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Published: August 14th 2018
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Pucón (01/08/2018-07/08/2018)
Pucón: a cosy, charming town set on the gorgeous Lake Villarrica, with some serious alpine vibes going on.
Sitting under the shadow of Volcan Villarrica (one of South America's most active volcanoes, and one I would later climb), Pucón packs a massive punch despite it's small size.
Here you can find all year round adventure; it offers the perfect combination of adrenaline and nature. I absolutely fell in love.
I arrived at 7am - the air was crisp and fresh, the ground was sparkling with frost, the sunrise was a beauitul purple pink, and snow-capped Volcán Villarrica was smoking in the distance.
Ahhh, beautiful, beautiful Pucón.
Chili Kiwi Hostel This is the hostel of dreams.
I walked in at 7.30am and the fireplace was lit and somebody was cooking pancakes. Oh, hello!
Soft beds, individual plugs/lights, toasty fireplaces, tree houses, converted campervans.... This hostel (more like a home) is seriously epic. If you come here, don't stay anywhere else -
check it out here! I stayed here for 2 nights before moving to my 4th couch surfing home (because 1. Chile's expensive and 2. I love couch
surfing!).
Summiting Volcán Villarrica: The Craziest Day of My Life Volcán Villarrica is one of South America's most active volcanoes, last errupting in 2015. It is also known as Rucapillán, a Mapuche word meaning "Devil's House": snowy, steep, and glacier covered, it rises proud above the lake and town at 2,847m.
I almost came home broken: it was the craziest thing I've ever done.
It was me and a lovely French family, and our guide (Edwin, an adorable 46 year old Chileno) from the French company, Aguaventura (can't recommend them enough). Yes, the trip was in Spanish, French, and a tiny bit of English.
I was equipped with layers and layers of protective clothing.. plus hardcore boots.. crampons.. an ice axe.. and a gas mask.
It took 4 exhausting hours (it is supposed to take 6, but we were super fast) to get to the top. Half way up, my water froze. Damn. No more water for Amy.
As we were approaching the crater, the wind was pushing and shoving me anywhere it wanted. I was crawling along to stop myself from being pushed about. I can't describe how insanely powerful
and scary the wind was and how cold it was up there. My hands were numb.
We ditched our bags 15 minutes from the crater, and climbed over the sparkling icy blue glacier to the crater. Bits of ice were flicking up and stinging my face.
My throat started to burn with the volcano smoke so I desperately put on my gas mask.
There was so much wind I couldn't feel my face at all and I had long strings of snot (sorry, this is pretty detailed I know) flying, I was an absolute mess. It was flying up and hitting my glasses and going all over my gas mask.. but I literally did not care. I had 2 pairs of heavy duty gloves on.. so at times I would attempt to wipe it away and within seconds the snot froze on my gloves!
We got to the crater - I slowly edged forward, crawling along the floor trying to be as aerodynamic as possible, and gripped tightly onto my guide who was standing on the edge of the crater, and peered inside into what looked like hell.
The crater was massive, ashy, snowy, and
smokey. Red hot lava was splashing up inside and glowing the brightest red. Dark smoke was errupting out and burning my throat even more and my eyes were running from the icy, cold wind.
At one point we were completely engulfed by a massive ash cloud, I yelled out a few swear words and squeezed my eyes tightly shut and my I held my breath til it went.
Photos were not a piriority for me, I was more concerned with not being blown inside the volcano. But we very quickly took a few (and a video, see below) - trying to stand up straight, and holding onto my cameras so tightly, because we had already lost gloves and a crampon bag to the wind.
After the photos and video (see below, hope you are all impressed I learnt how to get it on here!). We headed down, "slowly slowly", our guide kept saying. After 10 minutes, the wind reduced and we all relaxed. We grabbed our bags and headed down further.
On the way down you can sledge down on your bum cause it is so friggin steep and slippery. You can use your ice axe
as a break. But I went way too fast, and couldn't break, it was just so slippery, I lost my axe, and started rolling and I remember thinking, oh god, what bone am I going to break. Luckily I banged into the others and only sprained my thumb (thank god!). The whole way down, I literally was like bambi.. skiding and slipping and falling into deep snow over and over again. You go so fast when you fall and you can't stop yourself, it was actually pretty scary. I was worried of slipping into the snowy abyss, Edwin (my saviour) held my hand the whole way down, for hours. He picked me up when I fell, and I picked him up when he fell. And every time I wanted to slide down (slowly!), he even went infront of me - ready to catch me.
My hair was tightly plaited the whole time, but the wind on the volcano had caused it to wrap round my hat and I literally couldn't get my hat off (hilarious). Edwin sat with me for 10 minutes and untangled it for me. What a hero (he got a good tip afterwards, don't worry!).
Once we got down, we celebrated with a very well deserved beer and reflected on what the hell had just happened to us.
Other Adventures Edwin's cosy home is incredibly adorable; totally built by himself (complete with fireplace!). He has 14 chickens, 1 german shepard (Cafi), 2 cats (can't remember their names), and plenty of land. It was my dream home. Every morning I collected the fresh eggs and fed the animals. Heaven.
During my stay here, over a few days, me and Edwin went to: Ojos de Caburgua (waterfalls), Salta de Claro (another waterfall), Playa Negro (the beach), and to two hot springs (Termas). One day, we picked up 4 travellers along the way (they weren't even hitch hiking but it was raining and Edwin is nice like that) and took them around with us all day long.
The Termas - these beautiful, steamy hot, natural pools are heaven. Seriously relaxing: you’d be hard pressed to find a more impressive place to relax. Just what I needed after that epic volcano climb. After a soak and a glass of Chilean tinto, I have never felt so relaxed!
For my 28th, we went
for a trip to the Termas, and went out for a good cold Chilean beer, a massive pizza, and a birthday cake. It was a slab of chocolate (milk and white), walnut and dulce de leche cake. Wow, wow, wow. Happy birthday to me!
Check Out The Volcano Video Below:
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