Pucon

Day 1

Getting up fairly early and deciding not to have a shower as they were not great here, we had our hard roll breakfast and then headed for the bus terminal.  Once again, we had a pretty long bus journey to get us to Pucon It was 4 or 5 hours but so far we have found the buses in Chile to be very comfortable.

Arriving in Pucon in the early afternoon, we then had the job of trying to locate our accommodation which was a little way out of town.  About 20 minutes later we found it and checked in, the owner told us that he was going to give us an upgrade and we were shown to quite a nice room.  The hostel had a very cosy feeling about it with a communal living room and kitchen, all heated by wood-burners.

After we had unpacked and done our usual security lock-up we then headed out into town to check it out.  Our first impressions were that it was very touristy compared to the other towns we had been to with plenty of agencies offering excursions.  It was also very pretty with a snow-capped volcano (more about that later!) as a back drop to the town.

 

Wandering around for a while we then found a bar where we ordered a few drinks whilst sitting outside in the sun people watching and admiring the scenery. 

Soon we were joined by a stray dog (German Shepperd) who decided to lay next to us whilst pawing us for attention.  Although as with other Chilean towns there are lots of strays, however they all seem to be very well fed by the locals and shopkeepers.

 

Checking out a few food menu’s we were not that impressed so we headed to the local supermarket to pick up some food and a few bottles of the local red wine (Carmenere) which is fantastic.

We then headed back to the hostel and instead of going out for an evening meal we had something home prepared in the kitchen washed down with a bottle of fantastic red before heading to bed later in the evening.

Day 2 – What Rain??

Checking the weather forecast the day before it foretold of rain, thunder and lightning all day so we had already decided that today we would rest up and catch up on some research and blogging.  Also we had been informed by the hostel owner that it was the Chilean elections today so most places would be shut for the day.

So after a very nice shower and a fairly decent breakfast we settled down in the living area and set to our various tasks, but outside it didn’t seem such a bad day.

For most of the day we stuck to the blogging and research whilst the promised weather never seemed to materialise.

Early in the evening Shell knocked up a nice Spaghetti Bolognaise which we enjoyed with a couple of bottles of that nice red wine, followed by lights out.

Day 3 – A River Wild!

It was pretty overcast this morning so we had a pretty lazy morning before heading out around midday.  We then walked into town and checked out a few of the tour companies before finding one we liked and booked a river rafting trip for the afternoon.

Booking done we then had a wander around the town and had a drink before heading back to the hostel to pick up our swimming togs before going back to the agency to wait for our pick up.

 

Jumping into a mini-bus and then after another pick up in town we headed out of town and drove for around 20 minutes before parking up.  There seemed to be some sort of problem as we then headed back towards town before finally arriving at a place where we picked up the rafts, our wetsuits, booties and helmets.

We then all boarded the mini-bus again drove for around ½ hour until we then hit a little lane that took us down to near the river edge.  Here we were directed to some pretty basic changing rooms where we all got changed into out rafting outfits, which as you can see were very fetching.

 

Next, we were all led down to the river edge near the rafts where we were give our paddles and then given some (very) basic instructions.  Unfortunately, there wasn’t very much English going on but the basic grasp we had seemed to be, forward, back and cower down in the raft.  Also a few directions on what to do if you came out of the raft, which we thought seemed a bit unlikely!!

Soon we were paddling onto the river and letting the current take us along with cries of forward (in Spanish) and stop paddling (In Spanish).  Fortunately, a couple of our fellow Chilean rafters had a bit of English and they kept on shouting forward and stop at us so we knew what we were doing.

It wasn’t such a good start as we hit the first set of rapids when despite our best effort’s we found ourselves grounded on one of the large rocks in our path.  Once we had pushed off we then hit the first major set of rapids (Grade 3 – which are quite more exciting than we imagined), paddling furiously we then heard a scream and when we turned around we saw that two of our colleagues had been thrown out.

 

After we managed to rescue these shivering and shocked back into the raft (the water was freezing and no sun)  and now down by one paddle we continued down the river, trying to enjoy the incredible scenery but having to concentrate on paddling, cowering inside the raft and stopping.

A couple more sets of smaller rapids later we then hit another really bit set, which resulted in everyone apart from Shelley and the instructor coming out of the Raft.  Well not quite, I had a small Chilean guy torpedo through my face which left him in the water and me with my body in the water with my legs desperately clinging on inside the raft.

 

Shell suddenly jumped into the front of the raft and manfully managed to drag me back into the raft and then I turned around and stuck my paddle out to rescue two others from the river.  Once we managed to get everyone back in the boat again we were off again. 

We continued along for another 10-15 minutes (it was quite hard as it seemed that only 4 out of the 6 of us were pulling our weight) before hitting one final big set of white water. It seemed as though the whole raft was going to tip over as we were pinned vertically as water covered us.  I’m pretty sure though that the instructor had done some little trick here to pin us here to get soaked.

Finally we then drifted down the calmer waters until we then paddled back into the shore and our white knuckle adventure was over.  Shell did really well, she said she was determined not to get wet and declared that her ‘arse had turned into a plunger and would not be shifted!!’

Back on terra-firma  we were pointed towards some more basic changing rooms to get out of our wetsuits, which would have been OK if Shell and I had thought to pack towels (we didn’t anticipate getting that wet!).

Feeling a bit soggy after getting changed, one of the guides got out his laptops and showed us the pictures taken by the accompanying canoe/photographer guy which were very impressive.  Also for the price of around £4 which you couldn’t complain about and meant that we have some good pictures to share with you on the blog.

Heading back to town we had a couple of celebratory beers whilst Shell now reconsidered her pre-rafting statement that she would be happy to do grade 5 rapids, before heading back to the hostel.  We highly recommend white water rafting and can see ourselves doing again before this trip is over.

At the hostel we had some left-overs from the night before and a bit more red wine (surprise surprise!) before going to bed.

Day 4 – Bookings

Again, we had a pretty lazy morning before heading out to sort out some bookings for the next couple of days.

First off we headed to the bus station to sort out our overnight coach to Santiago in a couple of day’s time before heading back into town to try and sort out a couple of excursions.

 

 

Checking out various agencies and trying to find the best deal we finally found one where we booked a couple of trips, hiking to the top of the volcano (although Shell was dubious about this one) and a general sightseeing tour including a volcanic spring spa (as we thought this would be nice before catching the night coach).

We then had to wait for a bit in the agency until the hiking guide came along to get our sizes for climbing boots and kit.

As this was sorted we went for a couple of beers before returning to the hostel where Shell cooked up her famous Chorizo stew which we had with some more red wine.  We then relaxed and read for a while before bed.

Day 5 – F*?$ing Volcano Villarica! (Shell’s words not mine!)

It was a very early start so up at 5.30 and we grabbed a quick coffee and bananas before making our way into town to the agency for our 6.30 start.

When we got to the agency we were issued with our kit, which I was surprised was quite a large rucksack containing everything we needed for the hike.

We then all (about 12 of us) got into a minibus and we were driven towards the Volcano Villarica going up a very bumpy track until we reached a car park at the base of the volcano where we were told to kit up and issued with ice picks!!

The first part of the climb was around a 300 metre trek up a stony track that led up to the snow line.  It was very windy (about 70kph) and it was already knocking Shell off her feet and I knew a ‘I don’t like this!” was coming my way.

 

Shell had done her research though and she had learned that there was a chair lift on the way up that cut out an hour off the hike.  However when we reached this we were told it was not going to be running due to the high winds, Shell wasn’t happy!

So we climbed for another hour until we reached the first rest point where we sat down and had something to drink and a biscuit for energy purposes.  Shell sat there not happy scanning the groups in the hope that someone was going to quit at this point and she would join them (Although someone did quit from another group)

 

It didn’t happen and about 15 minutes later we were into the snow heading up the Volcano, albeit at quite a slow pace, occasionally our feet giving way in the snow making it very hard going.  We were soon slipping towards the back of the pack and then seeing them 100 metres in the distance (they all being in their 20’s).  It was good that we had four guides with us, one that hung back with us whilst we (Shell not Glenn) struggled, with the wind and snow/ice blasting into our faces.

 

We then came to our second rest stop for some more refreshments, but by this point I could see the look on Shell’s face so I gave her some distance and decided it was better not to speak to her.

Ten minutes later and we were off again once again zig-zagging our way up the steep snow covered climb, slipping and sliding and once again finding ourselves cut adrift from the pack.  Shell was by now taking three paces and then stopping.  Just for information the last time this Volcano erupted was in 2015, but it was OK to climb now and we would be able to get a view of the magma inside the crater at the top.

Another 300 metres later and another rest break, this time as the slope was so steep we had to hack out a hollow in the snow to place our rucksack’s  in so you had some stability to sit on.  I was still not making eye contact with Shell as I was now regretting saying to her when she had her doubts about this booking ‘It’s only a walk, we’ve done this before’

 

Now we were both really blowing but I think Shell had now past it and I think she was determined not to be beaten by this thing and not to be outdone by the 20 somethings, so we marched/staggered on until the next rest point. We were told here that the wind was in the wrong direction which meant you would choke on the sulphur fumes so we may not be able to do the summit (I think both of us would have been happy), but the wind changed and we were told we could continue – damn

 

At this point I could see the volcano rim which seemed like another very steep 200 metre climb so I was thinking OK we can do this as we headed off again.  I think both of us were really hurting by now and I couldn’t believe it when we got to the top only to see another 300 metre steep hike to the top ahead of us.  It was at this point if Shell had said she wanted to quit I would have been with her!

The final climb was agony as you had to kick your boots into the snow for purchase with one foot directly over the other, hack your ice pick into the snow for if you slipped and fell, it would be quite  a distance down the volcano. I started to get cramp in my knees, however after a gruelling 7 hours we finally made it to the top, well done us!!

 

Unfortunately, at the top it was once again very windy which meant we couldn’t venture too close to the crater lip for the danger of being blown into it, which meant after all that effort we couldn’t even see the magma.

 

 

Although the vista from up there was amazing we stopped for two minutes taking snaps (we forgot our union jack flag to plant at the summit!) but both of us just wanted to get down again, so we ventured to the side and waited for our guide.

 

Now it was time for the fun part going down!  We were told to change into some other clothing and a harness type thing with a bit of plastic dangling between our legs, it was time to slide on our arses all the way down.

We were given some instructions on how to do this, using our feet and ice picks as brakes, ensuring the ice pick was to one side to avoid impaling ourselves on the way down.  Led to a small but very steep track (created by previous human toboganist’s) we were told not to use the plastic on this one and just do it on our backsides.

It was very steep and hard to control and I think we both rocketed down it trying to stop ending up in a bit of a pile up at the bottom of the first one.  We then walked to the second track and once again we fought for control as we plummeted down the side of the volcano.

By the time we got to the third we had started to master it and as the gradient was a bit shallow we switched to our plastic mats which made it a bit quicker, but now we were starting to enjoy it.

By the 4^th and 5^th time I started to go off-piste and over-took Shell on a couple of occasions taking my own paths and then re-joining in front of her.  It was really good fun we only wish we weren’t quite so knackered so we could enjoy it more, I think there is a very strong case for a cable car to the top of the volcano so you can just do this!

By the time we reached the last couple of slopes we had one girl in front of us that was holding us up which was a bit of a shame, but finally we were at the bottom of the snow line and it was just another ½ walk until we reached the bottom and the car park.  7 hours up and about 2 hours down!!

We can’t even say we were pleased or felt we had accomplished something (maybe in a couple of month’s) and Shell now says I can no longer convince her to do any more hiking or be responsible for booking trips!! (I’m sure she’ll add her comments to this on her Chile round up!

After everyone was back at the mini-bus we were then driven back to the agency and taken around the back where they gave us a beer whilst we took off and unpacked all our climbing kit.  We then headed across the road for a couple more recovery beers whilst I listened to Shell moan for an hour or so about our day’s entertainment!!

Just about able to walk we took our bodies back to the hostel for a hot shower before heading out to what was touted as the best restaurant in town, as a way of appeasing Shell who was still complaining!

The restaurant was a big Parilla restaurant with a big wood fired grill outside, which meant lots of meat.  We placed our order for the mixed grill and as we were hungry a couple of sides as well, when it turned up we were faced with an impossible amount of meat which looked like it should have been for four (Sausage’s, Steak, Black Puddings, Chops, massive spare ribs, chicken hearts?) let alone the massive sides (I don’t think even Des Martin could have managed it).

We tried our very best but were beaten with the spare ribs, full bowl of chips and most of the salad to go, so we just finished the wine (couldn’t leave that!) and then waddled our aching bones back to the hostel for what we thought was going to be a coma style sleep!  (3 weeks later Shell still is complaining about it!!).

Day 6 – Fake flowers, trout’s, and scabs!

Shell taking over the blog…

So today we had planned a basic trip around the local area with the tourist company to use up time waiting for our night bus.

We woke up in the morning and I noticed a stinging sensation around my nose and mouth. After a bit of investigation and prodding in the mirror, I surmised that I actually had a chapped face!. A CHAPPED FACE!, this was caused by the high winds, dribbling nose and not even being able to cuff it for fear of letting go of the ice pick and falling to my death!. Well, quite a way back down the side of the volcano which would have meant re-climbing it which I personally think is worse than death! Anyway, on with the blog!

After applying some cream, grabbing b/f, we headed to the tourist office. When we arrived, we were told that the driver could only speak Spanish and we were the only ones on the trip (this would be hard work). But after a short wait, they managed to get some passing Chilean tourists on-board, taking the pressure of us a bit trying to look like we understood what he was saying and making Spanish small talk.

The first stop was a plastic flower shop, you will see by the pic Glenn will no doubt post how enthusiastic we were to stop at a fake flower shop about 3 minutes’ walk up the street from our hostel. Still, it beat hanging about in the hostel.

 

Next,  we made a stop over a bridge where you could get a good view of the rapids. We could see the rock we collided with and nearly took Glenn out which was pretty cool. Shame there were no rafts on the river when we were there so we could laugh heartily at other people’s misfortunes.

Our next stop was a trout farm (I don’t think there’s a lot to do for tourists in the surrounding area, other than kill yourself hiking up a snow capped volcano) which whilst it was by really pretty river, it was a pond,  full of trout. Worth mentioning by this time my lips were starting to balloon where the inside was chapped from heavy breathing up the mountain and my right earlobe was throbbing where I must have missed applying factor 50.  

 

Next, we were en-route to the waterfalls where we were treated to some spectacular views of F@#king Volcano Villarica, unimpeded by the buildings, telecom wires, etc obstructing it when viewing from town. Neither of us felt the urge to stop the driver to take a pic!

The waterfalls were pretty and we trekked around taking a few pics before we were led to the van to be taken to the hot springs.

The hot springs we went to aren’t the best in the area, but due to the late return time of the better springs, and the fact that you spent 3 to 4 hours there which we thought would be too long based on our track record of getting bored after 30 mins, we opted for this. We were right to do so, 30 mins into our 2hr stop we wanted to leave.

 

Back in town, we headed off to get a meal before the long coach journey. We had decided to go for a nice local dish which we had spotted people eating the previous day. Despite going back to the same place (no longer on the menu) and trudging around town looking for it, we finally gave in and had a mundane meal so we could get back, change and catch the bus.

The bus was really comfortable, we opted to upgrade to full Cama’s which basically meant that if you wasn’t the height of Glenn, you could pretty much stretch out. We laid back and admired the scenery until it got dark, watched some downloads and got some sleep. It was at this point Glenn opted not to tell me there was a scab forming under my nose!