Honkey Puzzles and Muffin’ Cones

Our main reason for wanting to visit Pucon was to climb a volcano. Volcano Villarrica sits just outside Pucon in Chile's Lake District region and together with about 300 other tourists you can climb all the way to the top in 5.5hrs, led by a guide and get to peer into its sometimes bubbling lava-ry crater! 

We got there late on Monday but found everywhere to be booked up for the following day, so we booked ourselves in for the Wednesday with a reputable company. Every other shop front on the main street is trying to sell you some kind of adventure excursion – rafting, waterfall scaling, volcano climbing etc. but only a few of them are certified – others are potential death trap companies run by some insane adrenaline junkie! We had been warned.

Anyway, it was just as well we had a bunce day because by the time we found our hostel and grabbed some food it was getting late and we hadn’t even thought about the supplies we’d need for the next day - food etc and it would have been a 6:30am start in a town we didn’t yet know so chances are we’d get lost on the way back to the meeting point!

So on Tuesday we headed to a park called Huerquehue that’s about an hour’s bus journey from Pucon. The park is famed for its stunning views of Villarrica and also for its enormous monkey puzzle trees! Seriously, some of these trees are over 1000 years old and I struggled to hug half the circumference of a tree. We did the longest hike we could squeeze in before the return bus journey back to Pucon and so far, it’s the best walk I’ve done out here. 

The path started with a steep switchback through the southern beech forest. Being in the shade of these enormous trees kept us cool and you could see the volcano peeking through the trees.

The first of the lakes in Huerquehue 

Enormous hollow tree shot

Volcan Villarrica huffin away in the background

Then atop the biggest climb, the monkey puzzles started to appear and before we knew it we were surrounded by lakes and monkey puzzles. Every turn of the path led to another incredibly tranquil scene. 

More big lenga trees (southern beech)

Then the monkey puzzles started to apear

We lunched by Lago de Los Patos – Lake of the Ducks, and sure enough there were ducks there. They tend to like naming things literally out here. The walk also took us past Lago Verde – Green Lake, which was sure enough very green, and last and best of all Lago Torro – Tower Lake. 

The backdrop to Lago de Los Patos - Lake of the Ducks

A shot of the ducks - but they are very small!

This last place was like heaven on earth – or maybe like the world when it had first begun. Just a faint chirping of birds in the nearby forest that covered a huge escarpment of towering rocks opposite. There was no-one else around except the birds, the sound of the occasional fish in the lake and a handful of laid back insects. The water sparkled with a few faint ripples and the tranquillity of the place drained every last bit of tension from me as I peered across the water, breathing in the warm breezes. This has become my favourite place in the whole world!

Lago Torro - my new favourite place in the world

Unfortunately we couldn’t stay longer than 5 minutes as our bus was due to leave in 2 hours’ time and we had a long return journey back to the pick-up point – but it was a long 5 minutes. This left little time for dordeling and I was allowed only 3 more attempts at photographing lizards to save us being late – an activity I can happily do all day and had I been on my own probably would have done. We made the bus and it was an incredible first day in Pucon.

On Tuesday in Pucon we climbed Volcan Villarrica! We went with Politur – a great company and it was unbelievably scary and awesome! By opting to climb the first hour on foot rather than use the chairlift like the other 90% of people we were taken up in a small group of 4 with a guide. Choosing to do this showed confidence in our own fitness levels and I was therefore slightly concerned that I’d be falling behind for the rest of the in a group that was above my ability. But no – we nailed it! Me and Tim, 2 Germans and the guide Ricardo got up in 3.5hrs. ‘A good time’ according to Ricardo and we were some of the first up there!

The first hour was steep and tough. The second hour, Ricardo had us going off the trodden path of those previous and we had to traverse virgin snow using our boots to punch in steps in the ice and using our pickaxes to stabilise us. It was awesome as we overtook the hordes of other people all trudging the lesser steep parts. But totally scary at the same time!

A 7am start up the volcano

Armed with helmet, gaiters and pickaxe to combat the rock and ice. I seriously love gaiters!

We broke for a snack with everyone else and one particularly vivacious Argentinian lady who was struggling a bit, called me her hero!

Half way up

We knocked off the last 2hrs in 1.5hrs and couldn’t believe the sight at the top! You could look right down into the smoking crater and see the sides scorched with sulphur! You couldn’t see the bottom. Basically this was a giant hole right down to the magma chamber below. Although we couldn’t see the lava pit, you could hear the occasional rumble and churning below and there was the sickening smell of sulphur being emitted from every crevice both in the crater and around where you were walking.

Snack stop half way up

Looking into the crater

Right on the edge with the suplur all around. Pretty scary

We were at a height of 2850m and half the crater was still covered in snow. The view was amazing and you could see all the other volcanoes in the area standing out like majestic monsters in the distance, all snow-capped. You could even see across to Osorno ~250km away! 

The visibility was incredible and we could see all the other volcanoes in the area

Visibility couldn’t have been better and we had been blessed by the weather gods. The conditions climbing up were incredible. We even had moments of no wind and Ricardo would stop and say ‘listen’. ‘What?’ I would reply and he said ‘the silence’. He was a dude and when we were at the top, he took us slightly down one side of the crater so we could sit at the edge and listen. It was amazing, but absolutely stunk up there. The smell of sulphur was choking.

It was so stinky they advised we used our balaclavas to mask the stench

Walking along the edge of the crater

Luckily there was very little wind

Before long, the crowds of others reached the top and we all sat around having lunch. There must have been a good 200 people up there at one point. Once the group had re-joined at the top, it was time to descend – which we did with plastic sledges on our bums! It was amazing! We were suited head to foot in ski wear type clothing and given a plastic tray to sit on and we bombed it down carved out sledge channels most of the way down. What a way to travel; we were down within the hour! 

We were treated to a full on halo too

Bum sledge attached and I'm ready for the decent

Going down was just so much easier

These are others coming down in the distance. The best was to travel.

When back in town we had a few celebratory beers and headed to our new hostel. We had decided to move from the previous dingy shared dorm into a double room we had found in a lovely friendly hospedaje (guesthouse). Our own double, and a spare single in a pine panelled room for less money! We went out that evening and found an awesome restaurant and toasted the day with some good food and wine.

A well earned beer or 2

We hadn’t planned much for our third day in Pucon. It had been forecast to rain – which it was and we thought we’d be a bit done in from the volcano. So what we did was take a short bus journey out to a local town called Curarrehue – a small town where the Mapuche culture was still very strong. The Mapuches were one of the original Chilean people and there is a restaurant in this small town where you can sample their cuisine cooked by an original Mapuche chef. The town is set along one street with a few supermarkets and a cute church. 

Little Mapuche town Currerahue 40km from Pucon

Apparently there is a small Mapuche museum but it was so small that we couldn’t find it, so we went straight to the restaurant. We tried all sorts of delicious food – very aromatic and fresh and all served on amazing wooden tableware; quinoa tortillas stuffed with hot cheese, sopapillas which is fried dough served with accompanying spices and dips. And for desert some kind of fruit and pearl barley in a juice in a glass that looked like a smiley face! Tim didn’t have a smiley face being given this, so I ate his too. 

This was tastier than I make it look

All the traditional food was served on amazing handcrafted tableware

Tim wasn't happy with his mote con huesillo (peach and wheat) smiley face desert

We then headed back to Pucon where we spent the last night wandering parts we hadn’t seen before – which turns out to be streets and streets of market stalls, plazas and lakeside beaches. Granted, most market stalls were selling the same big earrings, bumbags and wooden hummingbird shaped pencil ends, but it created a colourful atmosphere! I ended my time in Pucon with a White Russian cocktail in hand in a bar with josticks burning and MGMT playing in the background. A great place - a bit touristy, but that’s what you get when you are situated in the shadow of one of South America’s most actively huffin’ cones. Thanks Villarrica for not going off when I was on you!