PUCON, CHILE´S ADVENTURE CAPITAL

AUGUST 18-19 from kevin:
Hola! Nuestra espanol es mejor cada dia. We left Villarrica on the bus around the lake to the adventure capital of Chile, Pucon, a lakeside town of restaurants, adventure companies and small hotels just under Villarrica Volcano. Unfortunately, we have yet to see the whole volcano because it has been raining. But it is fun to walk around all the shops and tour companies to decide what we want to do. Amber bought some more yarn to make me a scarf. We scoped out the hotels and picked the best one for $32 with our own room (no group dorms here). You can go skiing, climb the volcano ($40), go to hot springs (over 10 choices), hike 2 national parks, there is even a via ferrata (but it is closed). We decided to rent a car and cruise into the Andes.

The first day we drove across a one lane swinging bridge over a river (that was a first), and up to some lakes, then over to Termas Pozones, a series of 6 pools next to a river. You change in a wood changing room then go down stairs into the pool. Nice! That night it rained, and the next morning we drove first to a Mapuche village called Curarrehue (dont even try to pronounce it) where they had a museum.

A LITTLE HISTORY - Chile has a similar history to California. Near Puerto Montt they have discovered human remains which puts into question the Bering Straight settlement of the Americas because the remains are so old. The Mapuches are the Indians who lived in this area. Everything was fine until the Incas came South plundering the tribes, but they could not conquer the Mapuches. First the Jesuits came and built missions that look like the Missions in California. Then the Spaniards arrived in the 1500´s but got only as far south as the Mapuches, they could not conquer them. Although 300 Spaniards were able to hold off 12,000 local Indians at a nearby fort, they eventually had to give up on settling this region until the 1800´s when a local Mapuche chief allowed them to settle in Villarrica. Big mistake. The white man diseases wiped out most of the local Indians, and they had continual battles between them. More and more Europeans came, mostly Germans, until Mr. O´Higgins raised an army and threw out the Spaniards (every town has an O´Higgins street). Now the locals are either European descendents, Mestizos (mixed Spaniards and Indians) or Mapuches (black hair and Indian features).


(Picture: Outside the Mapuche museum)



Anyway from Curarrehue we drove 30 miles on a dirt road into the Andes to Reigolil. This road was amazing! We followed rivers, went up valleys and canyons, surrounded by yellow and brown colors of the local trees, earth and mountains, and waterfalls. All around were small farms with pigs, sheep and cows, with people riding around on horses. Amber got to practice driving the stick shift car. We dodged potholes the whole way.

WE DROVE AS FAR AS WE COULD BEFORE SNOW STOPPED THE CAR


We picked up a local old guy and tried communicating with him.

(Picture: Dad with local and araucaria tree.)

He was happy to get a ride. He told us they have a big problem with ´pumas´, or cougars, killing and eating their livestock, but they cougars are protected by the government. He was proud of his horses and cows and asked if we had any cows! Finally we got to snow and could go no farther. In fact we got stuck in the snow and later in some mud, which just added to the fun. The local showed us some 1000 year old araucaria trees, also called monkey puzzle trees, and trees that were carbonized from lava (i think that´s what he said, try speaking chilean spanish and translating). Coming back to town we picked up some more locals. They said tourists dont usually go there. It was great!
COW WITH WATERFALL SWINGING BRIDGE, THE ONLY WAY TO GET TO HOUSES FROM THE ROAD

TERMAS POZONES NEAR PUCON, CHILE


It was raining again when we got back, still cant see the volcanoes, so it does not look like we will be doing any adventure tours, like skydiving, climbing the volcano (which still smokes and you can see the lava if you climb it), etc. But we had fun here.

So we will go to the next place, Puerto Varas, still on our way South. At the hostel there we can post some pictures so check back soon. And Thank you to all who helped at the McConnell´s races, which were a big success.