Pucon

Day 94 – I-want-to-go-to-there! (In the style of Liz from 30-Rock)

This morning we bummed around again in front of the fire, chatting with other guests. It was raining again and we were actually keeping a hopeful eye out for parting visitors with vehicles (we were packed and ready to go!) so that we could get a lift back to Pucon, rather than trudge through the rain (me with no jacket) back to the park gates to catch the bus.

We were out of luck on the lift front, but lucky enough that at 1.15pm when we had to start our walk to the bus at 2pm, the rain stopped. It even stopped for the whole walk there and until we got on the bus (that was at least 30 mins late!)

The first time through Pucon, I had seen Volcan Villarica (it’s pretty hard to miss) but I was tired and we were trying to hurry to shop for food and not miss the bus to Tinquilco, so saw it as scenery and nothing much else. This time, getting off the minibus fully rested, I saw it staring down over the town and instantly become obsessed. I wanted to go up there.

Volcan Villarica from Pucon (Note the smoke! Yes its active!)

I’ve always wanted to climb a Volcano and I always imagined it would be Mt. Fuji, but once I had seen Villarica and heard it was possible, I didn’t want to miss it.

So as soon as we had put our stuff in our room, we went down to the agency, Aguaventura, recommended by both the guidebook and the hostel manager to find out ‘the deal’. It cost 40,000 pesos (about $85AUD) to go, they provided all the gear and the guides were placed one per three people, so we thought that was reasonable. Unfortunately there was no space for the next day (forecast to be glorious weather) so we settled on the day after. The guy told us that in his opinion the day after would be better anyway, but I was sure they say that to everyone. He did explain though that it wasn’t just about weather, but more about the conditions up top, ie how much smoke or sulfur and gases the volcano was giving off, as if the conditions were ‘wrong’, you could climb two thirds of the way up there and be told to turn back, but that was part of the risk.

Trip booked and back at the hostel we met our roommates, we shall call them “Princess” and “Big Bro”, ate some dinner, got the goss on what’s hot in town and watched the first of some Winter Olympics. Princess was aptly named as such as the teenage Chilean had spread the contents of her suitcase most of the way across the generous floor space in our dorm and then taken over 2hours in the bathroom (shared one between eight) to get ready for her night out. I was met with a rude look and big sigh when I finally could not ‘hold it’ for any longer and knocked on the door, and later blamed for making her late when her brother was still waiting for her! Matt and I found it hilarious though as they finally headed out at about midnight, but by 3am Big Bro and another guy had to carry her back in and dump her drunken arse in bed (fully clothed) and then head back out!

Day 95 – Go, caution, stop!

Today we had some time to kill, wandered around Pucon in the glorious sunshine, ate SUSHI for lunch – a real treat – and stared up into the sky to check out our challenge.

The lake front with Villarica in the background.

Becoming familiar with the local warning system in the centre of town:
Green = Todo bien (literally “all good”); Orange = Do you smell smoke?; Red = We’re all screwed, hope you’re wearing your good underwear.

It was early to bed for us (and quite a few of the rest of the hostel) as we had to be at Aguaventura at 6.30am the next morning!

Day 96 – What goes up, usually comes down on its arse!

After having a quick breakfast at 5.30am with Princess and Big Bro who had just slinked in after another night out, we were off to Aguaventura to be loaded onto a minibus for the ride to Volcan Villarica ski centre where the trek begins. The sun had just risen when we were unloaded off the bus and the 2,847m volcano was casting a huge shadow over the blanket of clouds we had just risen above.

The first part of the trek wasn’t a trek at all and we were treated to a chairlift ride skipping the first part of the ascent. The bottom part of the volcano is actually a ski resort in Winter and so we were able to catch the lift up to where the snow line began.

At the top of the lift it was time to gear up and lace up our heavy boots although as the snow was quite soft from the warm weather the day before, we didn’t need to put on our crampons (disappointing!). After a quick demonstration of how to use your ice-axe to stop yourself rolling back to the bottom if you fall, we were off.

Although there was one guide per three people, we found ourselves stuck in a long line of people single file, somewhere towards the back, and also competing with the two or three other agencies and their group of 30-odd tackling the hill today. It was frustratingly slow and stop start to begin with, but as the others took longer and longer breathers the further they went up the hill, we soon found some space, our guide realising we were capable of kicking our own steps to pass the slow-pokes.

The view from the first rest stop, with another tiny little volcano in the distance.

The view up the hill and another tour group dotted along the skyline.

The view from another rest stop further up the hill.

The guys giving water to “Guia” (”Guide”) literally our guide!

The trek rises approximately a kilometre in altitude, but we walked approximately 5km by the time the switchbacks were taken into account and it took us about 4 hours to reach the top. Matt and I were first and second to the top and we were extremely lucky as conditions were perfect! We were able to walk most of the way round the edge and even peer in! Unfortunately the lava was currently about 500m down the hole, so we couldn’t see it (disappointing!) but we spent an hour or so wandering around and checking out the view. I would hate to know what it would be like on a bad day as every few minutes the volcano would belch out an invisible cloud of sulfur gas which would enter our nose and mouth sending us coughing and spluttering just to breathe!

The top! (In gale force wind)

The obligatory self portrait.

The view to Volcan Lanin from the east side of the rim (with Guia showing us where the edge is (just beyond his left paw if you can see it!))

Volcan Lanin

Inside the crater.

Matt walking along the wider side of the rim (crater down to the left of the photo).

Having enjoyed our reward enough, and definitely having had enough of the gas taking over our whole respiratory systems, we were ready for the fun part – Down!

Down didn’t involve just trekking back down our path, but mostly SLIDING ON OUR BUTTS! So fun! It ended up being about two thirds bumsledding in the end. When there is enough snow, and if you can be bothered carrying skis up, you are actually allowed to ski back down. We were told this wasn’t an option so instead we carried up a plastic plate the size of our butts to slide down on. I’m really not sure what the highlight was now! Matt made a little video (with my remaining camera), which isn’t great, but funny none-the-less! Here:

Before we knew it we were back at Aguaventura sharing a beer with our guides and the other couple of fast people!

That night we went out to the local vegetarian restaurant for another treat we hadn’t had in ages: Yellow curry – yum! A fantastic day all-in-all but the trek didn’t turn out to be that hard… so will still have to find another volcano to climb sometime soon.

Day 97 – It’s Hyyyyyydro-ma-tic! Why its greased lightning!

With Pucon equating itself to Queenstown as the adventure sport capital of South America, we were not yet satisfied that we had had our fill of adventurous sports. So when we got back to Aguaventura last night, we booked in to do something called “Hidrospeed” the following afternoon. Hidrospeed is basically like white water rafting but without the raft. Instead you don wetsuits, life jackets, flippers and a helmet and are given a bodyboard type floatation device to hold onto as you float down a river riding the sections of white water that pop up every so often.

We had chosen a 2pm session so we would have time to sleep in, pack up and check out of our hostel ready for our intended night bus to Santiago at 9pm that evening, but that plan went down the drain when the agency rang at 10 to 10am and said that if we couldn’t get down there in the next 15 minutes they would have to cancel on us. So I quickly packed up our stuff while Matt ran down to the bus station to pick up our bus tickets and we were there just in time.

The rivers chosen by our guides were Rio Liucura which flowed into Rio Trancura with Class II and III rapids. Our guide, Valentino, recommended that we didn’t take our camera (even though it’s waterproof) but he was wearing a camera on his helmet which he later gave us a copy of the videos!

The Liucura river where we set off from.

Me trying to demonstrate how beautiful and clear the water was (if you look you can see a log on the river floor in the photo).

Riding the rapids was short (only about an hour) but lots of fun!