Pucon

22.12.

Today we are going to Villarica volcano! First, we leave the national park and go to Melipeuco to get SIM cards. We surf super cheaply (2Fr with 1h/1GB). The drive to Pucon is long, but the roads are good and straight. We head to Camping Los Canelos, which has received good reviews on the internet. It is located a bit outside but is really nice by the river. The owner is super nice and the prices are reasonable. We are the only ones at the campsite for now, but that will change for Christmas. We are greeted by a black cat that will keep us busy for the next few days, but immediately becomes part of the family. Since the network here is too bad, we drive to Caburgua to a restaurant right by the lake to plan our next few days. We have river rafting, volcano climbing, hiking, and a visit to the thermal baths on the agenda. The cat sleeps in our tent, which she responds to with loud purring and a lot of licking. It's reassuring but a bit tiring. But we already have her in our hearts!

23.12. - 27.12.

After breakfast (Amelia often makes wonderful porridge with bananas and raisins), we look for a laundromat in Pucon. On the way, we try to postpone our volcano visit as the river rafting cannot take place as reserved. We succeed and we are on the mountain together with the people from Wallis, but in different groups. Since we are already in town, we decide to play mini golf. The course is a bit different with additional sand bunkers than what we are used to. It's fun! Right next to it, there is a grill that offers "à discrétion". This means nothing other than all you can eat. The Chileans seem to have a different idea of small portions! Every time they bring us new meat, it's about 300g! After the third plate, we are full and cannot try the other specialties anymore. Now we can't eat anymore and decide to bathe our stomachs in a thermal bath. The Termas Liucura is the closest one to the campsite. Unfortunately, it is closed due to restructuring. This doesn't stop the gardeners on site and they let us in anyway, and we are allowed to use two available pools as the only guests. They are not super warm, which prompts us to return to the campsite after 1.5 hours of relaxing and cook dinner. Another cat joins us and we welcome it.

24.12.

Wake-up call at 4:45 am. We drive to Pucon where our guide Leonardo welcomes us and prepares the equipment. We drive up the mountain for almost an hour, just above the outdated ski resort. We change, gear up, and follow Leo up the mountain at a brisk pace. We make great progress, a completely different feeling than when we ran out of breath on Huayana Potosi. After an hour, we have to put on crampons. Always keeping an eye on the summit, we can draw our zigzag route into the soft ice quite steeply. Sometimes we get hit by a sulfur cloud from the constantly smoking Villarica, which makes our eyes burn and breathing difficult. We are the first ones to reach the top and can admire the view and the crater without any rush. Today, there are about 30 people on the mountain. Normally, 200 people climb the mountain, sometimes even 400, which makes it even more beautiful to enjoy the summit alone. The "descent" is one of the coolest things you can experience! With "diapers" and a plastic pan under our buttocks, we slide down in small channels. We brake with the ice axe, as it is quite steep. We can slide down almost the entire mountain, only the last half hour we have to walk, which is super easy due to the lava gravel. Back in Pucon, we enjoy a beer and buy food for our Christmas feast tonight. The people from Wallis move to our campsite and we celebrate together. We have a fondue chinoise with meat and cheese platter, good wine, and dessert. We have a cozy and funny time.

25.12.

We are still recovering from last night's party, but we get up and drive to Caburgua to recharge our SIM cards. As we find out, you can do that in almost any store with a credit card terminal. The national park is not far from here, but we have to take a detour due to a serious accident. We also encounter some minor car accidents caused by careless drivers. After the entrance control, we park, have a small snack, and set off to climb Cumbre San Sebastian. We cover the 1150 meters of altitude on steep to very steep paths in 2.5 hours. The view is fantastic. Once again, we are alone at the top. The descent is a bit exhausting and gives us a proper muscle soreness the next day. We find Panaché in the supermarket and share it with the people from Wallis at the campsite. Unfortunately, while we were away, our cat made a big mess in the tent! Or was it the dogs that the numerous campers let run around? In any case, it needs to be fixed tomorrow.

Tonight we have Tichurevanche! Once again, the men win ;)

26.12

Today, we are woken up by the dogs again. Three of them have gathered in front of our tents, barking loudly and apparently not liking us. I chase them towards the tents of their owners, who don't seem to mind the noise their four-legged friends are making. After 15 minutes of continuous barking, a woman tries to calm the dogs down. Wow, they must have had quite a bit to drink yesterday!

After breakfast, we say goodbye to the people from Wallis with the intention of seeing them again on Chiloe. In front of Pucon, we look for tent repair material, but we don't really find anything.

Unfortunately, while pulling out of the parking lot, I scratch our car, which means patience, payments in advance, and emails. Luckily, it's only plastic and not that big. At 4:00 pm, we meet the rafting crew and take the bus to Rio Trancura. After changing clothes at the put-in and continuing upstream, we start off slowly. Our guide gives us good instructions and we learn various commands on the river. The rapids are impressive and shake us up quite a bit! Occasionally, we get stuck on rocks where we have to paddle or slide ourselves off. The journey is interrupted by a short hike around a waterfall that we cannot navigate by boat. But then we can make up for the altitude difference with a jump into the cold water! It's a lot of fun, and we won't be the last ones to have enjoyed it! After getting out of the water, we have a beer and a snack for everyone. We can buy the photos that a kayaker took of us for 5Fr per person. It's worth it, our faces and the masses of water are worth the pictures! One last time, we return to "our" cats at the campsite. The dogs from this morning are still there and actually want to eat the cat. With a spirited dash, she narrowly escapes her fate! The owners come late again and only fetch the dogs from the forest after the attack. Somehow, it's strange how dogs are kept here in Chile. Tonight, our cats are behaving oddly and their running around the tent only allows us to sleep half-heartedly. Nevertheless, we love them and will miss them.