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Published: April 23rd 2007
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All geared up and half way to go!
Villarica volcano, half way up or was it down...... On route to Pucon we stopped over night in Punta Arenas and the following morning we lurked around for an hour before we departed for the airport. We had to take a photo of Ferdinand Magallan, who discovered the Maggallan Straits, as Wendy compiled a school project on the straits in junior school(do you remember mom ?). Yes this was on the small camera so the pics gone too, thanks again Rob, shocker Robber.
Pucon was a welcome change and to get some sunshine and it was very green, however(yes the however again) we were not done with the snow yet.
Pucon is famous for its live volcano, Villarica at 2800m high, and of course we had to climb it. As the weather can also be unpredicatable and it had not been climbed in the past week becuse of the weather we decided to try and conquer it the next day, having only arrived at 8pm that evening. We first however grabbed a quick pizza for dinner. A bottle of red wine later and an awesome pizza containing palmitos we were ready. We discovered Palmitos for the first time which is the heart of a palm tree. The
Marching on!
Villarica volcano, and the troops go marching on. owner Javier was great in explaining our new found food and letting us try this new dish. Well, armed with a sore head and a few left over pieces of pizza we were ready to take on the volcano.
So at 7am the next morning we got kitted out with boots, crampons, ice pick and a snow nappy for the descents. We were joined with 2 German girls, an Aussie, a Brasilian and a few others. There were 2 guides that would be our eyes and ears to get us to the top. When we arrived at the base we all cheated a little and caught the ski chair lift for the first part, (yes it can be skiied in winter). The first section from here was not too bad but, as we climbed higher the wind picked up and it became icier. The altitide was high so we got out of breath quickly and thank goodness we had loads of water. The last section was very icy which was ok climbing up as the crampons on the boots and the ice pick gave us plenty of grip however the descent would be too dangerous so we had to
Mmmmmmmm!
Villarica volcano, Wendy munching on the best pizza in Chile, thanks Javier. stop 400m from the smoking top. So the weather gods getting the better of us this time, we stopped for lunch and did we enjoy the left over palmitos pizza, Javier we still have this pic and a copy is on the way. After we filled our bellies we took off the crampons and got kitted out w¡th our nappies. It was hilarious as we descended down the mountain on our bums with a few snowball fights thrown in, it really lightened up the mood after not making it to the top.
That evening we had the best Austrian goulash ever, thanks to Fransesca and Frans (Southern Sky Chile, tour agents with an awsome coffee shop). Hey guys thanks for the hospitallity you really made us feel at home, hopefully see you on the ski slopes in Europe later in the year, you can teach us a thing or too!
Day 3 in Pucon and Gauchos(cowboys) we had become. We embarked on a horsetrail in the scenic mountains and it was spectacular. Hans was our guide for the day, a proper Austrian cowboy. Wendy had the slow horse and he was the leader/guide. Our horses kept eyeballing each
Close but no cigar!
Villarica volcano, So close, 400m from the top. If you look carefully you can see the valcano smoking. other as there seemed to be some competition between them which made for an interesting ride. Wendy was too slow so Hans made her a whip from a branch and Wendy proceeded to tickle the horse. The scenery was majestic and we stopped for lunch and had Choriso on the braai(sorry Barbi for the Poms). Choriso is a spicy Chilean sausage, similar to the spanish version. This was accompanied by rolls, melted cheese, beers and a few pisco sours(whiskey sours, the local drink in Chile) for the tummy. On the way down it was more interesting and the horses galloped faster than earlier(could have sworn they had the pisco sours), this caused a problem for Robert and his crown jewels as they were getting hit on the way up and on the way down on each stride, resulting in blou balletjies(blue bollocks). Besides walking like a cowboy for a few days it was a great day out and will be fondly remembered.
For our final day here we decided for some relaxation and headed for Huerquehue National Park, a gem of an area with 12,500 hectares of protected rivers, waterfalls, alpine lakes and araucaria forests.
However first was the
The easy road home!
Villarica volcano, Wendy taking a short cut home. exercise, a canoe around the lake for two hours. This was Wendy´s first time in a canoe and she handled it with "grace"(ha bloody ha!), although it felt like her arms would fall off afterwards. After all the work it was time to play, well relax at least. Our lunch comprised of another great bottle of Chilean red and sushi. As we are not both big sushi fans it turned out to be really tasty (mooibena - our Spanish is coming on!), we may be converted yet. Then it was time for the hot tub, a chinese style wooden tub with a wood burning oven in the water. Considering it was now fairly cold the hot water was fantastic, and the scenery was not half bad either.
That evening we headed back to Pizza Cala for more of the palmitos pizza. It ended up a great evening and later, by chance, our hotel owner, Pablo joined us. Plenty of vino tinto later and myself, Wendy, Pablo(hotel Gudenschwager owner) and Javier(best pizza maker ever at Pizza Cala) ended up having a great party. Sorry guys pics deleted, its going to take along time to live this one down!
Well
Gauchos, aka cowboys
Check we even look the part. southern and central Chile conquered, bring on the north and the Atacama desert.
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Laura
non-member comment
Superbien!!
Hola mis amigos!! Como estan? Great you guys had some time to update the site! Really like the site, great pics and text! I´m busy now uploading mine as well, hopefully it will be online this afternoon. Put on some fotos of our great tour, really liked it with you guys! Where are you now? Peru? I´m in La Paz now and it really enjoy myself. Ok mis amigos, enjoy and take care! Un abrazo, Laura - Wen, what´s 14 and 16 in Spanish? Jep, I´m keep on testing you ;-)