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Published: January 20th 2010
Dear freinds and family,
This entry will take you through our travel from Santiago de Chile south to Pucon.
The first day, was dedicated mainly to buying camping gear on the way - as I have already told you, and the first night in camping was somewhere along the way, close to a small village called San Gregorio.
The next morning we headed
Conguillio National Park. At the small town just before the northern entrance to the park, the lady in the tourist information could only tell us that the road into the park is in bad condition due to the rains, and that she does not know if it is open or not. She only commented, that if we make it to the first lagoon in the park, the bad part of the road is behind us... so we took our chances. The gravel road was bad, but driving really slowly we could make most of it. Then, we got to a part that was very sandy, and we were afraid we will get stuck - but to our help came few tractors, that came in front of us, clearing the way - and with their help, we did
manage to cross even that part. Just when we indeed got to the first lagoon, where the park office is also situated, we learned from the park ranger, how lucky we were - as the way to the park was blocked and closed until that morning, and the tractors we met on the way, were busy the whole morning clearing the road and making it possible for cars to pass.
The park was beatiful! we took two short walks in the park, next to 2 of its lagoons. We drove south through the park, right in its middle seeing few more lagoons and the beautiful volcanos that are in the park. Some of these volcanos are still active, and therefore we recieved upon entering the park a leaflet about the level of hazard and the evacuation process in case of eruption! The park has many of the famos Araucaria trees, they look slightly like a huge umbrella and are endemic to this area. At the end of the drive through the park - we drove through a big zone of lava dust "dunes", made by the last eruption of one of the volcanos, only a few months earlier. By the
way, a few days later, in Pucon, we met other Israelies, that could not believe that we have entered the park from the north - as they have tried and could not, and had to travel all the way around to get to the south entrance, just to drive in and out to the middle of the park on the same way... I guess we were really lucky!
For the night, we camped in the closest town to the park -
Malipueco, in a beautiful location right by the creek of the town, in a place set with tables and fire places.
In the morning, we made our way to
Pucon. In Pucon, we found the local campground - and were surprised to see how full it was, as until that moment, in most campgrounds we have seen, we were almost alone.
After setting our tent in a beautiful location next to a creek in the campground, we went to town. In the first travel agency we went to inquire about climbing Villarrica Volcano, we met some Israelis that told us that there is candle lighting ceremony for Chanukah in the local Jewish center . We decided
The climber!
Climbing volcano Villaricato pass through there for the kids to enjoy Chanukah donuts. Upon arrival to that Jewish Center later in the evening, we were amazed to find ~200 potential babysitters... - 200 young Israelis . We were obviously an attraction, we met several faces we have already met in the last 3 months along our trip, but also many other new faces that were surprised to see a family with 3 kids traveling the same route as they do. Surprisingly, some of those we have NOT met before, were already familiar with our story and just commented “ohh, you are the family we have heard of” or - “at last, we meet the famous family that travels South America”.. Others, bombarded us with the usual set of questions:
“Do you live here?”, “For how long have you been traveling?”, “For how long more are you going to travel?”, “Isn't it hard to travel with 3 kids?”, “So, the kids are actually out of school for the whole year?!”... The kids normally helped us to answer, so they ended up being asked:
“So what will be left for you to travel when you will finish your military service?”. They already have their answers ready, since they have already pre-prepared a list of places...
With all the attention, the talks, and of course, the candle lighting & donuts, the kids wanted to stay for the Sabbath Dinner, and asked us to postpone our planned BBQ dinner - most unusual for them - for the next evening.
The next day, we split forces. Tal woke up very early, and went ice - climbing the Villarrica volcano, with a group of 9 people and 2 guides. It is a 6 hour hard climb, with a pleasurable slide on the butt from the top of the volcano to its bottom. The kids and me, had a much more relaxed day. We woke up late, I tried making schooling - but, it was not the best learning experiance, the work the kids normally do in an hour, took them this time about 3 hours since they were distracted with the dogs in the camping, the stream flowing by, etc., etc., .
Later on, Tal returned from the climb to the Volcano all excited, so I will
let him write his story:
Well friends - it was awesome! You all got to try that some day... We gathered in the tour agency early in the morning, excited for the forthcoming ascending - but the thick clouds that covered the city, made us a bit pessimistic. Nevertheless, we got our special climbing gear from our guides, then entered the van and … fell all asleep immediately after departing... We woke an hour later, amazed to find out that we are 1700 m above the city - and the thick clouds are literally far underneath us. We continued to the entrance, where nothing but clear and crisp air surrounded us. We started our ascent to the top of the volcano, by taking the chair-lift then starting to trek in the well - beaten trails of millions of climbers carved deep in the ice. Although the rough, cold and tiring ascent, we were rewarded with superb views along the way, the thick-white clouds below us, covering the Villarrica lake and Pucon, remote snow-capped peaks volcanoes, jutting up from the blanket of clouds beneath, and thick snow all around us. One could not feel better at these special moments. Almost 4 hours later, we reached the top of the volcano, being able to see the crater at the heart of the volcano below us, coloured with red, pink, orange and lemonish - yellow, steaming with smelly sulfur fumes. We explored the top of the volcano for a while, being careful enough not to fall into the dangerous crevasses, and taking tons of pictures with the marvelous background of snow-capped volcanoes behind us. After resting for a while and having a snack, we prepared for the 'grand finale' - sliding on our butts in slides carved in the ice on the slopes of the volcano. What an experience! An hour and a half later, with our butts freezing cold, exhausted and still hungry, we were again on steady soil, 2500 m below.
Later in this afternoon, Almog - our camping neighbor , invited the kids to prepare with him 'tent'-made donuts over a camping stove . An hour later, we all had coffee and tea, with weird shaped donuts, though really tasty!
For dinner, we had BBQ, postponed from yesterday.
The next day was very interesting and full of activities. In the morning we drove to
Huerquehue Nat'l Park, 50 km from Pucon. There, we walked 8 km trail, to 2 beautiful waterfalls. Tired but happy we moved to
Los Pozones hot springs not far away from the park. These are natural pools of hot water. We soaked in the enjoyable springs for a couple of hours, letting our bodies relax from the tiring walk in the park. To make it even more enjoyable, we accompanied our dip with hot drinks and a delicious banana cake.
We returned to our tent in Pucon By 11 pm, exhausted but happy.
The next morning we left lovely Pucon towards Argentina - Yes, crossing the border again, for the 3rd time. All about this, will come in my next episode.
Lilach
To view all our photos from these days - please hit the following links:
Conguillio National Park Villarica volcano - Tal's adventure Pictures from Pucon Huerque national park
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Pam
non-member comment
Well luck seems to be with you - luck in the road open ...luck ...luck .luck! As always a pleasure to read your travel blog ..Happy Trails - Pam and Co.