Pucon

Last week on Tuesday I made another day trip to the snow. This time I visited Valle Nevado. It was another day of blue skies although much colder than the previous week in El Colorado. It was an excellent day ok skiing only marred by the long wait to sort out boots and ski's and bus transfer at the Ski Total shop in Santiago. I didn't get onto the slopes until 11.30 am, also not helped by the driver having to stop the bus every 10 minutes to top up with water as the cooling system had a leak. The bus problems and heavy traffic also meant I didn't get home until 8.30 pm in the evening.

This morning I returned back from a long weekend in Pucon with Karin. Pucon is south of Santiago in the lakes district. I took the overnight bus on Friday night, leaving Santiago at 10.50 pm and arriving in Pucon at 9 am on Saturday morning. We were lucky that the room in our hostal was ready for us when we arrived first thing in the morning so we could drop off our bags and then go get some breakfast. I would thoroughly recommend the hostel by the way, Lounge Brasil. Before going out for breakfast we organised a trip to some thermal baths for the afternoon. The weather was pretty awful, cold and rainy so thermal baths seemed a good option. Our driver, Rodrigo picked us up at 12 midday to take us on the 1.5 hour drive to the Termas Geometricas. The driver was quite an interesting character with a big booming voice and a habit of raising his arm to point out something to us and then only explaining what he was pointing out 5 seconds later. The termas geometricas are actually on the side of the (active) volcano Villarica that stands high above Pucon, except due to the weather we hadn't actually seen it yet. The thermal pools were above the snowline which made getting changed and into the pools a wee bit chilly. It was totally worth it however as the setting was awesome. Seventeen slate-lined pools ran up a canyon with a river down the middle of it. The temperature of the pools ranged from 33 - 43 C (there was actually also a 3 C pool a the bottom of a waterfall for the brave or crazy) so you could take your pick.

After spending the previous night on a bus and the afternoon at the thermal pools we were both pretty tired so thought it a good idea to lie down for an hour before going out for dinner. The next thing I knew it was 11.30 pm! Anyway we decided it still a good idea to go and find somewhere open to have something to eat. Luckily we were able to find somewhere still serving pizza. We must have still been pretty exhausted because the next morning we slept in until 11.30 and got up to have the excellent breakfast that they served at Lounge Brasil.

There were no definite plans for the day but the weather was much better and the snow covered volcano was clearly visible. So we set out in search of someone willing to take us up to the ski slopes (Ski Pucon) on the side of the volcano. Sunday was actually the first day of the season that the lifts were open. The first two places were not too helpful and weren't too keen on taking us for 3 or 4 hours. We struck lucky in the third shop, they could take us up the mountain and rent me boots and skis, leaving immediately (Aventur) . So I had an excellent afternoons skiing on the side of an active volcano, the only place in the world you can do this, at least that's what the locals told us. Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera but Karin spent the afternoon taking the lift up and then walking down, taking lots of pictures which hopefully I'll post soon.

Monday, we had decided that we would go to another thermal baths. This time we went to Termas Huife which was a slightly different set-up to the termas geometricas. Theses were in a hotel and comprised three different hot pools and also a hydrotherapy pool. The pools were set alongside a rushing stream which made for a nice relaxing afternoon, we were even able to get some Pisco Sours delivered to us in the pools! Hopefully I will also post some photos from here as well.

The overnight bus back to Santiago left Pucon at 9 pm so there was time for some dinner and a final pisco sour before boarding. That was the end of a really nice weekend that I really wished could have gone on for longer.