Pucón September 22nd - 25th

We arrived in Pucòn on Monday evening and were pretty licky to end up the only guests in a really nice hostel, near the lake shore. We did plan to climb Volcan Villarica on Tuesday, but the weather was too bad. This wasn`t really a bad thing, as it is a very nice town just to relax in. It has a nice beach on the lake shore with black volcanic sand. In the evening we went to some hot springs about 30mins out of town. They were very atmospheric, as you had to walk down into a steep valley and there were 6 natural rock pools of varying temperature. Almost no other people too, so we almost had the pools to ourselves. Yesterday was another fantastic clear day, and we were able to climb to the top of Volcan Villarica. The volcano dominated the scenery around the town at 2800m high, and its has the classic cone shape. In winter is is all covered in snow however and we went with a guide, who also kitted us up with all the necessary ice axes etc. It was a hard slog from a start at 1400m, but after about 4 and a half hours, we were able to eat our lunch on the edge of the huge Crater at the summit. It is still quite active and letting out puffs of steam and strange noises all the time. In the afternoon it was time to come down, but definitely not walking. We put on these kind of giant waterproof nappy things, then slide the whole way down on our bums. Definitely a very amusing way to descend over a 1000m of volcano.Today it was time for us to go our separate ways. Strange for me, as it is the first time I have actually hung around with people for several days on this trip rather than just knowing people for literally a day or 2.So yes, i`ve taken a bus back into Argentina, to a town called San Martin de los Andes in the Argentine lake district. Its one of these holiday town for rich Argentines, in a very nice setting though. It is definitely becoming spring time now, with lots of blossom on the trees. Also a lot warmer as i am now walking around in a t-shirt.
O