Pucon... we are convinced we have timewarped into Canada, because parts of Pucon feel as if they could be torn out of a book on Canada, with the downtown being like Banff and the small lake reminding us of Ontario.
We arrived amidst more rain and quikly abandoned our hope of camping to save money, we got touted in a hurry and took a place right beside the bus station, which is usually against our policies, but worked out amazingly because the owner was overly friendly. We enjoyed a run of the house and kitchen and enjoyed a yummy breakfast to boot.
Days were spent lazing around the city and attempting to avoid getting wet by the showers moving in and out. At times we would spy some of the snow at the base of the GIANT volcano which is covered in snow and towers over the town. Actually, we don´t really know if it towers, we ended up only seeing it at a distance, when we were out of town for a day when it cleared temporarily.
So finally after waiting and waiting for the rain to clear we caught a weather report that claimed sun was to sort of shine on Dec.19 and 20 so we bought our bus ticket, prepared our food and hoped. We woke up on the 19 to rain and it basically didn´t stop all day long. This was not to stop us and we headed out to Parque Huerquehay (Where-Kay-Way) to do a two day hike.
Hike... more like a Slop.
Rain, rain, rain and lots and lots of mud. There were a lot of falls and slips, some cursing and some serious contemplation of turning back. But persevere we did and we huddled in our tent, shivering and contemplating the great mystery of the Monkey Puzzle Trees we had passed under that day.
Also known as Araucaria, it is a native tree to Chile that grows a spiky bark and branches. They reach awesome heights and have a really funky outline and canopy. Since it was completely socked in we could see their outlines from time to time on the hills and mountains surrounding us.
The second day dawned with sun and we quickly pulled out our clothes and gear to dry them in the searing sun. Soon we were plodding our way through the still muddy trail back to the trailhead. The trail actually continues in the opposite direction towards hot springs, but we just wanted a two day hike so we looped back to Pucon. The day was spent viewing the hills and mountains of the park covered in the different trees of the region. In the distance (and this is where we saw the volcano) we could see the MASSIVE cone of Volcan Villarrica smothered in snow and spiking the clouds in the distance.
Beyond it we could see more showers moving in from the west, and by the time we got to Pucon it was raining again. Needless to say with a forcast for much the same in the next week we opted to hop the next bus out across the border to Argentina to San Martin de Los Andes. This proved to be a more difficult thing than we imagined because for some reason or another that will remain one of those SA mysteries, there is a bus every single day except for the one we wanted. Luckily there were 9 of us that wanted to go, and the power of a group shone through those dark and dreary skies... and faster than you can say P.Diddy we had a van to take us to the border and three taxis to take us to Junin and a bus to take us to San Martin... our easiest border crossing to date.... and the most scenic as we passed right below the bemuth of a volcanoe on route.
We arrived amidst more rain and quikly abandoned our hope of camping to save money, we got touted in a hurry and took a place right beside the bus station, which is usually against our policies, but worked out amazingly because the owner was overly friendly. We enjoyed a run of the house and kitchen and enjoyed a yummy breakfast to boot.
Days were spent lazing around the city and attempting to avoid getting wet by the showers moving in and out. At times we would spy some of the snow at the base of the GIANT volcano which is covered in snow and towers over the town. Actually, we don´t really know if it towers, we ended up only seeing it at a distance, when we were out of town for a day when it cleared temporarily.
So finally after waiting and waiting for the rain to clear we caught a weather report that claimed sun was to sort of shine on Dec.19 and 20 so we bought our bus ticket, prepared our food and hoped. We woke up on the 19 to rain and it basically didn´t stop all day long. This was not to stop us and we headed out to Parque Huerquehay (Where-Kay-Way) to do a two day hike.
Hike... more like a Slop.
Rain, rain, rain and lots and lots of mud. There were a lot of falls and slips, some cursing and some serious contemplation of turning back. But persevere we did and we huddled in our tent, shivering and contemplating the great mystery of the Monkey Puzzle Trees we had passed under that day.
Also known as Araucaria, it is a native tree to Chile that grows a spiky bark and branches. They reach awesome heights and have a really funky outline and canopy. Since it was completely socked in we could see their outlines from time to time on the hills and mountains surrounding us.
The second day dawned with sun and we quickly pulled out our clothes and gear to dry them in the searing sun. Soon we were plodding our way through the still muddy trail back to the trailhead. The trail actually continues in the opposite direction towards hot springs, but we just wanted a two day hike so we looped back to Pucon. The day was spent viewing the hills and mountains of the park covered in the different trees of the region. In the distance (and this is where we saw the volcano) we could see the MASSIVE cone of Volcan Villarrica smothered in snow and spiking the clouds in the distance.
Beyond it we could see more showers moving in from the west, and by the time we got to Pucon it was raining again. Needless to say with a forcast for much the same in the next week we opted to hop the next bus out across the border to Argentina to San Martin de Los Andes. This proved to be a more difficult thing than we imagined because for some reason or another that will remain one of those SA mysteries, there is a bus every single day except for the one we wanted. Luckily there were 9 of us that wanted to go, and the power of a group shone through those dark and dreary skies... and faster than you can say P.Diddy we had a van to take us to the border and three taxis to take us to Junin and a bus to take us to San Martin... our easiest border crossing to date.... and the most scenic as we passed right below the bemuth of a volcanoe on route.
1 comment:
P Diddy eh?? 8)~
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