Blogs from Pucón, Araucanía, Chile, South America - page 9

Left Valdivia for Pucon today. Awesome volcano!!!!... read more

Pucon . . . . I can see why you'd hate it . . . that is, if you hate life generally. But unless you're suicidally depressive, and maybe even then, you might find Pucon to be one of the most perfect places on Earth. I'd say it is the most perfect place, but obviously there's a lot I still haven't seen. After an overnight bus ride from Valpo (with a change in Santiago), I arrived in Pucon with no set itinerary, and with only one goal - to climb the Villarica volcano. The weather is notoriously uncooperative with would-be climbers, so I decided to book a climb right away for the next morning, since I only had two chances before I would be moving on to meet my dad in Argentina. That next morning, the ... read more

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 ... read more

Although now November, as far as keeping up with things, I am still back in September, a month long gone but one full of significance for Chile. On Sept 11th, 1973 President Allende was deposed by the military coup. Somewhat ironically, just around the corner on the 18th is Fiestas Patrias, Chilean Independence Day. The 19th is Armed Forces Day, which for most is a day spent recovering from the excesses of ´Dieciocho´, the 18th. Not surprisingly, the 11th doesn't really draw the country together. Down by the Moneda (Chilean White House), people lean red carnations against a statue of Allende under the nervous watch of green riot police. Many banks, McDonalds and other symbols of capitalism board windows up, but things are quieter now than before. Nevertheless, as night falls, the poorer parts of the ... read more

The bus journey from Bariloche in Argentina to Pucon in Chile has to be one of the most beautiful trips in the world. For 2 hours wecruised around mountain roads going through lush forests, passing crystal clear blue lakes, past sheer granite mountains and finally through the snow covered mountain pass across the border. The small towns that lay on the Argentinian side of the border were just idyllic. They were all based around the amazing lakes, almost entirely made of log cabins in the forests and large birds of prey circled overhead. They were stunning. I cant quite say the same for the border control point. When we pulled into the Chilean passport control site the bus had to be striped and emptied of pretty much every content. All the luggage had to be sent ... read more