Chile Lake Districts

Trip Start Jan 23, 2006
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Trip End Jan 31, 2007


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Saturday, March 4, 2006

Once back in Puerto Montt, we hired a car, and drove about 350km to the Chile Lake district. We weren´t expecting much, and as it was overcast, we didn´t see much on the way up. On arriving at Pucon, which is on Lake Villarrica, we were impressed by it´s very European feel and architecture. It is very much like a Swiss ski village. There is a huge active volcano, but due to the bad weather, it was not possible to see it. We grudgingly went to a campsite on the lake, it was really raining but as we had hired a car we thought we had better camp. The campsite though was amazing and this became home for the next 3 nights - only problem was the freezing showers but I am slowly getting used to these. The campsite was really cool and we were the only ones there so we could really behave badly - not that we did of course.
The next day we chilled at the campsite and then went and looked around the town. After a couple of hours we headed to some of the natural hot baths, Thermas de Puzones which were amazing. They are set in this huge valley and there are 6 natural baths of varying heat. We spent hours there wallowing in the pools,k which induced absolute exhaustion so headed back to camp for an early night - the next morning we had to get up at 6am for the volcano trip. We were not that hopeful about the weather as apparently sometimes they don´t do trips for quite a few days due to bad weather, but lucky for us the next day was a peach!
Our tour group that we booked through was cheaper than the others and it soon became apparent why. 3 Ladies
3 Ladies
 My boots were different sizes and Mark had monster shoes on, but this did not matter as I think our guide was the most adventurous - much more important, which became clear on the way down. The hike up was really cool and not too hard, but mostly through snow, so we used crampons and ice axes. Once up there it started to snow so was chilly but the heat of the volcano kept things slightly warmer. We saw quite a few spews of hot searing magma which was awesome. But still things were about to get better. To get down we got into waterproof suits and were instructed that we were going to ´slide down´. I thought this was a joke, but No - we did in fact slide down overtaking all the other groups (see photos for evidence). It was ridiculous fun!!!! Only problem was the cold and wet bums afterwards. The next day headed for Puerto Octay. This little village set on a hill on a lake surrounded by 3 volcanoes....so as you can imagine it is STUNNING (for lack of a better word). We camped here again, and that night went to one of the locals which had the Simpsons showing in Spanish - not sure if Homer is as funny in Spanish though!
The next day we actually went for a run (first since leaving Cayman) and then grudgingly returned our car back in Puerto Montt, before heading to Argy Bargy...

Take care readers.....
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