PUCÓN, Chile
Ready to go!!
Over our week long break for Fiestas Patrias last week (blog post on that to come) we took the second half to travel south for some outdoorsy adventures! We took an overnight bus on Wednesday, September 19th, during which they decided to show two halves of movies, cutting them off exactly when it was getting interesting (don't ask me why). Thursday morning we got in about 11 and found our hostal, Hostal Nativa. It was not very hard to find since the town is very small and it is less than a 10 minute walk to anything. The town reminds me of a Colorado mountain town with wood buildings and mountains and woods surrounding it; it is very outdoors-y.
One of the streets in Pucón where we went shopping and got ice cream.
We were all pretty tired from a night of bus sleep (not very good if you have never tried it) so we booked an afternoon tour, bought groceries, went to a fería (a market with local crafts) and hung around the hostel with our friends Benny and Juan Pablo (AKA Bennie and Juan-y haha) until 4 pm. The hostal was nice and the guys were very friendly, but I would rate our Mendoza hostal higher as far as general cleanliness, not that it was dirty! We especially loved the hostal's resident puppies: Che Copete and Chochinon! We cooked most of our meals in the hostal, and our group was smart enough to think of the one thing that makes everything better: bacon! However, the second day, I was cooking bacon for a long time, causing smoke to fill the hostal, and I had it all on a plate. As I carried the plate, of course, I hit a fridge with and sent it flying everywhere to the tune of a few expletives. No matter, we ate it anyway!
The main and sleeping rooms of our hostal.
Cooking and cuddling with pups.
Our first tour was a Mapuche (indigenous people of Southern Chile) tour. The bus drove us outside of town, not exactly to where a tribe of Mapuche lived, but to were a family with Mapuche roots lives and gives tours. Although it felt a little inauthentic at times, it was super interesting. We got to go inside of Mapuche house, which is a mix between a cabin and a tent, my friends Brian and Maddy tried on traditional Mapuche clothing, we ate Mapuche food, learned about their rituals, and played a Mapuche game called Palín (basically field hockey). I had a lot of fun!
Outside of the Mapuche houses and my friend, Brian, posing with two adorable kids.
Weaving and explaining Mapuche traditions like how they have to collect the fruit, called piñon, from araucaria trees.
Mapuche flag and Brian wearing the traditional Mapuche dress.
Showing us their sacred tree and dancing around it.
Playing Palín.
Our Mapuche Meal
The next day was white water rafting! It was gray and cold outside, but we were all pumped to go, especially since it was the first time for many people. We had to get all decked out in wetsuits, which kept us warm, but they should have included gloves because my hands were freezing! Nevertheless, I don't think the smile left my face the entire time we were on the river. Our guide had us celebrate after every segment of white water by lifting our paddles in the air and shouting. He also invited us to his "birthday" party that night, but none of us went. It was so much fun and only about $20! Then we decided to get our American fix and got burgers the size of our face!
After our chilly day, we decided to go to natural hot springs, called termas, that night. It is really awesome, they pick you up about 8 and you stay there until midnight. There were 6 pools, each varying in size and degree of heat. Personally I liked the hotter ones better, but I tried out all of them.
Attempting to take pictures in the termas, but they mostly just turned out foggy.
The next day we had planned to climb the ominous volcano, Villarrica, and be victoriously awesome, but several guides warned us that we may not even reach halfway due to weather or something. So we decided to save volcano climbing for Patagonia and took a micro to Huerquehue National Park for some all day, muddy hiking. We were there for six hours, hiking uphill basically the whole time, and it was super muddy. So naturally it was excellent. And we saw two waterfalls and views of the volcano. It was gorgeous!
Welcome to Huerquehue National Park.
The whole hiking gang!
Waterfall shots.
MUD. And my hiking buddies: Nicole, Maddy, and Caitlin.
It was GORGEOUS.
Very Twilight-esque.
<3
We stumbled upon some piggies and cows.
When we got back to the hostel, we were a little surprised to receive a phone call from our friends saying that not only did they reach the top of the volcano, but it was so hot they had rolled up their sleeves. Not really sure why the guides were so adamant that we not go. In any case, I was extremely jealous and more determined than ever to reach the top. I began to ask everyone if they were still interested in going the next day, even though we had to catch our bus at 7:50 that night. I pressured a lot of people who had been interested before, and ultimately ended up with two partners in crime. Since it was getting kind of late, it was a lately chaotic getting this group together and then running over to the same company that our friends had used, making it just before they closed at 8.
We were literally the last ones in the store and watched them close it down. The company was called Aguaventura. It was kind of intense from the start because they have a long list of things you need to have for the next day like a lunch, sunglasses, sunscreen, etc. We got fitted for our boots and snowsuits that night and scrambled to gather all of the things we needed and get in bed early since we had to get up at 6:45 the next morning.
Gonna climb it.
Above the cloud level.
Villarrica volcano.
Hiking the volcano: one of the most intese events of my life. First I had to go back to the hostal at 6:45 and wake up a friend so I could get a better coat because apparently mine wasn't good enough. The weather conditions on Villarrica are apparently very subject to change. We experienced that later in the day. Then we took a shuttle up to the base, which is also a ski area. It was very expensive, but we payed for the lift to take us up part of the way (totally worth it). Then we got our gear together and started hiking. We didn't start out wearing our snow pants or the crampons because it wasn't necessary. It was a sunny day, but there was also a bit of wind.
Getting briefed as we prepare to go.
My hiking buddies, Maddy and Danelle!
#YOLO
The way hiking works is you have 5-45 minute sections and a 15 minute break between each. You traverse up the mountain in a single file line and literally step in the footprints of the person in front of you. This is because it is either very icy and you want the traction, or the snow is fluffy and thick and your feet will go through on every step. We had to keep our ice ax in the hand closest to the mountain to push into the snow in case we slipped. It became our best friend because we also used it to lean on. I, fortunately, did not have to use the ice pick to stop myself until the downhill, but I was terrified of falling the entire time. It started out scorching hot and we stripped off all of our layers except the t-shirt. However, after the third section, we came up over a ridge and encountered howling winds. When we stopped I put all of my jackets back on. Though I would never quit, in the second to last section, I could see how someone would because my legs were screaming at me. After that section, we had to gear up and the guides helped us with our crampons because it was icier above. After much strenuous walking and sweating while simultaneously freezing from the wind, we finally made it to the top. And it was... AMAZING!
At the top!
The crater. We couldn't see the lava due to all the smoke. The last eruption was in the 80s and there was one in the 60s and 70s, as well, so it seems like they're overdue for another...
Epic.
Aside from seeing the beautiful views of the lakes, mountains, and more volcanoes in the distance, the best part of the experience was going downhill... we got to SLED down! We put on our snow pants and attached the orange, plastic sled to ourselves and literally just sledded down the side of the mountain. I didn't really grasp how to break at first, so I was a little out of control and had to dig the pointy end of the ice pick into the ground to stop. That got the guides laughing a lot. Also, on the last segment, I managed to drop my ice pick as I was sliding down, which is actually really dangerous for the person after you. But the guide got it. Awesome, that's not embarrassing or anything. It was so fun! But sometimes snow would build up between your legs and make it hard to go fast. Also, I had really bad bruises on my legs from where the straps dug in.
The ice pick and the sled.
When we finally got back, after 6 hours of hiking and sledding, we were exhausted, wet, and smelly. However, we could only get our stuff and change at the hostal. Then we had just enough time to get dinner, run into some other exchange students from our university, and get snacks at the grocery store before we had to catch our bus. Also, I lost my cell phone. Successful weekend overall.
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