Week 10: Pucón, Sur de Chile

After a 10 hour over-night bus, we finally arrived to the much anticipated Pucon.  This tourist destination is known for its out door activities, natural hot springs, beautiful view, and legendary volcano.  Unfortunately, when we pulled into Pucon, we were met with a cold and rainy day.  The weather forecast didn’t look very good for the weekend, but we were determined to wait it out until Sunday in hopes to climb the Volcano.

            Dressed in our rain gear and boots, we toured through this small town, looking for a place to be open before 9am for breakfast.  I’ve found this a difficult thing in Chile, not much is open before 9am, but we had a bit of luck and had a hot chocolate and a warm breakfast to kick off the weekend in the rain.  We discussed our options for the day and with the recommendation of zip-lining we were sold.

            After our breakfast, we were picked up by our guides and escorted to the zip-line course.  It was still raining, but they geared us up with helmets, crampons, and a bright red rain jacket to go over everything. The course took us from tree to tree, crossing over rivers through open air, connected to a line only by a few hitches.  It was such a thrill to just jump off the side of the “tree house” and scale through the air to the next stopping point.  By the end, all of our hands were cold and feet were wet, but it didn’t matter because we had our second round of hot chocolate for the day.  We headed back to a friend’s cabin and cooked up a well deserved spaghetti dinner and some good Chilean “juice”. 

            The attraction of the night was the natural thermal spring that were scattered around the outskirts of Pucon.  After a 30 minute drive out of the center we jumped into the hot springs and relaxed.   The relaxing only lasted for a minute because we were jumping from hot spring to hot spring to find the best one.

            The next morning it was still raining.  We snuggled up in the hostel and watched a good movie.  After we all got cabin fever, the decision was made that we would go white water rafting in the rain and cold.  It wasn’t until we were dressed in our wet suit that we realized getting wet wasn’t ideal for the moment but we had to go for it anways.  The adrenalin of a 8 degree celcius (46F) wave being splashed in my face ironically made me forget about the cold and wet. 

Half way through our journey, the guide told us we could get out and jump in if we wanted.  Lets get one thing straight, I never turn down a water challenge.  So the whole team agreed we would jump in on the call of the guide.  Before we knew it he said “okay now” and we all jumped off the raft, came up from the water, and processed to scream as the nearly freezing water seeped in through the wet suit to the center of our bones.  I has all it took to paddle back to the raft and pull myself in.  We all told the guide he was crazy for telling us to do that.  IT WAS SO FREEZING!!! Thinking back on it gives me the chills.  When it was all over and we were back in our warm clothes we looked back on it and laughed, but the shock of your head under water like that will definitely wake you up.

Sunday, a friend and I were all set to climb the volcano.  When we met the group at 7am, they said the weather just wasn’t clear enough for the day and that it would be better for the next day.  Too bad we were going home the next day, but we took a “day at the spa” instead.  5 girls piled in a van and our driver took us to the hot spring for the day.  The sun was shining and the rain was gone.  We were finally able to see the spectacular view of the volcano and surrounding mountains.  After a few hours there, our driver took us on a scenic drive and showed up some hidden cascadas (waterfalls). 

Despite the initial rain and cold, Pucon lived up to its promise of outdoor sports and breathtaking views.  It’s a place I will be sure to return to some day, especially so I can cross that volcano off my list!