We had only had an hour flight to Temuco, but with all the travel and waiting it took us all morning to get to Temuco. But when we finally arrived we quickly (very relative in Chile) got our rental car and hit the road to Pucon. Whilst Pucon is not far from Temuco, we took our time and enjoyed the rolling road through some green scenery, with the amazing volcanos in the background.
Along the way we stopped by Villerrica where we decided that it was a perfect spot to grab an ice cream and a walk along the lake shore. With the sun shining and wind cooling us down, it was perfect. Especially since we hear from friends that it is just bucketing down back in the UK.
Eventually we got to Pucon and checked into our hotel. The girls of course jumped into the pool as soon as they discovered that there was one. We are starting too see a trend here…
Whilst in Pucon, we hiked up a volcano. Well not all the way to the top. We got around 2km from the its steaming summit (it’s an active volcano). Even if we could (our girls are too young to climb to the top), the local area is on Amber alert due to an increase of volcanic activity and there is an 1km exclusion zone in place at the moment. The volcano has historically erupted round about once a decade and the last one was in March 2015, so they are expecting one soon…
We still got to climb the scenic route up to a grouping of craters, chimneys and lava tubes. It was a good 4 hour walk up, with a very chatty and knowledgeable guide. Along the way we got to see some Magellanic woodpeckers, lots of lizards, bugs, and even caught sight of a pair of hummingbirds. It was worth all the hard work, as the views were spectacular and we learnt a lot along the way.
The town of Pucon definitely a tourist oriented place, with a small town American feel to it. Still it’s a nice little place to walk through and grab some yummy food. We followed our noses to some amazing smelling fire roasted meat, and it did not disappoint! A good start to our road trip over the next few days.
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