Pucón

After Siete Tazas, we headed on a bus through the night to Pucón where we were going to try to climb Villarrica Volcano, just north of the lake region in Chile. We arrived into town in the morning and with little information from the CONAF (forest service) sites or tourist center we headed to the volcano with the hope of summiting it. Villarrica stands 2847 meters and is a steep walk up crushed lava to the rim. On our way into the park we drove by the CONAF officers, who waved us on without giving us any sort of information.

Volcan Villarrica seen from the town of Pucon

When we reached the top parking area where the ascent on foot would begin, we combed the area in search of a trail, or someone to talk to you and ask where to begin and any other information that would be helpful. We found nothing. We spotted a girl coming down the volcano and approached to ask for some information, she pointed us towards the top and said it would take about 5 hours. Since we couild see the top we began to climb upward. We walked for a while until reaching a hut just shy of the snowline, where, for the first time came upon some information about summiting the volcano. It said that noone is able to go beyond this point without registering with CONAF, and without the proper gear - an ice pick, a helmet, and crampons. We were disapointed, but were trying not to lose sight of the spectaular view around us. From where we were, we could see the impressive Volcan Lanin, even taller than Villarrica, towering over nearby Lanin National Park, as well as some lakes scattered across the wide valley.

We hitched a ride back to town with a professor who told us a place to rent the gear we needed and how cheap it was to rent, but since we would need another day for a second attempt, we decided to continue with our plan to return to Santiago through the night. We spent the day walking around the touristy ski town and took a short nap on a black sand beach along the shore of a beautiful mountain lake.

Back in Santiago for one last day, we stopped back in to see Jaime and Pablo, who were now hosting a guy from Norway. We ventured to the zoo, which was a bit of a disappointment. It was disheartening to see how cramped and dusty the habitats were, although because the zoo is situated on the side of a hill, most of the animals do have a nice view of the sprawling metropolis.