Pucon Paradise

I ventured south to the middle of Chile. Dang, its a long country. Took about 12 hours to get here from Santiago. And here is totally worth it. Pucon is a small town just near the border with Argentina, up in the Lake District. Its all Patagonia from here on down. One of those places where theres one main road and lots of character around it. Theres a good vibe exuded here. One of the best backpacker spots I have been to. Period.
Down this muddy road is the place to be. Donde German Hostel, run by a nice couple who make the place feel like mi casa su casa. Met loads of cool people here. Turned out to be one of the nicest places on this trip so far. I booked two nights and stayed like five. Everyone does. Because its just a chill little spot on Earth not many people know about.

So what can you do here? Why do backpackers come? To mountain bike of course. We went out one day and did an entire 44km ring around the area. Never done mountain biking before but hey im about to cycle through Central Park now. Let me tell ya, its a strenuous workout when you hit those hills. And all to get to some waterfall. Not a bad days work.But the main attraction is Vulcan Villarricca. What did I do one day? I climbed to the top of an active volcano. Last time it erupted was in 1984 if I remember right. When that blew up about 25 hikers were engulfed in molten lava. So I was hoping today luck would be on our side and this thing didnt blow its top. Im sure there would be some fair warning, but while we were on the shortcut ski lift up (the 20 minute lift up shaved an hour off having to climb) you kinda wonder...if it erupted while you were ascending the volcano, would you jump off and run back, or would you stay on to about 1/4 the way up and go around on the lift back down? It was a good 50 foot drop. Id take the ride towards the lava haha. Here is a reminder of what went down 24 years ago. Eerie. But the last real major eruption was like in the 70s when the entire town was swept away. Which means this thing is due any day now. And people just chillin in town; our guides go up the volcano everyday and worry about nada. So neither did I. Back in town theres a warning system. When the light is green, its all good. As sirens go off (and they do everyday for testing) and light goes red, start heading to Argentina cause its going to be a bad day in Pucon.So it doesnt look that daunting from the bottom vantage point but dont be decived by the illusion. It takes 3 hours to get to the top. Two on unstable volcanic rock and one on pure snow and ice. We had to carry mad gear and change into space shoes with crampons to dig into the ice. Check out my hot looking proton pack. Oh, and the view of Pucon below is good too.And I got an ice pick. Nice.

The arduous ascent up among the barren ice. Our legs couldnt even pick themselves up because genuises that we were, we had taxed them mountain biking the day before. We got metal thighs and buns of steel now though.

At times there are a few who dont make it all the way up. Not us. Pure determination and no strength left we got there. You can see as far away as Argentina and as far down into the mouth of the beast your peripheral vision would allow over the edge, but not far enough to check out the lava this day. Too much gaseous smoke was about. Plus ya kinda dont want to fall in there. What you do want to do is visit Pucon if youre ever in Chile. The wild dogs like it here too. At least a dozen follow you around at night and the day. Totally harmless and super friendly. Like everyone else in this small town in the Andes.