Pucon - Water in various forms

For Carla, it was clear long before booking the tickets to South America that Pucon had to be on the "must-see" list. The only reason for this was supposedly the wonderful whitewater here. So we decided to spend nine days in Pucon and were surprised by the diversity of this place.

Lakes, waterfalls, whitewater streams, volcanoes, and green as far as the eye can see. With Moira (Carla's cousin), we explored waterfalls that fell several meters into the open air (El Salto del Claro) or shot out of the rock like two eyes (Ojos del Caburgua). In Huerquehue National Park, we spent a day hiking and saw different lakes, sometimes clear and sometimes cloudy. It was actually like in Switzerland, except you have to pay admission here.

But our highlight was definitely the Geometricas hot springs. The springs are located in a narrow, overgrown valley that is very green, and smaller waterfalls fall into the stream everywhere. But the special thing is that very hot water flows out of the rocks and mixes with the cold stream water. As a result, the hot springs have 21 different pools with temperatures ranging from 35°C to 45°C. It was wonderful to regenerate our tired bones from hiking there.

We spent the last two days in Pucon on the water. One day, both of us went on the water, and Silvio was once again pushed to his limits. The whitewater here is quite different from Switzerland. There are hardly any eddies. It's like a highway - few rocks, lots of pressure, and big, very big waves. So there were big eyes, lots of water in the face (above and below water!?) and feelings of happiness times 100. If we had had the time, we apparently could have seen three more volcanoes. But somehow we were just focused on paddling. Since Silvio had swallowed enough water, but Carla was still thirsty, we separated for a day and Carla went back on the river (Silvio drank coffee and ate cake - or something like that). Since the previous day was "suitable" for beginners, Carla paddled another river. Yes, more water and maybe an even bigger smile on her face when the kayak completely submerged into a wave, only to shoot out of the wave like an arrow a second later.

We really liked Pucon. We had luck with the weather for once, and our adventure hearts beat faster with the many activities.