Blogs from Pucón, Araucanía, Chile, South America - page 19

Pucon is a beautifully situated town. It is on a lake in the shadow of an active snow-capped volcano. Sometimes we can see it smoking. We stayed at a hostel. Luckily we got a room by ourselves. Most people had dorms. Our impression of the hostel was not that positive. The people running it appeared to be in it for the money and crammed in as many beds as possible. We also discovered that they were charging way too much for some tours. We had 2 full days there. We decided to go white water rafting. As Rae had never done it before, we thought it was a good opportunity. We got picked up at 11am, we were very well kitted up with wet suit, life jacket, helmet, shorts, shoes, and in we went. There ... read more

The gang separated in two. Gisela and I went on the Tyrosel rope.... read more

I am now in Pucon, adventure capital of Chile. Everyone comes here to climb volcanoes, mountain bike and go white water rafting, it is a really pretty town on the edge of a lake but it is strangely like being in a Swiss ski resort! The main street is lined with log cabin type bars and shops and it has a number of camping/sports shops including North Face. It really is a fun little party town though and in a lovely location with the best food I have had so far (infact its like eating at gormet restaurants - serving homemade ravioli stuffed with butternut squash and shitake mushrooms all for only a fiver). I met up with a nice couple of girls in my hostel and so far have climbed the volcano (with ice axe ... read more

We're running this falls! NOT! Tom's looking at Mariman Falls on the Upper Trancura, above Last Laugh, both of which we did not run. We DID run Devil's Throat and Salto Feo (well most of us). Had some carnage, some missed rolls. The previous week workouts are a big build-up to this run, as is the scout on the way in. Pretty intimidating. Though the Long Palace-Guard is always there, so you really don't have to swim (in theory.) Here are some pix from our trip, plus some glamour shots that pal Hugh Keegan took. Though ummm, his Devil's Throat shot misses the ledge thingey on the bottom and a dessert "hole-let" below it. None of it at the water levels we ran it would keep you..too long. And his beauty shot of Salto Feo shows ... read more

Nachdem ich mich jetzt ne Woche in Valparaíso eingelebt habe.. alle Partys mitgenommen und natürlich ne Woche Sprachkurs.. sind wir, Thommy und ich, am 18. mit dem Nachtbus von Santiago nach Pucón gefahren. Dort angekommen, dachte ich, ich wär wieder in Europa, denn es erinnert total an ein kleines Dörfchen in der Schweiz. Es liegt zwar nicht am Meer, hat dafür aber einen schwarzen Starnd am See und liegt dirkt am Fuss eines aktiven Vulkans - Volcan Villarrica.. Villarrica ist die nächste größere Stadt auf der anderen Seite des Sees. Montag früh angekommen gings direkt los.. Geplant war Rafting, aber leider waren wir zu wenig leute, so dass wir uns spontan Fahrräder ausgeliehen haben und mal eben eine 5-Stündige Fahrradtour zu 2 Wasserfällen gemacht haben. Nicht nur wegen der geilen Waldwege, die wir gefahren sind, sondern ... read more