Villarrica and Pucón

After a short drive out of Temuco, we arrived in Villarrica. Too early to check in at the hotel. We are now in an absolute tourist hotspot. The towns of Villarrica and Pucon are located on a beautiful lake. Here, there is hotel after hotel, and new vacation homes are being built on every corner, all looking for wealthy buyers. However, hardly anyone speaks English. So the lady at the reception sent us away and with the Google translation program on our phone, she told us to come back at 3 PM. We used the time to drive along the lake and spent the hours at a nice café with a beer garden, enjoying coffee and cake. There are many playgrounds around, so the children also have fun, and the adults can chat in peace. At 3:30, we returned to the Kolpinghotel, where a lady who spoke English was present and after some back and forth, she found our reservation. Villarrica is not that great, it's rather colorful and flashy, with many restaurants and a large black sand beach. Pucón is very beautiful, with many high-quality but not expensive restaurants, lots of flowers, and only wooden billboards for advertising allowed.

The volcano in the background is called Villarrica, it last erupted in 2015 and is always smoking. Unfortunately, it's difficult to see that in the photos, as it was also very cloudy. In the city, an evacuation zone is marked due to the constant risk of eruption. We added a stolen picture from the internet so you can see how the volcano erupted in 2015. After the drive to the foot of the volcano, we visited two small lagoons and had a picnic with various chickens.