The Lake District - Pucon29 Oct 2009
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The volcano from Pucon
At the base of the volcano
On the way up
We made the scenic trip south from Santiago to the Chilean Lake District and stayed in the town of Pucon.
We both really liked Pucon – it’s also a popular place for skiing in the winter so it had a nice alpine resort feel.
The main attraction of Pucon in the summer is to climb the volcano, Volcan Villarrica, so we thought we’d give it a go! Unfortunately when we arrived in Pucon it was wet and cloudy and we were told that it had been for the last few days, so no one had been able to do the hike. However, they were expecting it to be clear the next day and for one day only!
As it was after 8pm when we arrived we had to wait until the next morning to find out if they had space for us to go on the volcano hike the next day, so at 6.30am Adrian popped down to the tour operator and fortunately they were able to accommodate us. By 7.30am we were kitted out and heading off to the base of the volcano!
It was a beautiful morning, a few big white fluffy clouds but plenty of blue sky. The hike was really tough as the snow was quite deep but it was worth it as the views on the way up were amazing. Unfortunately when were about three quarters of the way up the weather turned and the clouds came in over the top of the volcano causing a white out. It was freezing cold and the visibility was really poor, so we had to head back down again without making it to the summit.
Heading back down was fun though because you strapped a special pad to your bottom and slid back down most of the way! Since everyone from our hostel was on the hike we had a bbq that evening which was also really good.
The following day in Pucon it absolutely poured with rain again and trips up the volcano were off again, so although we didn’t make it to the top we think we were very lucky to get to go as far as we did.
