Pucon, Chile

We had a long day of driving to get to Pucon in Chile. We left at 6am so that we could have photo stops along the way as we drove past lakes and volcanoes and further time was added to the journey after having our longest border crossing yet at nearly 3 hours thanks to long queues to get stamped out of Argentina and lengthy customs checks in Chile. We were keen to arrive in Pucon in good time as Pete was expecting lots of overland trucks to be headed here for new year as they head to Rio for carnival. We got a good camp spot but 2 Tucan trucks that arrived about 30 minutes after us are squished in next to the road.

Pucon is also an adventure sports town sitting on the edge of a lake and a few kilometres from the active volcano Mount Villarrica which is over 2800m high. Most of the group decided that climbing it was an excellent idea despite the fact that none of us had actually seen it due to it being covered in cloud!! We had another early start as we were picked up in a minibus and taken to an office to collect our gear. Crampons, ice axe, gaiters, trousers, jacket, a plastic sledge and what can only be described as a giant nappy. We got a chair lift up part way of the mountain and were faced with a pretty cloudy view above but the weather is so changeable that we decided to plod on. To get to the top we would have to climb another 1000m and it was expected to take about 4 hours. All the walking was on ice so the crampons and ice axe were necessary and it was all up hill. Most made it to the summit which was fantastic. The views over towards the town were great despite the fact it was all thick cloud with a couple of volcanoes poking through the top. Coming back down was the best bit. We slid on our bums down “toboggan” runs pretty much the entire way to the bottom which was great fun if a little scary! All in all everyone had a great day, the ones who didn't climb the volcano went zip lining or to relax in hot springs and after a siesta everyone was in camp to welcome in the new year