take the lift. The guides must have thought I was crazy, but I was intent on climbing the whole volcano on foot. I figured that one of the guides would do the first leg with me. False. They pointed me in the direction of the path and said, ‘welp, see you later.” Although I thought it was weird that I had paid so much to be sent ahead on my own, I went with it. The first 1000 feet were not that challenging, a little rocky, but overall just a good way to shake the effects of the night before. The only annoying thing was that I walked along side the chairlift, so everyone in my group and all of the other hundreds of people making the climb that day were passing me and probably having a good laugh at my expense. Whatever, I was one of the younger, sprightlier members of the group, I could handle it. I reached the top of the chairlift to find one of the guides waiting for me. The rest of the group had gone on without me, which worked out fine because I had my own personal guide and did not have to walk in a long line of climbers for the next leg. Almost immediately, the footing started getting difficult because of snow/ice and we began using our ice picks for stabilization. As we continued up the volcano the view below us became more and more amazing. We stopped to take pictures and drink some water every so often, but because there were only two us we were able to catch up with the rest of our group within about 45 minutes. As we got closer and closer to the top, there were places where we were walking along ridges that were only about a foot and a half wide, definitely a challenge in some of the slippery areas. When we were about an hour from the top my feet began hurting and I began to wonder if not taking the chairlift was a mistake. It was not. I was going to make it. Finally, after about 4-5 hours of climbing, we reached the summit (not sure if that terminology works for volcanoes, or just for mountains, but I am going to use anyway). While taking in the breathtaking view, we put on all of our wind gear as the freezing, blustery wind swirled around us. The volcano was visibly active and was letting off a lot of strong, sulfur-smelling steam. If you inhaled even a little bit of it your chest and sinuses burned and your eyes watered up. Nevertheless, being able to get within a few hundred feet of the mouth of a volcano was an unforgettable experience. We stayed at the top for the better part of an hour and were able to take some great pictures of the surrounding lakes, mountains, and volcanoes down below. As we prepared to head down, we rigged small, plastic sleds to our belts. We were told that we were going to slide down the majority of the descent, which was alright with me as I was quite tired. After a short walk, we reached our first sliding point. The best way to describe this would be that we sat on our sled in luge-like tracks, using our ice picks to control our speed. We were sent off in intervals to avoid pileups, although this ultimately failed as some people were very slow. Frustrated with this as I wanted to let lose and go really fast, I ended up going first one time. My brilliant idea to ‘go fast’ resulted in me sliding slightly of control, losing my sled, and doing a bit of a barrel roll/flip type thing. It was great. After sliding down most of the volcano, we packed up our sleds and wind gear and hiked the last 45 minutes. We reached the bottom to find our vans waiting for us and headed back to the company base, thus ending another extremely unique and exhilarating experience. After a much needed nap and shower, Jason and I headed out to dinner with a few of the other hostel guests. Unlike the night before, we were not out too late because everyone was a bit tired.

The next morning we woke up in time to get to the station and catch our 8:50 am bus out of Pucón. We had another 10 hour bus ride between Pucón, Chile and Bariloche, Argentina, with a short layover in the border city of Osorno, Chile. While in Osorno, we ambled around and mingled a bit with the locals, as well as had a great pizza lunch. It was not a town I would need to visit again as there was really nothing unique or noteworthy about it, but it was another place to add to my list of places I have been. Arriving in Bariloche around early evening, we caught a cab to our hostel, the Tango Inn. Bariloche is a large tourist town in the Lake District of Argentina, known for its hiking, picturesque scenery, skiing, and chocolate. Although I was told it was a not to be missed destination, I would disagree. It was basically a huge tourist trap that was nowhere near as charming as Pucón. Nonetheless, we had two nights and a few days to spend, so we made the most of it. The night we arrived, we got settled in the hostel, then ventured out to find a place for dinner. Sticking with Jason’s rustic theme, we tried to find a place that fit this description. We search, and searched, and searched for what seemed like hours (no, actually, it was hours, Jason was in an extremely rustic mood). Finally, we happened upon a family-owned, Italian restaurant with homemade pasta that fulfilled all of the rustic requirements. The food was great; the only thing that Jason could not get over was that they served beer in wine glasses. After dinner, we headed to an Irish microbrewery and tried a few of the local brews before turning in for the night. After sleeping in and having what was advertised as an amazing hostel breakfast (some eggs and bread, which actually was better than most we had eaten), we wandered the streets lined with numerous novelty stores and chocolate shops. After stopping at the local tourist office, we caught a bus headed toward a local beach. We grabbed a quick lunch at a lakeside café, then headed down to the beach for some quality swimming and laying out. The views of the surrounding mountains/volcanoes were beautiful and the beach was nice (although it lacked much sand, mostly large stones that were hard to lie on). Because the water of the lakes comes from the melting snow of the mountains, the average temperature of the water is a balmy 57 degrees Fahrenheit. Aside from a few quick dips in and out, this temperature was almost unbearable to spend much time in. After a few hours on the beach and a quick beer at another lakeside café, we caught a bus back to the center of town and the hostel.

That night, the last real night of my trip, we met up with a few people we knew from previous hostels. I was set on having one last Argentinean steak, so we look for a place where this would be possible. We ended up at some restaurant with a giant neon giraffe outside, not exactly what you would expect from a steakhouse. The giraffe pretty much told the story; the steak was the worst of five steaks I had eaten on the whole trip, though it was still a fine dinner. Afterwards we headed back to the Irish microbrewery for a bit, then back to the hostel. We woke up the next morning, Thursday, January 29, and had some breakfast, then checked out of the hostel. After going to the bus station for Jason to buy his ticket for that night, we wandered around town a bit more, sat on a beach nearby for a bit, and then found a place for our last lunch together before going our separate ways. Afterwards, we sampled a bit of the famous Bariloche chocolate (it was pretty good, but also pretty much the same as other homemade chocolate shops I have visited before) and then picked up our bags from the hostel. Around 4:30 in the afternoon, Jason caught a cab to the bus station and I caught a bus to the airport and we were on our separate ways. My flight, which I had booked only a few days earlier, had already been changed, which was a bit annoying. The airline had changed my flight to about 5 hours later, so I figured I might be able to talk them in to setting me up with a hotel or in a VIP lounge for the inconvenience. No such luck. I arrived in an airport in Buenos Aires around midnight and there was absolutely no airline representative to be found. I have realized that in South America, airlines kind of operate at their own convenience and not at the convenience of their customers. Therefore, I had about 10 hours to kill before my first of two connecting flights to Paraguay. I wandered the airport looking for a place to crash and eventually just ended up sleeping on the floor with dirty clothes as a pillow for the better part of 8 hours. I will not lie, it was not the best night of my life, but I survived. After eating pasta for breakfast, I caught a flight to Corrientes, Argentina, my last stop before getting back to Asuncion, Paraguay. At this point I was thankful that my flight had been changed because, had it not have been, I would have spent the night sleeping on the floor of a very old, one room airport. I had never seen such a small airport. This place made the Madison airport look big. Heck, this place made the Madison Greyhound station look big. I then learned that my final connecting flight had been delayed another few hours and that, all in all, I would arrive in Paraguay about 28 hours after I had left Bariloche. I passed the time watching a movie on my ipod and eventually caught my final flight back to my home away from home. I waited another two hours in Asuncion and was eventually picked up from the airport, thus ending my whistle-stop tour of South America.

Overall, the three weeks I spent traveling in Argentina and Chile were amazing and I was able to see as much as I believe possible in such a time frame. If I had to rank my three favorite places along the way, in terms of unique experiences, I would go with Iguazú Falls, Mendoza, and Pucón. That being said, there were many other memorable places along the way. As I returned to Villeta, I felt both refreshed and motivated for my last three and a half months and I felt my language skills had greatly improved during my vacation (surprising considering I felt like I used English almost exclusively, though I did do a lot of translating for others). I will cut this post off now and get back to you with an update on life in Paraguay. I hope all is well wherever I may be finding you at this moment. A happy and blessed Easter season to all.

-MWC

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