Pucon, Chile

            The bus ride from Bariloche, Argentina crossing the border over to Pucon, Chile is amazing. I wish that we had our own vehicle so we could stop and take pictures or camp at one of the many lakes surrounded by lush green forests. Paul and I talked about purchasing a car or truck for our journey, but after weighing all the options, we ended up agreeing that traveling by bus and plane would be less stressful and would save us money. I am still tempted here and there to buy a vehicle, but after bus rides of over 30 hours down dirt roads through the desert I am glad to just be a passenger.

            Our bus pulls into Pucon as the sun is setting over the lake. I exit the bus and am awe-struck by the massive volcano that rises high into the sky just outside of town. We track down a hostel and find ourselves in the midst of a pack of 20 traveling Israeli’s talking (our should I say shouting) in Hebrew as they eat dinner and drink beer. I am tired from the bus ride and try and lay down but the noise in the hostel is overwhelming. I eventually fall asleep when they leave to party only to be woken up again around 4 in the morning when they returned. I made sure to shuffle around in my pack very loudly when I got up in the morning.

            Pucon has around 11 volcanoes in the area, 3 are active. With so much volcanic activity, there are also a bunch of hot springs. Pucon is an adventure guide and outdoors person’s dreamland. To name a few of the activities available in Pucon; Rock climbing, Volcano Trekking, ATV, motorbike, mountain bike, backpacking, canyon/rapel/zip lining, river rafting, hydro-speeding, snowboarding, fishing and boating to name a few. Of all the places I have visited so far on my trip, Pucon and Rio are the places where I would want to come back and spend a couple months working in the area.

            The main tourist attraction in Pucon is the active volcano and there are a bunch adventure companies that take people to the top. The weather has to be good in order for the companies to run the volcano tour. We were not fortunate enough to have full day of solid weather, so we didn’t get to summit the volcano.            

            Pucon is an epicenter for activities. Paul and I tried out hydro-speeding, which is essentially going down class 3 rapids on a custom boogie board. The wetsuits that our guides provided were way too big for Paul and I and we were shivering cold within 2 minutes of entering the water. We soon were rolling over rapids and occasionally hitting rocks because the river was low. We were on the river for and hour and a half and I was more than ready to get out by that time. My feet took a solid 3 hours to come back to life from the cold. I am glad I tried out hydro-speeding but probably wouldn’t do it again unless the river was warmer and there was more water with less shallow sections.

            The next day the clouds were heavy in the sky and it was forecasted to rain. Not wanting to sit around the hostel, we booked an ATV tour planning on getting soaked by rain and mud. Because of the weather we were the only 2 on the tour. Our guide Pedro spoke little English but was a pro on the ATV. A quick safety lesson and we were speeding through people’s backyards and the forest. We crossed a couple streams and then headed up a valley towards a volcano. Going up the valley there were some really fun and technical rock sections. At the top, our guide shot some photos and pointed out where the volcano would be if there weren’t so many clouds in the sky. We were pretty comfortable on the ATV’s at this time and we asked the guide to pick up the pace on the way down. I think he was worried about us messing up his ATV’s because he was going pretty slow. We had to let him get ahead of us and then let loose until we caught up with him. The tour made me want to get ATV we a bunch of land to ride it on. We lucked out with only a few light sprinkles on our tour, the rain didn’t start until we were done.

            The next day the rain was on again and we were feeling less adventurous so we hung around the hostel with some Australian friends and played Uno and hearts. One of the Aussies was a DJ as well and gave me some good tips on finding new free music. I ended up staying up until 4am finding new tracks, can’t wait to drop them in Santa Cruz when I return.

            We were getting fed up with the rain and wanted to check out Pichilemu before Paul headed back to the States for a couple weeks to visit his girlfriend. We booked an overnight bus and then tracked down a local downhill mountain biker to take us for a tour. Diego, our guide and a friend drove us to the base of the volcano and the top of the trailhead. We put on some pads and a full-face helmet and were off shooting down the mountain. Paul hasn’t downhill mountain biked much and took a pretty good fall on the first section but rolled out of it without injury. The trail was much more technical and extreme than I was expecting for a guided tour and we had a blast sailing over rocky sections and steep shoots. My knee is still in recovery mode so I had to hold back a little, but I watched as Diego soared over a jump section with 25-foot tabletop. We both fell a couple times but had smiles from the adrenaline. This was my first time bike on a mountain bike since my surgery 5 months ago, can’t wait until I am fully recovered!