07.04.-13.04.11

Pucon

On Thursday, 07.04.11 at around 4pm I arrived in PUCON. I left Osorno with a cold I felt quite weak when I checked into the Hostel "EL REFUGIO". PUCON lies on the foot of the massive VOLCANO VILLARRICA (2.847m) and the beautiful and big lake LAGO VILLARICA. Pucon offers a bit for every tourist…..hiking the volcano, rafting, horse-riding, thermal springs or just enjoying the beach.

First of all I walked to the Hospedaje where Perrin and Julian stayed but they weren't at home. Later on while I was in the hostel and preparing my dinner Perrin and Julian came around and asked me if I would like to hike the Vulcano the next day with them. I told them that I needed a day to rest and hopefully could get rid of my cold. So the two climbed up the Vulcano at 5 am the other morning to see the sunrise. Well done guys!

As I could only stay for one night at the Hostel "El Refugio" I moved to the Hostel "Donde German" which was a bit further out of town but I liked it much more. I was so tired and weak that I slept for two hours in the afternoon….although it was a beautiful and sunny day. Later in the afternoon I went to the Tour Company "Sierra Nevada" where I booked my trekking tour to the Volcano Villarica for the next day.

On Saturday, 09.04.11 I had to be at the office of "Sierra Nevada" at 7 am. We were a huge group of 18 people (16 girls and 2 guys)! Before we jumped on the van's our five tour guides provided us with a big and heavy backpack full of gear….crampons, jacket, trousers, ice pickle etc.

At around 8am we arrived in the NATIONAL PARK OF VILLARICA at the foot of the massive VOLCANO VILLARICA. We had the choice of climbing up the whole trek of 2.750m or take a chair lift for the first and hardest part of 400 Meter. Well as I still felt quite weak I decided to take the chair lift and I was glad that I did when the others told me later on that it was quite hard.

So we divided the big group into two groups. One which took the chair lift and the other brave ones who hiked up the first had part. The whole trip took us nearly 4 hours but we walked up veeeerryyy slow and had about four long breaks. The space was actually good for me as I had difficulties breathing but otherwise I felt alright. Half way we had to put on our crampons and the good looking and nice tour guides told us a bit about the lakes and other Volcanoes we could see from there.

I was so glad that I decided to do the hike on that day. First of all as we had no wind and it was a beautiful and sunny day and we had a fantastic view the whole day.

At about 1.30pm we arrived at the top! Wow….we made it and straight away we got hit by a cloud of the toxic fumes. Disgusting smell….and I could hardly breath. Thank God there was no wind and therefore we could walk around the whole grater lake.

We were the last group who left at approx. 2.30pm. The way down was a lot of fun. The first part we were sliding on our bumps down the snow and it was soooo fast! The second half we walked and slid down in the black lava sand which was quite soft and made it easy to run down. I can't remember but I think it took us only 2 hours for the whole way down!

Back at the office of "Sierra Nevada"at 5.30pm our tour guides served us a nice cold beer and I nearly fell asleep as it was so hot down in the town. Later on I caught up with Perrin and Julian and we decided to go trekking into the NATIONAL PARK HUERQUEHUE on Sunday.

On Sunday, 10.04.11 I met Perrin and Julian at the bus stop at 8.30am. It was soooo hard to get up that morning as I was still a bit sick and I was very tired from the hike the day before.

However, when we arrived at the NP at 9.30am we hiked the big loop of the LOS LAGOS TRAIL (18KM) to Lago Chico, Lago Toro, Lago Patos, Lago Verde etc. The first three hours of the trail went up and up …..but we had a beautiful view down to the lakes with the Volcano Villarica in the background!!! Later on we walked through the forest with lots of "monkey puzzle" trees and we even saw a few Woodpeckers, which I have never seen that close before.

In the afternoon the sun went and clouds covered the sky. We were a bit worried that we wouldn't make it back on time for the last bus at 5pm and therefore we were speeding down the hill. But when we arrived at 4pm we still had enough time for a nice hot chocolate and "Kuchen" at a little Kiosk. Mmmmhh….that was exactly what we needed….a big sugar rush after a 18km fast hike!!!

When we arrived back in Pucon we made a new appointment for the next day!!! 10.30am at the bus station in order to take the bus to the THERMAL POOLS!

On Monday, 11.04.11 at 10.30am we were all sitting in the bus to the THERMAL POOLS and complaining how tired we are after the last two days packed with loads of activities!

From 11.30am until 2pm we indulged the nice hot springs. We were glad that we decided to come in the morning as there were hardly any people at the pools. After two hours sitting in the pools and chatting to Sebastian from Buenos Aires we left the pool and had a nice picnic before we took the bus back to Pucon.

On Tuesday, 12.04.11 it was raining like cats and dogs for the whole day. I would have loved to go to the SALTOS DEL CLARO but there was no way as it only stopped raining for half an hour in the afternoon when I went into town to buy my bus ticket. The rest of the day I uploaded my photos, sent some emails and chatted to the German couple Bernd and Ellen and Brita from Berlin.

On Wednesday, 13.04.11 I took the bus to CHILLAN at 9.15am in the morning.