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Those blissful 24 hours that children are given when layers of white powder give way to closed school gates and impassable roads. Being from the UK, these were rare but we've all had them. The excitement of diving out of beds at first light desperate to see the ground covered by more than frost. Hastily tuning in to community radio the only time that Radio One was given the brush-off , praying to hear your school listed amongst those that would not be teaching today. We do not come from a country that spends its winter months unable to see what lies beneath the snow; we are still fascinated by it. Deep inside, we're still the kids that would prefer to spend the day building snow men and going sledging, throwing snowballs until we can no longer feel our fingers. We didn't think that we would get to experience this on our Latin American adventure, but then we didn't plan on going this far south. As the cold, bleak days in Santiago gave way to spring and sunshine, we chose instead to return to Chile's winter and venture towards Patagonia. To Pucon and the remarkable Huerquehue National Park. Buses leave the local terminal in the centre of town, next to the JAC bus station at 8. The cost is pesos per person for a return journey and it should take around an hour each way. Unfortunately, these return buses are not ideally scheduled for average hiking times. To make the 2. We did the one-day lakes trail, however there are a variety of single and multi-day trails within the National Park, depending on the season. Camping facilities are available. Entry fees depend on the season - low season entry for a foreigner costs 2, pesos, in high season this increases to 5, If hiking in the winter, ask in advance at your hostel about conditions and to ensure the park is open. We hiked in waterproof trek shoes and wore several layers; make sure you're adequately prepared for the weather conditions. There are limited options for snacks or food within the National Park, especially in the winter months, so bring your lunch along. Thanks to Chili Kiwi Hostel for recommending this great hike! Please note that some links on our blog are affiliate links. If you choose to purchase through these links, we may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. By using these, you are directly supporting Along Dusty Roads to remain an independent travel blog, and to create free guides to help you travel more, travel better. Snow days. Pin this!

A Local’s Guide to Travel in Pucón, Chile

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Our flight was delayed by 6 hours so after spending far too long in Barcelona airport we finally made it onto our hour flight to Santiago, Chile. Unfortunately this also meant that we only ended up with 3 hours to spend at the luxury hotel we had booked to recover from our flight in Santiago. What a waste!! Airlines are getting more and more devious at making money. On previous short flights usually with Ryan air we had already experienced:. Luckily I had packed my own gluten free food because turns out we would not be getting any food for the duration of this flight either. Oh how we miss Air New Zealand…. Anyway we arrived exhausted at our airport hotel at 1am, slept for a solid three hours, then caught the shuttle back to the airport at 5am. From here we caught our last flight to Calama, then a minute bus ride to our final destination, Pucon. Pucon is a small town situated in the foothills of the Andes, in the Araucania region of Patagonia. This charming little alpine town reminded us so much of Queenstown and made us feel right at home. It lies right between the gently smoking Villarica Volcano on one side and Lago Villarica on the other. If Chile is the home of adventure tourism in South America, then Pucon is the capital. Skiing, snowboarding, hiking, white water rafting, kayaking, canyoning, horse riding and even countless natural geothermal pools to unwind when you are ready for some relaxation. In summary, this was the perfect place to volunteer for a while and save money on accommodation and food while dropping all our dough on the expensive adventure activities around Pucon. On 3 March , Villarica Volcano erupted in the early hours of the morning, emitting gas, ash, and lava up to metres 3, feet into the air. Thousands of people were evacuated from the region but thankfully following the initial eruption, no further ash, lava, or toxic gases were emitted from the volcano. The volcano is still constantly smoking quietly in the background of Pucon and the threat level is constantly being observed and updated. They contacted us while we were in Georgia to ask if we would like to come and help them. We also felt like it was time for another break from day-to-day travel and given the amount of outdoor activities to do in Pucon, this was the perfect place for it. The huge modern and fully stocked kitchen was a hive of activity every night as most of the guests splashed out on home-cooked meals. Every morning all the guests and us were treated to a breakfast of freshly cooked bread, muffins and other goodies. The best part for Sean was the coffee made from freshly ground, Colombian beans, that we would grind the same morning. The best part for me was the gluten free bread mix from the local supermarket which allowed me to also enjoy freshly cooked bread each day. After chasing summer for most of our holiday this was another quick injection of winter for us. The temperature during the day was usually between degrees Celsius and at night it would get well below I even had to go thrift shopping for some additional winter clothes and ended up with some not so stylish red velvet pants and a camo green puffer jacket. Unfortunately, the very scenic and cosy looking fireplace at the hostel did not work… Apparently the earthquake a few years back completely broke the chimney and when they tried to light the fire, the entire house ended up in smoke. Our little wooden loft room also managed to stay nice and warm despite having to use an outdoor staircase to get downstairs and into the main house to use the toilet at night, brrr. Initially the loft had absolutely no furniture except for the bed meaning we had to continue living out of our bags on the ground. But this was more than made up for by the stunning mountain views we had right from our bed! The room would be rented out to actual paying customers over Summer, so the owners were keen to spruce it up. Lucky is the big one that looks like a Rottweiler cross and Lava is the little terrier. They are both rescued strays and about 2 years old; the same age as the hostel. Lucky was behaviour trained by an off-duty police officer and as a result he is the gentlest dog I have met he would give Nudge a run for her money! Watching him play with little Lava is one of the cutest things you will ever see. I could honestly watch these two dogs play for an entire day and not get bored and I could fill an entire album with photos of them! The locals call this a beach but it is actually just the stony Pucon lake front. But the dogs loved it when we took them for many walks here and even joined them in the icy water on a couple of sunny days. Lava was allowed inside to cuddle on the couch with guests, and she slept in a bedroom with the owners. Also because of his size they want to be considerate to any guests that might be afraid of big dogs. The morning shift was from 8am until noon and would involve prepping the buffet-style breakfast. We would grind beans and brew a pot of fresh coffee and continually top up all the food until We then spent until noon giving the kitchen, bathrooms and hallways a quick clean. Most important though was checking in any guests that arrived and taking payments and checking out the guests that were leaving. This sometimes presented a challenge when we were greeted by Spanish-only speaking customers. Usually someone was around to help us out, but there were also times that we had to get by with our very-limited Span-glish. Part of the check-in process was giving a thorough explanation of all the things to do in and around Pucon. This could take up to minutes depending on their level of interest. This detailed explanation helped people make the most of their time in Pucon. The evening shift was from 7pm until 11pm and involved checking in any guests that arrived, keeping an eye on people cooking in the kitchen and ensuring it stayed tidy, answering any questions people had and then locking up at the end of the night. All of the work here was super easy and relaxed and basically just involved a lot of socializing. This was a blessing because the very first weekend just 2 days after we arrived the owners went to a wedding in a different part of Chile. So Sean, Nicole and I ran the hostel completely on our own for an entire weekend! Thank goodness Nicole spoke fluent Spanish and everything went smoothly. Sean and I worked a second weekend on our own later in the month which also went smoothly and goes to show; we could totally start our own hostel in NZ! So in summary, our weekly routine was an evening shift pm followed by a morning shift am and then free-time to explore until the evening shift the following day. So we had a solid 19 hours of down time between shifts, as well as a few full days off thrown in, during which we got to test out all of the activities Pucon has to offer. Here goes my attempt at a brief summary of Pucon and all the cool things we did. We enjoyed many mornings wandering the streets of Pucon, exploring the local artisanias filled with handmade local crafts, drinking chocolates calientes hot chocolates and sampling the Chilean food. A short walk up to the cemetery also gave us an awesome view down over the town and lake. We got to experience their annual food festival and try out the famous Chilean chorrillana. This dish consists of a plate of french fries topped with different types of sliced meat, onions, sausages, cheese and more. Or it could simply have been the fact that we have lost all our muscle over the past 10 months of travel! We did try and make up for this loss in fitness by spending several times a week at the local running track doing interval training and body weight exercises. We made a few wrong turns before finding ourselves on the small gravel country road and found a handmade sign indicating we were on the right track. There were still a lot of cars and dust and not much to see along this road, so if you could hitch a lift or rent a bike you would probably enjoy the experience more. Once you arrive at the entrance to Salto De Claro park itself, the final section of this trail descends down into a steep little valley to this beautiful hidden waterfall. Drinking Mate also comes with a lot of old traditions, for instance it is drunk out of a perforated metal straw which you are not allowed to move. Eventually we climbed out of the valley and tried to hitchhike our way back. However after seeing the seedy two men who stopped for us, we decided not to get in the tray of their Ute and opted to make our way back to Pucon on foot. If you plan to visit Salto Del Claro, I highly recommend hiring a bike or taking a bus. Side note: Apparently there are canyoning companies that will take you abseiling down this 90m waterfall, sounds fun?! This is the most well-known national park that can be visited from Pucon. You can easily go by public bus in the morning, walk a loop of the park and return to the entrance in time to take the last evening bus back to Pucon. Huerquehue Park is square kilometres with dozens of small lakes, lagoons, waterfalls and birdlife. Most importantly, it is home to the endangered national tree of Chile; the Araucaria, also known as the monkey puzzle tree. This ever-green tree typically grows only above m in altitude and is considered a bio-indicator as it only grows in areas with very clean air according to a local guide, I have not actually managed to verify this fact online…. The walk began at Lago Tinquilco which is at m altitude and as we started ascending to the other three lakes we got an amazing look back over this mirror flat lake with a backdrop of Villarica volcano. Sanctuary El Cani is a 1,acre private nature reserve. In , this land was purchased by a group of outdoor-loving friends who wanted to legally preserve the area from logging while promoting ecotourism and outdoor education. When we arrived we had to pay and register at the office. Apparently some poor tourist recently tried to avoid the entry fee and take a back way into the park and met an unfortunate end. I can understand the danger because there was still a lot of snow, meaning there were also a lot of hidden chasms and tree wells that one could fall into. When following the countless other footsteps along the official trail you can assume that the snow has been packed down and it relatively safe, however if you venture off these well-worn tracks, you might well fall into a well see what I did there? Even Nicole sank through the snow to her waist at one point and had to be pulled out. The hike began with 3-hours of continuous steep uphill through forest to reach the first lake. From there it was relatively flat for the next hour but progressively more covered in snow. We made it to Lago negro however it was completely frozen and hidden by ice and snow except the one tiny puddle you can see on the photo. A sign at these lakes indicated that the last section of the trail to the high-point and panoramic lookout was closed for winter because of the snow hazard. However we could see many footsteps leading around the sign and up the mountain. So we decided to follow suit and carefully made our way up this last steep snowy slope. The effort was totally worth it for the degree panoramic views we discovered at the summit. Afterwards we managed to slide on our butts down this steep snowy slope back to the frozen lakes. This was an exhilarating and a MUCH faster way of getting back. After having spent the morning trying to keep our feet and legs dry and avoiding sinking into the snow, we completely gave up on our return and got absolutely soaked running through deep snowy meadows on our way back. The final 3-hour section of steep downhill was a killer on our tired legs and knees I truly prefer hiking uphill and we happily collapsed back into the bus after 8 hours of hiking. This river is known worldwide for its clear white-water rapids and beautiful environment. Luckily our Spanish had progressed enough to grasp the general idea of what he was saying, and we had Nicole nearby to translate the important parts. We spent the next hour rafting down various grades of rapids ranging from tame to knuckle biting and huge. The water levels were high due to all the snowmelt which was making the rapids much bigger than usual. We passed through native forests, past small waterfalls and through beautiful surroundings as we clung to the straps of our raft for dear life. Personally, I loved our time on horseback in Mongolia and luckily Nicole was keen to join me for this adventure. This acres of family-owned forest is in Curarrehue right alongside the border with Argentina. The horse-riding centre is owned by a young couple who are the most generous, kind and knowledgeable people. They are extremely passionate and take huge pride in caring for their horses and the land. They work only with small groups and we were lucky enough to be on our own with the guide Corina. As we walked, trotted and galloped for 3 hours through their forest and enjoyed the magnificent scenery, Corina also taught us about the flora and fauna, the local history, and we even got to eat raw wild mushrooms. We stopped in a sunny meadow which had stunning views across the surrounding national parks. From here we could see all 4 of the volcanoes surrounding Pucon sadly obscured by clouds in the photos. Of the countless hot springs throughout Chile these are undoubtedly the best. The pools were tiled with the natural stone of the area, all in different geometrical shapes and sizes. They are located in a lush green valley following a river with multiple geothermal vents. The pools were scattered along the length of the valley and surrounded by nature and elevated walkways. There were just over 20 pools of varying sizes, shapes and temperatures ranging from degrees, all spread out along 1. We spent over 2 hours exploring all the pools and testing all the waters, each one in a different setting. There were even 2 natural waterfalls left to flow amongst the pathways, one which had been harnessed to make a freezing cold pool of only degrees. Both Sean and I managed to get into the pool and under the waterfall a couple of times but were left numb and tingling for minutes afterwards even back in the hot pools. We were very lucky to visit on a rainy weekday during off-season, meaning we had pretty much every pool to ourselves. Apparently in peak season there are up to visitors allowed inside at once and there is even a queue outside to get in. Unlike Las Geometricas which you can only reach by car, these pools are accessible by a local bus ride. Although not as awe inspiring as its big brother, these pools have a more natural charm. A steep minute downhill walk from the bus stop brings you to five natural hot pools which lie alongside the river. Four of the pools were a very comfortable 38 degrees, however this quickly felt like body temperature and would leave us wanting more. So we would move to the 5 th pool, which was an insane 44 degrees. We would overheat pretty quick and run into the banks of the river to cool down in its icy waters before starting the cycle again. Canyoning in the Rio Correntoso river, situated at the foothills of the Villarica volcano, is normally closed in October but we were lucky enough that it opened early during our final week in Pucon. Being in the canyon reminded us a lot of the stream bashing we did in Piha, New Zealand. There was nature all around us; trees, birds, insects and even small ferns that looked like the silver fern from NZ. But for all the similarities there were also some key differences that made the experience fun and different. Instead of tepid summer river water in NZ we had freezing glacial water with fingers of ice that cut through our wetsuits. The canyon was narrow and high with trees and roots growing from the soil overhead, instead of the open forest valley of the Piha river. At times it was so dark it almost felt like we were walking through a river inside a cave. And instead of jumping off the waterfalls like we did in NZ, we abseiled down them. There were three big waterfalls that we abseiled plus many small rapids that we rock hopped, waded and swam down for almost three hours. Our group was filled with people who had never done this kind of thing before, so it was cool to see them jump at the challenges. Because I did so much abseiling while working as an outdoor instructor in NZ, the abseils here were a little anti-climactic and I would have liked a bit more adrenaline, and some cliffs to jump off would have been great! The Villarica volcano is a typical cone shaped mountain that is known to be one of the most active Chilean volcanoes with more than 65 eruptions in half a century! Despite this, it is one of the key tourist attractions in the area. On fine days the summit is reachable within 6hrs and from the top you can see all of the Pucon region and look into the heart of this active volcano. If you are lucky, you will even see lava. As part of our Workaway we had been promised a free tour up the volcano, on the condition that we had to wait for the right size group to join so that the tour company need not employ an extra guide when we joined. The climb to the top was incredible and coming back down was just as fun. We started below the snow line at 6am, all the proper gear and backpacks were given to us by the tour company and we started walking through the black volcanic soil towards the summit. Barely 20 minutes went past before we hit the snow. After a few hours we had ascended above the ski lifts in the area lifts were not operating at the time. The incline was getting steeper and the wind was picking up, so we started zigzagging up the slope using our ice axes upside down like a walking stick as walking aids. The switch backs back and forth up the mountain seemed to go on for ages without any appreciable progress, but eventually after another 3hrs and many short breaks, we got to the final steep section leading to the summit. At this stage we were on the upper flanks of the mountain where the snow had turned to ice and the wind was blowing twice and hard, so the guide got us to put on our crampons basically strap on spikey metal soles to give your shoes better grip on ice. We had never used these before so it was very interesting to feel the difference while walking. On one hand we had far more secure footing and were no longer slipping backwards, but on the flip side we had to be a lot more careful not to stumble or get our foot stuck as we could easily catch the spikes on ourselves or twist a leg. However, our whole group managed to safely use the crampons and we were soon all marching up the final steep slope of ice to the summit. We got to the top and were greeted with a breath-taking view of the surrounding mountains and forest on a clear, blue sky day. But it was still an insane experience to be standing on the rim of such an active volcano. Our guides could only give us a very short amount of time to rest and enjoy the summit because the wind was picking up rapidly and getting dangerously strong. We were lucky that our group was all very fit and fast and we were the second group to summit that day. I think only one other group managed to summit after us before the wind made it too dangerous to go up. We descended down the top icy slope with our crampons and had only just made it down this steep section when out of nowhere, thick clouds covered the mountain and our vision was reduced to almost zero. Part of the equipment we carried up in our back packs was a small flexible plastic toboggan the size of a seat cushion with a handle. The guides got us to put on our snow pants and jackets then we sat on our toboggans and slid all the way down the mountain supposedly this is actually safer then walking because there is no risk of falling over. What took us 6hr to ascend barely took us 2 hours to descend with a combination of walking and sliding back down to the bottom. We are uncertain how much news coverage everyone outside of Chile got about the protests that grew in every major city throughout Chile. It began while we were in Pucon and luckily Pucon was the perfect haven to hide from the mayhem that was and still is hitting the rest of the country. The protests started when the government announced in increase in metro prices and students staged a fare evasion campaign. It soon became about larger social issues like the increased cost of living, privatisation and inequality prevalent in Chile. On 25 October, over a million people took to the streets of Santiago to protest and as of 26 October, 19 people have died, nearly 2, have been injured, and 2, have been arrested. In Pucon we still heard and saw daily marches through the township and past our hostel but aside from the occasional youths trying and failing to loot a supermarket and trying start fires in the street we were mostly unaffected. FYI these are my interpretations on what I observed, heard and read so feel free to research and decide for yourself. Pucon is located in the Araucania region and the Araucania region is land of the Mapuche therefore I feel that I should leave you with a few facts about these indigenous people. The Mapuche are the indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and archaeologists have found evidence that suggest they occupied this area as early as to BC. After the Spanish conquered Peru, Spanish troops headed into Chile where they founded Santiago now the capital. Mapuche resisted the Spanish invasion and conflicts between them lasted for over years known as the Arauco war. Araucania was the Spanish name given to the region of Chile inhabited by the Mapuche people. The Mapuche had some success and South-Central Chile belonged largely to the Mapuche until when the Chilean occupation of Araucania began. The modern settlement of Pucon was established in as a fort in the aftermath of the occupation of Araucania when the Chilean state subdued the native population in Araucania. During the Pinochet era most Mapuche land was privatised and much of it was sold to wealthy landowners and foreigners. However Chile still has a strong class society and Mapuche mostly belong to the lowest class. There is huge inequality, roads are being built through Mapuche land, the land is still being forested and big power plants are being built in the rivers and as a result many Mapuche people are saying their piece in the current nationwide protests. Again, these are my interpretations based on what I learnt while in Pucon so feel free to research and decide for yourself. Like Like. Interesting bit of background about the history of the Mapuche people. How lucky you got to do so many adventure sports and still work as well! Skip to content. Flight to Santiago Chile:. Share this: Twitter Facebook. Like Loading Leave a comment. Comment Reblog Subscribe Subscribed. Sean and Marlous travel diaries. Sign me up. Already have a WordPress. Log in now. Loading Comments Email Required Name Required Website. Design a site like this with WordPress.

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