The holy evening after my little wellness tour I spend in the hostel. Everyone is cooking, grilling, baking, and I sit together with people from all over the world, enjoying the view of the volcano. We drink wine and beer and after a few too many glasses, we decide NOT to take the bus at 8:30 but at 13:00 the next day to the Huerquehue National Park...
Whew! The evening has taken a toll on us! I start the day with Fabi, a young German guy from Munich, and we head to the park. We think that, in a slightly hungover state, a relaxed day with a walk through the park and a dip in the lake would be just perfect...
BOY, ARE WE WRONG!!! Less than 30 minutes on the track we chose (which was supposed to be medium difficulty and take 4-5 hours), and it starts going steep uphill over rocks and branches!
On the way, we meet two young Germans (just finished high school) and a Dutch girl. From now on, the five of us continue to climb higher and higher. I FEEL LIKE I'M DYING AGAIN! The volcano trip was almost easy compared to this track. That's how it feels at least. Well, there's no use complaining. I wanted an adventure vacation and to experience things, even though I would really love to be lying on a Caribbean beach under coconut trees right now :-)
From time to time, we reach beautiful viewpoints that make up for everything.
And this... After about 3.5 hours of non-stop uphill climbing, we finally reach the first lagoon at the top. Yeeehaaa! We did it again.
More lagoons follow, and we can swim in one of them, it's incredibly cold but beautiful.
I talk a lot with the two recent high school graduates and I'm impressed with their journey. 6 months through South America with a budget of 5000 euros! They mostly camp and are doing well so far. Oh well, it would be nice to be young like that again. But in that moment, I feel pretty cool myself that at 34 I'm still doing trips like this and I'm far from being done :-) The other three are luckily with a car and we arrange for them to give us a ride, as there's no way we would catch the last bus to Pucón.
We go back the same way and after about 6 hours, we're back at the starting point. Who the hell is estimating the time here? Oh well. Completely exhausted, I arrive in Pucón and should actually continue to Valdivia the next day. But I'm so worn out from the hiking day and I also realize that I really need a day without excursions and action, so I spontaneously decide to stay two extra nights in Pucón and cancel Valdivia and Lake Ranco.
I'm super happy with the decision. The next day is cloudy and I do nothing but sleep, prepare meals, write reports, and have coffee with cake in the village :-)
After the day of rest, today I go to Lake Caburgua. There's not much to report. I lie by the lake for a while, take a swim, walk from Playa Blanca to Playa Negra, and on the way back, I stop at the Laguna Azul and the waterfalls, which are quite beautiful.
Then back to Pucón, packing, and sleeping. Tomorrow I'm heading to Puerto Varas, 5 hours further south...
Besos