Blogs from Villarrica Volcano, Araucanía, Chile, South America - page 2

21st March to 23rd March Pucon is a small but picturesque town next to Villarrica volcano which is 2,847m high. The town is really cute and I really liked it there. The volcano is cone shaped and had snow near the top and is active! The surrounding countryside is stunning, big mountains covered in forests. 21st - Today we were up at 5.45am to go and climb Villarrica volcano!! I was so excited and the plan was to slide back down some of the way on the ice! Sounds scary but I had got the courage up and was ready to go. Driving up the volcano as the sunrose and the day seemed peaceful and nice. However when we got to the starting point the guides told us that they had information that it was incredibly ... read more

We had a nice small group of 5 with two guides. We had to start at 7:00 AM and had to reach the top by about midday because the heat of the day melts the ice near the top which releases boulders and stones making it very dangerous. We were given all the kit to carry - helmets, ice axes, boots, gaiters, crampons, hats, gloves, sunglasses, waterproof trousers and a bum protector. More about the last later. In a addition we had to bring food and at least 1.5 liters of water, and a spare jumper. This lot was very heavy! The weather was extremely hot and cloudless - the area was having the worst drought in 50 years, causing the glacier on top of the volcano to shrink, causing crevasses to appear and loose stones ... read more

Bom, sento eu na frente do computador com a difícil tarefa de escrever sobre Pucon. Tenho tempo, vamos embora da cidade hoje, nosso ônibus sai às 20:30 para Santiago. Já deixamos o camping e estamos esperando na cidade. Até configurei o teclado para português para conseguir colocar todos os acentos. Espero que a mudança gramatical recém-ocorrida (aconteceu mesmo?) não faça com que o meu português esteja errado. O que dizer sobre Pucon? Poderia dizer que é uma espécie de Campos do Jordão na Patagônia chilena. Quais as diferenças? Neve muito perto, vulcão, raftings e outras coisas, uma paisagem infinitamente mais bonita e também mais barato que Campos. Mais quais são as semelhanças? Há muito luxo, a arquitetura e os bares espelhados pelas ruas lembra bastante a cidade brasileira, os carros chiques, a cidade pequena, o clima ... read more

Po vyletu do Huerquehue jsem prolelkoval 2 dny na brehu jezera na cerny lavovy plazi v Puconu, coz bylo moc prima ale cas nazral na to zase podniknou dalsi vejslap a tak jsem v nedeli casne z rana vyrazil na vystup na vulkan Villarrica. Cestu je nutno podniknout s pruvodcem ve skupine. Dodali nam botky, kalhoty, bundu, helmu, cepin, macky a bagl a vyrazilo se. Osazenstvo minibusu tvorili krome me 2 pruvodci, dva typci z Kolumbie, jeden par ze Statu, jeden Ital a dve Norky. Obloha byla jako vymetena, krasny pocasi. Protoze bylo udajne moc vetrno, museli jsme jit celou cestu pesky, zatimco obvykle se prvni etapa udajne zdolava lanovkou. Po prvnim vyslapu na horni stanici lanovky bylo jasny, ze se dnes nebudeme poustet do zadnejch vetsich akci, holcicka ze Statu funela, ze dal uz nemuze, ... read more

I left Santiago and headed straight to Pucon for New Years. I figured that while I was there I may as well Climb the Volcan Villarrica. So on New years eve I went with a group for an all day hike up to the top.. The view was amazing, it was to bad smoke was so thick on that day we could not see the lava. After the Climb I returned to the hostel for a huge BBQ (its hot down here) then went to the Lake to see the fireworks. I know I am a little late getting this blog up, I am trying..... I hope everyone had a Great New Years..... read more