Another volcano
Trip Start
Dec 30, 2007
1
19
50
Trip End
Jun 22, 2008
Pucon,
Chile
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
We had been tempted to simply skip Pucón. It is Chile's answer to Bariloche, and we thought we could
do without that (even though I liked Bariloche). The main drawcard is the puffing Volcán Villarica, and a bunch of outdoor activities. But we felt that the volcano was unlikely to be as spectacular as Pacaya (Guatemala), and we had done quite a few outdoor activities by now.
But, in the end we decided to give it a go, not wanting to simply pass through such a large stretch of the country without stopping at all.
Arriving in the evening, we were immediately struck by the volcano which dominates the town, although
there was no glow to be seen (contrary to reports)
Volcan Villarica smoking (from our hospedaje)
. We stayed with the first tout at the terminal, and were glad we did. They fed us bread and jam and coffee and cake on arrival, and we had a lovely upstairs area essentially to ourselves complete with cable TV (which we didn't turn on), internet and a nice kitchen. Our room had a view of the mountain. I heartily recommend Hospedaje Maitehue.We had hoped to arrange a volcano tour for the following day. While guides are not strictly required, you cannot enter without crampons and an ice-axe, which we would have to hire (and get transport as well), so we thought a tour was worthwhile, despite the wicked expense. We could not get on to anything for the following day, so we vowed to enjoy the city for the three days we needed to be there (giving ourselves an extra day for bad weather).
It's true, Pucón is a tourist trap. It's that thing about a lake and mountains again. But it is still really nice, although it wasn't really crowded for us. The lake has a nice pebble beach which few people were taking advantage of; the mountain is beautiful with a band of snow around its middle before turning back to dirt higher up (this puzzled me at the time); even the township seems quite pleasant.
So with a free day, we started out by lying on the pebbly beach, but ended up by going hidrospeeding
Looking back down
. This involves running rapids clinging to a buoyant plastic board like a bloated kick-board. Mostly it was not that thrilling, but I still managed to win the booby prize. Turned over in shallow water trying to avoid a stranded person in front, I bumped along the rocky bottom, until I managed to flip myself again. I went through the first set of rapids happily enough, but I was having trouble with my goggles, which I was wearing to keep me from losing my contacts. The goggles fogged so badly that I was hitting the rapids blind. Nothing seemed to help. So I took them off for the next set. That was an error. Immediately blinded by pray, with water between my eyes and the lens, I was soon stuck in a ferocious eddy. I don't know if I would ever have got out if someone hadn't rammed me. After that, I went through the rapid without the float. It wasn't really enjoyable, though less frightening than being washed down the Zambezi rapids. It is the not being able to see that's the worst. Anyway, we allsurvived (no one else even struggled), although I had picked some very sore bruises.
The Volcano
Despite warnings against this kind of thinking, we went with the cheapest agency we talked to. But the gear looked reasonable to us, and we figured that since everyone does this hike it can't really be that hard
cutting ice steps on the climb up
. In fact the agency and its guides were fine.The car takes you to 1400m. A chairlift will take you another 400m for the extortionate price of $5000 pesos (about US$11) but you are in a group so will probably feel under a little peer pressure to take it. So we did. That leaves around 1000m to do on foot.
The pace set was comically slow. Neither Nancy nor I raised a sweat or puffed the whole way up. I don't know how long those 1000m took us but we felt that we could have done it at least 50 per cent faster. Still, the slow pace was quite effective and it made very light work of what was actually quite a steep climb. Even so, in our group of six we had to drop two people off, and one of the remnants was really struggling. I thought our guides were amazingly patient, splitting the group, and allowing one person to drag his way to summit an hour or so after us.
The volcano sends out noxious fumes that sear nostrils and lungs (hopefully no long term damage done), but we could not see lava in the caldera (as others have). It was interesting to discover why the band of snow seemed not to reach higher altitudes - it reaches right into the caldera itself but is covered by dirt higher up (and lower too)
The summit
. The views are nice, and we did use the crampons and axes, although I am sure that the ascent would be possible without them. But for my money, Mt Ngarahoe back home offers a more spectacular experience all round. It is actually the descent that makes Villarica a really memorable experience.The exposed ice part of the descent is made on your bottom, protective gear provided, sliding down an established run. Feet together and knees up for speed, ice axe for brakes. It was a lot of fun. And our guide was about the only one who let his group run down through the forgiving volcanic sand.
So that as quite a good day, but over all a little underwhelming, given the cost.
A bike ride
Since the weather had treated us well, we had another free day. We began by squandering it. Leisurely
breakfast, rationalising our packs (ie trying to eliminate stuff), shopping (Nancy) and reading on the beach (me). we made a late decision at about 3.30 to hire bikes and do a little circuit. The circuit recommended to us was 40 kms, to have us back around 8.00 which gave us time to catch our 9.46 bus (I'm not kidding, scheduled departure 9.46)
Ice at the rim of the caldera
.We went out to a delightful spot called Ojos de Caburgua, where a series of streams converge and drop
into one of the most beautiful pools of water I have ever seen. Do you think it's cold? Nancy asked. Cavalierly, I reckoned it couldn't be that bad. The lake was quite warm after all. I dived in and nearly had a heart attack. But I'm pleased I dived, because it is not the kind of water you can ease yourself into. Common sense intervenes in a way that is impossible with a dive. I was sorry only to be able to spend an hour or so out here, but the clock was ticking.Our timing was immaculate too. We rolled back into the bike shop on the stroke of 8.00.
And thus on to Santiago.
