Blogs from Pucón, Araucanía, Chile, South America - page 10

We crossed the border back into Chile. This will be a phenomenon that repeats itself over and over while we make our way north in South America. We came to Pucon for one reason....to climb the one of the worlds most active Volcanos.....Volcan Villarrica! And boy did we hike it!!! Starting at an elevation of 1300 meters we hiked and climbed our way to the summit reaching 2847 meters! If you would like this translated into the Imperial system...thats about a vertical gain of 5000 ft!!!! We were decked out in gear including crampons, ice axe and of course our awesome Neon Green jumpsuits! We began our trek at 5:30 am so we could see the sun rise over the steaming Volcano. We proceeded upward for the next 6 hours, choosing our steps wisely as to ... read more

Pucon - 23rd to the 24th of May 2009 Crossing the border from Argentina to Chile was an interesting and, dare I say it, Western experience. The border was full of signs telling us what wasn't allowed into Chile which included all fruit and vegetables and any fresh animal products including dairy. We all had to get off the bus where all our bags were scanned and the Chilean border authorities checked the bus to make sure we weren't breaking to rules. Sadly, I was. I had bought apples for Richard and I and when the man came over to lecture us, Richard blamed it all on me even though he had wanted the apple too! We arrived in a Chilean town where we needed to change buses and discovered neither of us had any money ... read more

Well, I said we wouldn´t be doing anymore hiking for a while, couldn´t resist trekking up a Volcano. What an experience! Took us 3 1/2 hours to get up and 2 1/2 hours to walk/slide down. We had to don on some serious equipment for the last hour or so of the trek, crampons, helmets and all. It was hard going, and I thought at one stage that's it NO more hiking for me, gas from the mouth of the volcano was making it hard to breath, plus I had a killer headache. Once at the top the views were so worth the struggle to the top. Wow wow... ... read more

ecole is the place we decided to stay in Pucon, arriving on a 5 hour bus ride from Puerto Varas, along the way we stopped in Osorno, Valdivia and some other small towns. the trip was quite pleasant, Valdivia seems very nice i made a mental note to come back there in the future. Jo, Simon and i shared a room. there is a portable heater but not working and it gets cold here at night, at least the duvet is super thick. We got down to business fairly quickly, booked with Aguaaventura for the Villarica Volcano hike the next day, we have to be fitted with all the gears we need for the hike, boots, jackets, pants gloves, etc. getting to the top is weather dependent and we just hope for a better weather than ... read more

Greetings all, Chile so far has not been as good as Argentina mainly due to the weather which as been pretty poor. The weather has a big impact on everything here as most of the activities depend on weather conditions. From Bariloche we headed to Puerto Varas which is on the coast. Tbh the place was a bit rubbish, it was pretty small and most of the available activities were not possible on account of all the rain. As a result me and Will just had a wandered around the town and lake. All in all a bit of a let down, although on the bright side the seafood was delicious (the wine ain´t bad either). After a day in Puerto Varas we headed north to Pucon. This place is better as there is more to ... read more