Pucon

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The bus from San Martin to Pucon was an early 6am start and I recall getting up around 4.30am in order to get ready and take a stroll to the bus station. It was pretty quite with just a few shops open and the ticket office (although I’d purchased my ticket the day before). It was still dark but felt safe and the bus arrived late. Once we got going though all wa fine and it was a short 6 hour bus trip across the border into Chile.

Pucon is another charming little alpine town in the heart of the Chilean Lake District. The town sits on Lake Villerrica and there is a little beach where you can chill out. It’s a great place to wander around dipping into cafes, artisan markets and museums. I stayed in the El Refugio Hostel which was more or less in the centre of town and was run by a lovely Dutch/Chilean couple. It was a really friendly hostel and being back in dorms again soon got chatting to lots of people. I also bumped into a couple of travellers who i’d met in Puerto Natales so in the evening we all popped out for dinner and drinks.

There are lots of activities to do in the surrounding area and I opted for a days hike in the local national park and also horse riding and dinner with a local family. There was also the opportunity to climb VILLARRICA Volcao however the weather was a bit dodgy and a couple of tourists had died the week before on the mountain after the weather had taken a turn for the worse so I gave that a miss !!

The hiking in Huerquehue National park was great in gorgeous lakeland scenery and it was pretty quite and peaceful as well. The horse riding was interesting as it was the first time I’d been on a horse however we never went too fast so it wasn’t too bad (still aching the next day though). I stayed in Pucon around 4 days but could have easily stayed longer however Santiago was calling and after another 12 hour comfortable with stunning scenery bus journey (I’ll try and add up the hours spent on buses for the last RTW.2 entry) I was back where I started when arriving on the continent from New Zealand in November 2011......and there was so much more to see....

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