Pucon, Chile!
March 17, 2008
This past weekend I traveled to Pucon, Chile, a tourist town in southern-central Chile. The city was beautiful to say the least, as well as the surrounding attractions. I took a fancy tour bus overnight (7p.m. – 7a.m.) from the Vina area to Pucon, and barely slept a wink, unfortunately. The next day, our group hiked the Villarica Volcano, a 10,000 ft. climb up dirt, ice, and loose rocks. I only had one near-death experience. It was probably the most physically and mentally challenging this I’ve done in while (considering the bum knee), but I’m happy to say two ACL tears later I can still keep up with the pack. 
The view from the top was breathtaking, figuratively and literally thanks to the 100mph winds and sulfuric fumes coming from the active volcano. Those of us who made it to the top stayed for about 10 minutes before we headed back down the mountain, ice-picks in hand. We actually got to toboggan down the icy third of the descent by sliding down on our tushes and using our ice-picks to give us a push. Great fun.
The next day I chose to do an “advanced” rafting excursion on the Trancura River. Being a river-rat myself I thought it would be a piece of cake. Little did I know that we would be soaring down waterfalls (not exaggerating). I definitely swam one rapid, and NOT by choice. We also got to jump off rocks, watch our guides take the rafts down HUGE falls, and swim the last part of the stretch. Our guide was a kick and it was definitely some of the best rafting I’ve ever done.
After the rafting, we headed out to a park for canopying, aka ZIP LINING! Imagine soaring over 200 feet in the air and letting gravity do most of the work. It was beyond thrilling.
Can you spot my friend? No, that’s not a speck of dust on your computer screen.
The last day we toured waterfalls, lagoons, lakes and got to swim in natural hot springs!
This is the Laguna Azul (Blue Lagoon). As blue as Crater Lake!
The scenery in Pucon was just like what you would might see on the Travel or Discovery Channel, but about ten times cooler because you see it in person. No camera will ever be able to grasp these views and give this place proper justice.
Time for bed, I have an intense class tomorrow morning: Tranditional Dances of Chile! Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
