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Published: January 26th 2007
Hostal donde German...
with Vulcan Villarrica in the background, on the morning we arrived in Pucón. The only day we got a clear view of the volcano.As we traded five days in Bolivia for five more days in Chile, we thought we'd take a short trip away from the city life in Santiago. Patagonia would have been nice, but that's a trip that takes a minimum of two weeks, so we found this nice little place, Pucón, 11 hours on an overnight bus south-southeast of Santiago. The main attraction was Volcan Villarrica, one of South America's five most active volcanoes, with daily eruptions (though the last time the lava got outside the crater was in 1984).
We arrived early in the morning and were picked up from the bus station by the very nice staff at
Hostel donde Germán. The hostel couldn't be more perfect. Situated 10-15 minutes walk from town, with views of the mountain to the north and the glacier-covered volcano to the east against blue skies, the house felt more like home than a hostel.
Settled in, we headed out to town in search for a tour operator to take us up the glacier to the top of the volcano, to hopefully get a glimps of the magma. The town, situated on the shore (black beaches) of clear blue Lago Villarrica, can be taken
Chili-dog (ha ha)
Employed as security for Hostal donde German. Her name is Flor, and she's obviously very scary ;) from any alpine ski resort and despite being very touristy (loads of restaurants and tour operators) we found it very friendly and cosy. After checking a number of operators we were finally booked in with Volcan Activo (donde Germán's tour operator) for a full day's hike up the volcano, with a 7am start.
The alarm sounded 6am. A quick look out the window revealed a few more clouds than the day before, but the volcano was still visible. By the time we got to Volcan Activo's office, just before 7am, the clouds had thickened and we could hardly see the volcano. After a short discussion with the guide and a look at the forecast we decided to reschedule for the day after next and booked a horseback riding trip the day in between.
What to do now? Luckily the local triathlon - half
Iron Man - was on with an 8am start, so we spent most of the day watching the poor contestants battling it out. Great fun and a really nice event to watch, even though we didn't understand a lot of what the commentators were saying (gotta learn Spanish properly before our next trip!).
Our bedroom
window gave us a pretty sight the next morning. Cloud over the volcano, but nice weather apart from that. Perfect for a day on the horseback, but not so good for a volcano trip. Our guide picked us up at 9am and drove us 15km outside Pucón to the
Antilco ranch. After a brief introduction to the Chilean way of riding (similar to western riding, as far as we understand) we (a group of six) were introduced to our horses and set off, with our guide Pablo, around 10 am. We really felt like the men in the movie City Slickers...
The first hour was on the flat, through a Mapuche indian reservation and over a little creek. A couple of straights were perfect for gallop. D's horse Bartollo was really keen and so was D, and off they went. H was keen on galloping too, but her horse, Polca, was more of the lazy kind, regarless of how much she kicked and whipped her (you use the end of the reins, it's not as mean as it sounds). She did gallop a wee bit but just didn't put her heart into it. We stopped at the edge of
the woods for a short rest, before the climb up the mountain. That's when it started raining. As we hadn't brought any ponchos, we called for them and continued up the mountain. Our "helper" Alejandra, at the ranch, should catch up with us later with ponchos. It took her a while to catch up with us however - a couple of hours. By then we were soaked and had been slowly making our way up the steep mountainside though the woods.
Wet and cold, but still in a very good spirit we continued up the mountain, with fantastic views, to the site for our lunch break. A few hill sides along the way provided plenty of space for galloping, which we of course took advantage of. We took the same way back after lunch. The rain stopped briefly, just to start 30 minutes later.
About two thirds down the mountain, the horse in front of D and Bartollo was probably stung by a bee and started to freak out. Bartollo really didn't like the sight of that and joined in, to the point where D was an inch away from being thrown off and down a steep and
deep canyon. Even the lazy Polca jumped about a little. Somehow we managed to calm the horses and get them away from that part of the track to assess the damages. A dirty camera, which one of the others had dropped (a miracle it didn't get stepped on by one of the horses) during the action, and some bruises, were the only things to report.
The rest of the way down was calm. Alive and well on the flat again we took a slightly different path back to the ranch, along the river. Despite the occasional shower, the scenery couldn't be prettier, like taken from a glossy tourist guide. A few more fields to gallops over and an hours' walk later, we were back at the ranch at sunset. It was time to pay - backs, thighs, well most muscles in our bodies were aching after 8-9 hours in the saddle, but with a very nice experience, full of new memories and skills (we can now give Ivanhoe a run for his money) we limped to the van that was to take us home to our bed.
At the hostel, we met the owner of the hostel and
the tour operator and he said he was going to wake us up at 6am, if the weather was good for the volcano trip. Oh no, a day of hiking after this!
D woke up just before 9am and realised that he hadn't heard any knock on the door around 6am. A quick look out the window confirmed it - a big cloud over Volcano Villarrica. No volcano trip to day either, and this was going to be our last day in Pucón, i.e. not volcano climb at all.
After a late breakfast we walked into town to get our money back for the volcano trip. At the office, we came up with the fantastic idea to rent mountain bikes to cycle to some waterfalls we've heard people talking about. That's surely going to be a lot more pleasant for our sore muscles than hiking for a day! Right.
We set off without much planning, sun cream or even a decent map. At Vulcan Activo, they said the 40 km roundtrip would take around 4 hours. Well maybe, if you weren't sore after 8-9 hours in the saddle the day before. Three hours later, we got to
the waterfalls, via dusty, hilly, but very scenic roads in full-on sunshine (only Volcano Villarrica was covered in clouds). The waterfalls were very nice, but we were too tired to really appreciate them. We decided to take the easier paved road back to Pucón, and arrived very tired and even more sore at 6pm, just in time for dinner and our 11 hour bus back to Santiago.
Eftersom vi bytt fem dagar i Bolivia mot fem extra dagar i Chile tankte vi att vi skulle ta en kort tur bort fran stadslivet i Santiago. Patagonien hade varit kul, men eftersom den resan tar minst tva veckor sa hittade vi ett trevligt stalle, Pucón, 11 timar pa en nattbuss sydsydost om Santiago. Huvudattraktionen ar Volcan Villarrica, en av sydamerikas mest aktiva vulkaner, med dagliga utbrott (senaste gangen lavan tog sig utanfor kratern var dock 1984).
Vi anlande tidigt pa morgonen och hamtades av den trevliga personalen pa
Hostel donde Germán. Vandrarhemet kunde inte ha varit mer perfekt. Belaget 10-15 minuters promenad fran stan, med utsikt over bergen norrut och den glaciartackta vulkanen osterut mot bla himmel, kandes det mer som hemma an ett vandrarhem.
Val installerade tog vi oss in
till stan for att leta upp en utflyktsarrangor som kunde ta oss med till glaciaren pa toppen av vulkanen for att forhoppningsvis fa en skymt av magman. Staden, belagen vid den svarta (lavasand) stranden vid klarbla Lago Villarica, kan lika garna ligga i en alpin skidort och trots att den ar valdigt turistig (massor av researrangorer och restauranger) tyckte vi den var valdigt trevlig och mysig. Efter att ha kollat in nagra arrangorer bokade vi in oss pa Volcan Activo (donde Germáns egen arrangor) for en heldagstur upp pa vulkanen, med start klockan 7 nasta morgon.
Vackarklockan ringde klockan 6. En snabb titt ut genom fonstret avslojade nagot molnigare vader an dagen innan, men vulkanen var anda fullt synlig. Nar vi kom till Volcan Actovos kontor, strax fore klockan 7, hade dock molnen tatnat och vi kunde knappt se vulkanen. Efter en kort diskussion med guiden och en titt pa vaderprognosen bestamde vi oss for att ta vulkanen dagen efter nasta med en turridning mellan (dvs imorgon).
Vad gora nu? Som tur var borjade ett lokalt triatlon - halv
Iron Man - klockan 8, sa vi tittade pa de stackars tavlande nastan hela dagen. Ganska kul, och ett bra
Taking a break...
before ascending up the mountain side. Polca isn't impressed, she wants to go home and have a nap. evenemang att titta pa, aven om vi inte forstod sa mycket av vad kommentatorerna sa (maste lara oss spanska ordentligt innan var nasta resa!).
Vart sovrumsfonster visade fin utsikt nasta morgon. Moln pa vulkanen, men annars fint vader. Perfekt for en dag pa hastryggen, en inte sa bra for en vulkanklattring. Var guide hamtade oss klockan 9 ock korde oss 15 km utanfor Pucón till ranchen
Antilco. Efter en kort demonstration av det chilenska sattet att rida (liknande westernridning savitt vi kunde forsta) fick vi traffa vara hastar och satte av med var guide Pablo ungefar klockan 10. Vi kande oss som grabbarna i filmen City Slickers...
Den forsta timmen var det platt mark, genom ett Mapucheindianreservat och over en liten back. Nagra rakstrackor var perfekta for galopp. Ds hast Bartollo var pigg pa det och D ocksa, och de satte av. Ha var ocksa sugen, men hennes hast Polca var mer av den lata sorten, hur mycket H an sparkade och piskade henne (man piskar med anden pa tyglarna, inte sa elakt som det later). Hon tog nagra galoppsprang, men utan vidare entusiasm. Vi stannade vid skogskanten for att vila lite innan klattringen uppfor berget. Da borjade
det regna. Efersom vi inte hade tagit med nagra ponchos ringde vi efter dem och fortsatte uppfor berget. Var "hjalp" Alejandra pa ranchen skulle rida ikapp oss med vara ponchos. Det tog dock ett tag, ett par timmar. Vid det laget var vi genomblota och hade sakta tagit oss genom skogen uppfor bergssidan.
Blota och kalla, men vid gott mod fortsatte vi uppfor berget, med fantastisk utsikt, till var rastplats for att ata lunch. Nagra bergssidor runt om visade sig kanon for mera galopperande, vilket vi forstas gjorde. Vi tog samma vag tillbaka efter lunch. Regnet holl upp, bara for att borja igen en halvtimme senare.
Ungefar tva trejdedelar ner fran berget blev formodligen hasten framfor D och Bartollo stucken av ett bi och borjade spatta runt. Bartollo gillade inte det och borjade ocksa skutta, sapass att D var en harsman fran att kastas av nedfor en djup och brant ravin. Aven latmasken Polca skuttade litegrann. Pa nagot satt lyckades vi lugna hastarna och ta oss bort fran den delen av stigen for att kolla sa att alla var okej. En smutsig kamera som en av de andra i gruppen hade tappat i tumultet, och nagra blamarken, var
allt vi kunde rapportera.
Resten av vagen ner var lugn lugn. Val nere pa platt mark igen tog vi en annan stig tillbaka till ranchen, langs floden. Trots en och annan regnskur kunde inte naturen vara vackrare, som tagen rakt fran en turistbroschyr. Efter nagra fler falt att galoppera over och en timmes skritt senare var vi tillbaka vid ranchen vid solnedgangen. Dags att betala - ryggar, lar, ja varje muskel ommade efter 8-9 timmar i sadlarna, men med en fin upplevelse, massor av nya minnen och kunskaper (vi kan nog ge Ivanhoe en match) haltade vi till bilen som skulle skjutsa hem oss till var sang.
Pa vandrarhemmet traffade vi agaren (som ocksa hade hand om turerna) och han sa att han skulle knacka pa var dorr klockan 6 nasta morgon om vadret var bra nog for en vulkantur. A nej, en dags vandring efter detta!
D vaknade strax fore 9 och insag att han inte hade hort nagon knackning pa dorren klockan 6. En snabb titt ut genom fonstret bekraftade - ett stort moln kring Volcano Villarrica. Ingen vandring den dagen heller, och detta var var sista dan i Pucón, dvs ingen vulkanklattring alls.
Efter en sen frukost gich vi in till stan for att fa vara penger tillbaka for vulkanturen. Dar kom vi pa den lysande iden att hyra mountainbikes for att cykla till ett par vattenfall vi hort talas om. Det borde val bara skonare for vara muskler an en dags vardring. Ha!
Vi satte av utan mycket planerande, solkram eller ens en ordentlig karta. Pa Vulcan Activo hade de sagt att turen pa 40km skulle ta ungefar 4 timmar. Kanske, om man inte var om efter 8-9 timmar i sadeln dagen innan. Tre timmar senare kom vi till vattenfallen, via dammiga, backiga men valdigt fina vagar i fullt solsken (bara Vulcano Villarrica var tackt av moln). Vattenfallen var fina, men vi var for trotta for att uppskatta dem riktigt. Vi bestamde oss for att ta den nagot enklare asfalterade vagen tillbaka till Pucón och kom fram annu trottare och ommare klockan 6, precis lagom till middag och 11-timmarsturen med buss tillbaka till Santiago.
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Francis
non-member comment
Hóla!
...eller hur det nu heter i Chile =) Har följt er blogg ett tag nu, klart kul att se & läsa, många snygga bilder! I Svedala har vintern slagit till, snö & kallt. Hoppas att ni har det bra och trivs med resan, det ser trevligt ut. Ha de bra! /Francis