Pucón - Hot Springs, Kayaking, Fair, Volcano Tour, and National Park

After my first internship, I moved directly to Pucón via Santiago. The bus ride took about 10 hours until I arrived on January 29th around 8 am.

At the hostel, the first surprise awaited me: when booking the room, I didn't pay attention to how many other people were in my room, I just focused on the price. So, in the end, I ended up in a room with 15 other beds. However, I can say that I slept better there than expected and everyone was very considerate.

Right after my arrival, two of my roommates asked me if I wanted to go to the hot thermal springs with four others from our room. So, I went with 2 Israelis, 2 Argentinians, and 2 Germans to the Termas Los Pozones. There were four water pools with different temperatures right next to the Liucura River. The last one was by far the hottest and in some corners, it felt like it was about to start boiling. As soon as we got out of the water, our whole bodies turned fire red. There wasn't much to see there, but it was definitely worth the experience, and I was very impressed by how the volcanic activity around Pucón is expressed in these springs.

The next day, I went on a kayaking tour alone. It turned out that Rajeed from India and I were the only students that day. After choosing the appropriate clothing and kayaks, we went to a section of the Liucura River where we could try out the first techniques without any current. However, when my kayak instructor told me that I could tilt the kayak left and right as much as I wanted without anything happening because I would recognize the tipping point in time, I naturally tried it out and, as expected, tipped over my kayak. Unfortunately, at that time, we hadn't been told what to do when our heads were underwater since it's not easy to free yourself from that position. So, my kayak instructor quickly paddled to me and tried to turn my kayak back over, but in doing so, his kayak also tipped over, and he had to turn himself back to the surface. After holding my breath and feeling like I was drowning for a long time, he managed to bring me back to the surface as well. Later, we even had to try to roll ourselves back up using the Eskimo roll so that we could free ourselves from the situation if all the other kayakers were too far away.

Back in Pucón, I went with Ranjeed to a fair of the indigenous people Kui Kui, where we could try typical dishes and buy souvenirs. There was also music playing and various games available. Afterwards, our kayak instructor Federico even invited us for a beer, so we visited several bars and a club in Pucón.

The following day, I spent time with Fede, who showed me the Villarrica National Park with its many waterfalls that most tourists don't even know about.

The next morning, at 6 am, the volcano tour finally began. We met at the agency's office, where backpacks with clothing and shoes were already prepared for each individual. We then took a bus to the base of the Villarrica Volcano, where we had to decide whether we wanted to walk the first few hundred meters or take the ski lift for 10,000 CLP (approx. 12.50€) to save an hour of time and take more pictures. Like almost everyone else, I chose the ski lift because we wanted to save our energy for later.

We walked uphill for a total of five hours, with only three short breaks of 10-15 minutes each to keep our muscles warm. It was incredibly windy on the volcano, so we had to put on our snowshoes, snow pants, jackets, gloves, and scarves from the backpacks provided. Most of the time, we walked on the glacier using our ice axes, following in the footsteps of the person in front of us, and only took breaks on dry lava. If we needed to go to the bathroom, the guides showed us the best stone to hide behind - with a great view guaranteed. Completely soaked in sweat at the crater, we had some time to take pictures. Unfortunately, we had to wear a gas mask there because of the toxic gases.

After about 15 minutes, we started our way back, sliding down several snow-ice chutes while sitting. Sometimes, I didn't brake enough with my ice axe, so I flew out of the slide. Once back on solid ground, we were allowed to take off the snow gear and sit in the bus back to Pucón with our soaked clothes, where we received free beer and pizza. It wasn't easy to lose motivation as we gained altitude, but we were a strong group where no one had to walk slower or take extra breaks. We were even more proud that we didn't even consider canceling the tour and went through with it.