Pucon

As soon as my brother took off, my friend Charlotte arrived to spend 3 weeks with me to explore the lake districts of Chile and Argentina. I took her through the classic day tour of Santiago (3rd time now...might start charging if I do it one more time!) and off we were on a night bus to Pucon, no time to rest...too many adventures ahead. And indeed, as soon as we got there we toured the town (feels like being in a mountain town in Switzerland or Germany with all the wooden chalet structures and wurst menus), walked along the lake, and booked 'activities' for the next fews days. First was rafting...super fun...big rapids....lousy co-rafters though (the 3 guys on the boat were useless...one was scared of every big wave and the other two couldn't paddle!)...our guide was not impressed and even got pissed when we got stuck on a rock... very funny...note, it's actually quite hard to remember all the instructions in Spanish...which side to duck, when to go backwards...with 2 sec to react, it was quite comical!... but great fun... all that in freezing water too!
Second day was the volcano climb. Pucon is indeed set on a lake at the foot of the Villarica volcano, an active volcano BTW, which is now a huge tourist attraction and ultimately put the town on the map. In any case, the tour starts at 7am....so up at 6am...and off we go in a short bus ride to the volcano's 1st base camp at 1,400m. The agency provides you with all this equipment from special shoes, pants, wind brakers, crampons, piolet, etc. All of a sudden you feel like you're off to hike with Edmun Hillary. That day was quite windy, so we couldn't use the chair lift for the first part of the climb. No big deal really, but adds 1 hr to the hike. Once we got to the snow part, the hike became quite an expedition...there are over 300 tourists climbing the mountain every day... you end up being in little groups from 4 to 12 (we were only 4 with one guide...so that was better) and follow each other in indian files up the mountain in zig zags. The wind kept increasing and at times, I thought we'd get blown over. The minute you stopped hiking, you lost balance...and let me tell you that the site of the steep slope beneath you wasn't a pleasant picture....just the thought of sliding down the whole mountain and falling in a crevasse kept us going up and up. Every 30min or so we took 5 min breaks... the view is indeed spectacular... but I just wanted to keep going and get to somewhere relatively flat. After 4hrs, we got to the top, 2,450m, where you can peak inside the crater. The fumes were so strong though that day, that we could only stay 10min at the very top, as the sulfur and other toxic fumes burned your throat. Sounds like fun yet??? All worth it though...got great pics. Now the way down was the real treat: sliding down on our butts. We had these sort of diappers on to protect us, but honestly they didn't help much and we were soaking wet when we got to the bottom. There are already tracks on the mountain, so you just run and jump in, using your piolet to guide you and brake. Charlotte forgot to stop at one point and ended up going downhill another 200m, tried to brake with her piolet but with her speed, she couldn't hold the grip and ended up going freestyle down the volcano... i seriously thought we were in trouble, but somehow she managed to stop and climb back up to the path...phew! All in all, a fun adventure for a monday!

Finally, we went on a horse ride up the hills to a magnificient view point of the valley. We then trekked on foot to a beautiful cascade for a little dip. It was Charlotte's first time on a horse and she did just fine...not an ounce of fear!

All in all good fun in Pucon...many activities to do...a beach on the lake to relax...bars and restaurants galore... but after 4 nights, we were ready to keep exploring. Mostly because our hostal was a disaster...couldn't sleep... between people coming in a 3 or 4 am after partying and people waking up at 6 to go on the volcano climb, we averaged 4hrs a night... so happy to be off on a bus where we could sleep a few hours.

Next was Valdivia on the coast....a cute little town in the middle of a delta. We ended going to a local feria with food, singing and dancing... very fun...and cultural for a change...and as long as food is involved, i'm in! The hostal was very cute...an old mansion...felt like Psychose, the movie... all crooked... the couple running it were very welcoming (such characters!) and I got to practice my spanish some more. Slept great until 6am when the rooster started waking the entire hood up... still impossible to get more than 6hrs sleep!!! ahhhhh

Next, we crossed the border to Bariloche, an 8hr bus ride through mountains and lakes...very scenic! Bariloche is another of those Swiss-German towns on a lake. All the architecture is chalet-like and restaurants offer fondues and sauerkraut!! the town is also famous for its chocolate...huge big stores with that disney-ish feel ....but the chocolate is honestly disgusting...cheap milk chocolate if you ask me...so sweet too... but again, the taste buds of people here (especially Chileans who tend to snack ALL the time) are very much on the sweet side. And I can talk, with my sweet tooth, but no way i'm eating another piece of this chocolate. Ok, you get the point. The first night at the hostal was yet again another disaster....girls coming in late from the discos...and then this older woman traveling alone who had to wake up at 5:30 to catch a bus and ended up talking as if we were all awake...she missed the bus (wrong meeting point) and woke us up again at 8am and kept talking the whole time. I wanted to strangle her. So that shot the next day... we tried to sleep in some more...and ended up having a late breakfast at this cute coffee place (finally real coffee!!) and tons of pastries (yeah, finally croissants and brioches!!). Also booked ourselves in a different hostal for tomorrow.

Our next adventures are also booked... off to El Bolson (2hrs south of here, a hippie town in a magical setting according to the guide) tomorrow for the day to a feria (more local foods), then on a big day hike, and finally on a boat trip to visit the other lakes.

But first, off to eat some good argentinian steak and ice cream!!! yum (and maybe a taste of Malbec too)

PS: on the first night, we did splurge for a cultural event: a tango show!!! it was a small theater, which was great...more intimate... great dancing, singing, and guitar trios. Great way to celebrate our arrival in Argentina!