After a 6 hour uneventful (I slept for the parts navigation was not required) drive we arrived at our hostel in Pucon. The temperature had dropped 14 degrees Celsius/30 degrees Fahrenheit in the course of the journey and it was time to put some trousers on.
Pucon sits in the shadow of the Villerrica Volcano (which last erupted in March 2015), but due to the clouds we couldn't see the volcano. We did see signs as to where to go in the event of an eruption and they tested (we think - no one jumped up and ran out the room) the warning sirens at midday on the Wednesday.
Low risk areas in the event of a volcanic eruption
Pucon reminded us of Queenstown on New Zealand's south island. It is a town on a lake with a beach, a boating area and is full of agencies offering adventure sports from white water rafting to canyoning and quad biking to climbing the local volcano. In between the agencies the streets are packed with restaurants, bars and cafes. The town hosted many Chilean holiday makers as well as some international thrillseekers! The weather wasn't looking good enough for volcano climbing so we signed up for canyoning the following afternoon.
Sunset in the bay (but still no sign of the volcano)
Wednesday started wet and even colder and I had to resort to a thermal top (this is not a good sign for when we head further south and will be camping). Just after lunch we headed off with 4 others to our canyoning adventure which started in a changing shed in someone's garden a short walk from the canyon. The canyon was created by volcanic lava from an eruption many years ago (we still couldn't see the volcano) and cut a beautiful windy path through the rocks with lush green giant leaved vegetation springing from all directions. The sun started to come out and peaked over the top of the rocks and provided some warmth (the water gushing over the falls was freeeeezing) and even a small rainbow appeared. We walked down the river and along the way we repelled down a 12m waterfall, were winched down another waterfall, zipped wired down another and used a further fall as a water slide. You never quite knew what you would find around the next corner! The experience ended with a changing shed in someone else's garden and a drink on their deck surrounded by dogs, cats and chickens.
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| Nick elegantly repelling down a waterfall |
Jess' turn
The group in action
The beauty of the canyon
After cooking dinner in the hostel we headed out in search of a sweet treat and discovered Nick's culinary highlight of the trip so far - an ice cream sandwich with freshly baked cookies and a layer of nutella. Delicious!
Ice cream sandwich
On our final morning we woke up to clear skies and sunshine and headed off to find the volcano. We didn't have to go far! We walked out of the hostel front gate and immediately saw the enormous smoking volcano! It really was an impressive sight. Our mission complete we were ready to move on to our next destination.
Volcano Villerrica
-Jess
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