Pucon

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Waterfalls

More Waterfalls

We wanted to see the Villarrica volcano near Pucon, Chile and maybe have a go at climbing it! Unfortunately there seemed to be no easy way to reach Pucon from Bariloche. We had to take a bus to San Martin de Los Andes (still in Argentina) and spend the night, catching a 6am bus the next day direct to Pucon.

Arriving in Pucon we decided to get a lift with one of the hostal touts to check out his place. He promised to drive us back to the bus station if we didn´t like it so nothing to lose. Cabanas Tronkitos turned out to be a decent place and only 10 luca (around 10 uk pounds) per night - I think we got a discount because the place was so quiet. We had a private bathroom and a TV that received a couple of fuzzy local stations. The owner very generously lent us his DVD player and a selection of movies to watch. The only downside was the 20 minute walk to the town centre.

We were fortunate to have some fine weather so could see the huge snow capped volcano smouldering gently. Because the volcano is active and not too far from town, its monitored quite closely. A traffic light system crudely indicates the current danger level. Green - all ok (as it was while we were there), orange - watch out, red - run!!

One of the reasons for coming to Pucon was to climb the volcano. The hostal owner was friendly with one of the guides and promised an introduction that evening. However, when evening arrived he apologised because the guide had been in an accident on that day´s climb and broken his leg or something. Amy read some disturbing blogs about the physical difficulty of the climb and dangers of descending (basically by sliding down the mountain in teflon trousers) and decided she´d give it a miss. I was still undecided.

The following day we decided to go biking. We´d been flirting with the idea of cycling for a few weeks in New Zealand so thought we should have a trial run. The hostal owner suggested visiting the Ojos del Caburgua, a collection of waterfalls and colourful pools about 10 miles away. He gave us a map, lent Amy his bike and drove us into town so I could rent mine - what a guy.

After a few miles of tarmac we took the dirt road running parallel to the river. There were a few steep hills, made difficult by the stony surface and unreliable gears. Amy´s bike was too big for her, at one point causing her to fall into a shallow drainage ditch! Somehow it took us 3 hours to reach the Ojos but it was worth it. Seeing the 2 opposing waterfalls flow into the same turquoise pool surrounded by lush greenery was amazing.

The ride back to Pucon went smoothly but we were both knackered that evening. We concluded that cycling New Zealand should wait for a future trip. With my legs exhausted there was no chance I´d be walking up hill for 8 hours the following day - the volcano climb was off.

Spent our last day in Pucon lazing around, sorting out our tickets to Santiago and checking out the nearby lake. Next morning super-generous-hostel-man gave us a lift to the bus station for the 10 hour ride to Chile´s capital, our last south american destination!

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Photos

Villarrica Volcano
With a whisp of smoke drifting from the crater

Comments

[Pau Macaya]

Hi
Very beatiful photos!!