Blogs from Pucón, Araucanía, Chile, South America - page 11

Hi everyone, Hope you are all keeping well. We are doing just fine here having gone through some scary road trips but thats for another day. Today my friends i will give you a short story onhow to get up and down a volcano. Firstly it was St.Patricks day so happy very belated paddy's day to you all and i hope you didn't consume all the Guiuness. I am missing it a little. You have to take a tour up the volcano as it is a bit dangerous and well you know us always up for something dangerous. A little bit anyway! So we drove out to the base of the volcano and well as you all know from a distance any mountain is climbable and then you get beside it and it doesn't look so ... read more

So after 2 hours on a bus back to Puerto Montt, a wait of 10 hours (as Id missed the bus by 15 minutes) and a 8 hour bus ride I arrived in Pucon at 8am the next morning, having spent all of the previous day with my spanish/english dictionary in hand chatting (loose expression) to a Chilean girl I was sitting next to on the bus. I found a hostel and got settled in. The first day I went on a tour with the hostel around the sites of the surrounding areas of Pucon, including a Mapuche village, a waterfall that lands in Lago Azul (due to the minerals) its a beautiful blue colour, and finished the day, lazing around in the hot springs, which the minerals are apparently good for the skin. So obviously ... read more

Pucon, Chile was our first stop in the Lakes District of South America. It is just the end of summer down here, but still warm enough for shorts, t-shirts and a bit of swimming. Pucon is a small adventure town that offers kayaking, white water rafting, fly-fishing, and a trek to the top of Villarica Volcano, which is a snow capped active volcano that sits at the edge of town. We were informed by other travelers that the volcano trek was followed by a slide down ice chutes carved down the side of the mountain and we were excited to give it a try. We found a trekking outfit that provided all the ¨necessary¨ equipment (ie. ice picks, crampons, mounteering boots, and some hardcore outfits...should we be concerned???) They also offered to throw in a trip ... read more

After leaving the Futaleufu valley, we made our way back north, said goodbye to our beloved Bariloche, and crossed the frontera in a unique way into the Los Lagos section of Chile. This area is full of lush green valleys, in contrast to the dry plains of Argentina, and the area is full of sweet volcanoes! Turns out, in this middle area of the Andes, most of the big mountains are in Argentina, and Chile has volcanoes and smaller, but more verdant, mountains (Chile being on the wet side of the Andes) - and volcanoes- a chain of them forming the eastern boundary of the ring of fire around the entire Pacific. Starting in the very Chilean town of Osorno, we spent a few days around Lake Llanquihue and the tiny town of Puerto Octay in ... read more

Following the trek up the Villarrica Volcano I decided to stay a bit longer in Pucon. I really did like this town. Some people I had met had suggested that I skip it because of its pricey shops and touristy feel, but I myself really enjoyed my time in Pucon. I met Mickey and Moshiko in my hostel. Both were traveling together and had just really begun. We walked around the town, talked about our lives, and enjoyed the markets. We decided to go horseback riding the next day. The three of us met Dana and Noa during our horseback riding adventure. I had not ridden a horse since I was maybe nine or ten. Wether or not I was in control of Loncoche, my horse, we were quickly trotting away up into the hills. The ... read more