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Blogs from Pucón, Araucanía, Chile, South America
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April 27th 2013
Pucon is a very nice town on the shore of Lake Villarica overlooked by the Volcano Villarica and it is only 5 1/2 hours away from Puerto Varas so a nice bus ride for us. We checked into a lovely hostel all wooden and heated by wood burners giving it a swiss chalet feel. Most people visiting Pucon have one goal in mind. Climbing the active volcano! A hike of 5hrs up. Crampons and ice picks required to scale the near vertical wall of ice to the summit, depending on the wind direction you then get to rest at the top inhaling toxic fumes before passing out and sliding back down. Marks knees have survived all our walks to now but we decided that this might be one step too far. We spent the first day ... read more
April 11th 2013
I've done so much since I have last written that it's almost to hard to remember what I have done. I've noticed I say "amazing" a lot, but I can't help it, everything is amazing here. I need some new adjectives to describe everything, that part of my brain has stopped working, but ill see how I go. Some things you should also note, I've changed..... I drink black coffee now, Malbec wine is my friend, I haven't used a hair brush since I've left home, my standards on frequency of showering have lowered, I put used toilet paper in a bucket next to the toilet. I wonder how many of these changes will stay, let's hope the toilet paper one adjusts accordingly, otherwise I apologise in advance if I come visit your place and use ... read more
March 30th 2013
Hi everybody, Our first outing in Pucon was hiking the beautiful Huerquehue National park about 50 Kms from base. The funny thing in Pucon is even though they are surrounded by National Parks and camping opportunities for locals and tourists alike, there are actually no tents to be found for rent anywhere in the city (we thought renting would be more convenient for us on our journey in South America), Carmen and I spent hours asking every tour agency without success. Resigned to a couple of day hikes I headed to the Rangers administration office in Pucon to request a map and after hearing the difficulty we were having the Park administrator kindly offered us to stay in the ranger's dome at the campsite. With both our sleeping back and food we set off for a ... read more
Mar 15 - Pucon. Journée détente aux sources d’eau chaude Geometricas / Relaxing daya t the Geometricas hot springs
Published: March 20th 2013South America » Chile » Araucanía » Pucón
March 15th 2013
Après un petit déjeuner délicieux avec salade de fruits frais et jus de framboise frais (et tarte, et toasts fromage & jambon !), direction les thermes « Géometricas » à 1h30 de Pucon, avec des pauses au bord de lacs à l’aller. Il y a plein de termes dans la région, le nombre de bassins et le style diffèrent, mais celles-ci ont la réputation d’être les plus belles. Il y a 17 bassins, avec des températures allant aujourd’hui entre 36 et 42 degrés, idéal pour une fan des douches brulantes ! il y a même deux bassins à 5 degrés pour se rafraichir. Le lieu est vraiment merveilleux, à l’intérieur d’un canyon, au milieu de la verdure, avec un système de passerelles/couloirs au beau design rouge en bois très bien intégré. Même les toilettes sont zen ... read more
Mar 13 – Osorno- Pucon. Le Chili c’est parti! / Chile, let’s get started!
Published: March 13th 2013South America » Chile » Araucanía » Pucón
March 13th 2013
Début de matinée à aller voir le centre de Osorno quand même, on m’avait averti qu’il n’y avait pas grand-chose, c’est vrai mais c’était bien vivant et ils s’auto-proclament comme écrit sur la statue du taureau « terre de la viande, patrie du lait », je n’aurais pas eu le temps de tester ! 5 heures de bus plus tard, arrivée à Pucon. Ville très touristique cela se voit mais que je trouve mignonne (sauf le café en faux volcan de la photo !) et ce n’est plus vraiment la haute saison, alors ça ne fourmille pas. Et puis il y a le lac avec sa plage de sable noir et le volcan Villarica quasi l’un à côté de l’autre, j’ai jamais vu ça moi. Demain, si le temps le permet je vais faire l’ascension de ... read more
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January 4th 2013
After having a week consiting of surfing eating and sleeping it was timr to move on to another town and new activities and people. I had heard from a friend that the town of Pucon, which is nestled underneath the peak of the Villarica Volcano, is a hub for tourists looking for adventure. I also wanted to move to somewhere that would have more tourists for new years eve, rather than the sleepy surf town of Pichilemu. With Boris, the german quarter of the quarteto magico, I set out on an overnight journey to Pucon on a route which was not often travelled by tourists. We had to cacth 3 different buses through 2 towns which I doubt have ever seen a tourist, let alone two on the night before new years eve. With our limited ... read more
December 26th 2012
The clouds are gone and the sun is out. The view from the front porch of the cabin and out the huge glass window is of clear blue Lago Villarrica and the volcano, Volcán Villarrica. Smiles all around, beautiful view. After breakfast we head out to Parque Nacional Huerquehue (Huerquehue National Park), about an hour away. We like to see national parks back at home in the US and like to stamp our park passport book but here we settle for pictures in front of the sign. This is our second Chilean national park for those counting at home. We set out on the Sendero de los Lagos (Lakes Trail) to see…you guessed it, lakes. The trail passes through some real nice forest of Araucaria trees in the beginning which looks pretty nice but then the ... read more
A Truck Called Elle - the journey begins
Published: February 12th 2013South America » Chile » Araucanía » Pucón
December 23rd 2012
The next part of my journey would take me through the wind-swept plains and snow-covered mountains of Patagonia, and down to the End of the World. I had signed up to a 34 day overlanding trip with my favourite company, Dragoman. We'd be covering thousands of kilometres in a giant truck laden with camping equipment and outdoor cooking gear. The truck was called Elle, and she was a tough lady capable of driving over rough terrain. Our trip would take us into the true wilderness of Chile and Argentina. Our crew consisted of eighteen people of varying nationality, age and background. It was an interesting and eclectic mix of personalities, and over the coming 34 days we would get to know each other very well. We would become a small community where everyone has to work ... read more
Volcanoes and a detour on a friend's suggestion...not quite the Hobbit.
Published: October 22nd 2012South America » Chile » Araucanía » Pucón
October 22nd 2012
After Chiloe we have ventured northwards to the town of Pucon on the shaws of Lago Villarrica. The surroundings are pictureque as you may expect of Chile's Lake District.There are a smattering of lakes, white beaches and lush forests, farms and snow capped peaks. The back drop to all of this countryside idyll is Mount Villarrica. This mountain also happens to be a volcano. An active volcano. A molten rock spewing death bringer which last visited hellfire upon the countryside in the 1980s, but has an angry an violent hisory stretching back further than written records. It's also open at the top making it easier for it to spray armageddon for miles in every direction. So why would we come to this potential Mordor? Well, the volcano isn't as scary as I made out and science ... read more
August 24th 2012
Day 4 Pucon a Chile Wanaka/Queenstown a small town of tourist/excursion shops cafes and bars. That afternoon we took ourselves to the local hot pools on a local bus our Spanish is improving (slightly) much more natural than De Bretts. We encountered a quite unusual “spiritual” man who was trying to read our auras?! Apparently no one is going to mess with Rhi and Amy has come across some F*ckwit blokes in her time . . . The trip there and back was an experience in itself the bus driver taking a detour to drop something off to a mate! Again we were unfortunate in that our volcano climb was cancelled because of the high winds and snowboarding was out as for the same reason. Not letting this keep us down we caught another local bus ... read more
