Honeymoon Adventures - Pucon (Part III)

We left Santiago excited for Part II of our alone time in Chile.  After two short flights we arrived at Temuco airport.  Airport is a generous term for the parking lot where we landed.  (This is actually a picture we took as we left Temuco a few days later, but you can see that we're walking to our plane from Gate 1...of two....at least it meant we knew security would be quick on the way back....cause we ended up cutting it a bit close.)  We picked up our rental car (Funny aside: Javs couldn't remember which company he had reserved a car with...it ended up being the third one we tried....there were only three options...) and headed south to Pucon.

When you search Pucon, Chile in Google Images you get pictures like this and that.  We arrived in the dark and couldn't see the volcano (or lake really) but looked forward to waking up to views such as these.  After checking in to the Gran Hotel Pucon (our room and bathroom were HUGE compared to the efficient rooms we'd been staying at! Javs is showing the enormity of our room in these pictures.) We walked around the small town for a bit, grabbed some grub and planned to find out about our options for hiking the volcano first thing in the morning.

And find out we did.  It was impossible.  Not impossible, but definitely not happening that day (Monday) or the next (Tuesday).  We were told by William (who ran an adventure company, recommended by our travel book) that there was a slight possibility the weather would be good enough Wednesday morning to head up the mountain, but we'd need to check back.  Our flight back to Santiago was Wednesday...and we had to drive to Temuco to catch that flight...but we really wanted to climb, so check back we did.  But I'll get there....

As you might have guessed it was a cloudy day in Pucon (which meant no views of the volcano), but we'd heard the natural hot springs were actually good to visit on rainy days (you were gonna be getting wet anyway) so we headed down the road a bit to Huife to soak in some hot water.  Here is my hubby, hanging out in a steamy pool.  It was actually really a fun time.  Huife is the area's newest complex that included three baths, each growing in temperature.  We tried out all three and even put our toes in the frigid river that ran right along the springs.  The river ran down from the snowy mountain tops so you can imagine the temperature difference between it and the hot springs.  Might be nice in the middle of summer, but one toe was enough for us to decide to stick to the pools!

us by the river

Javs' reaction to the water temperature

On the way, we had seen a sign: 'Tres Saltos' (Three Waterfalls) and decided to stop on the way home.  The sign was home made (many signalling stores and restaurants were) but as we drove a ways off the road we came, literally to a home.  A woman walked out and removed an orange cone blocking our way (after we paid her 2000 pesos to pass...its less than $5).  We were skeptical at this point (did these guys just have three waterfalls in their back yard?) but hiked up the path another home made sign directed us.  And it ended up being totally worth it :)

we saw some beautiful views

and amazing waterfalls

totally worth the back yard adventure ;)

The day light (and minimal cloud cover) helped us see the view from our room a bit easier.  We could see the lake and its beautiful ashen beach.  We enjoyed another wine picnic in our room ;) and then went out for a delicious dinner and night out in Pucon.

after our night out ;)

We checked in with William the next morning (another cloudy day = no view of the volcano) who confirmed that the weather would be good enough to 'try' to hike the next morning if we wanted.  We wanted! and planned to be ready for the volcano (and checked out of our hotel) at 700am the next morning.  With plans settled, we decided to take advantage of our nice hotel and started our day with a couples massage :)  It was very relaxing.  Honeymoon life is hard because we had to follow up our massages with the most delicious meal (I think) we had our entire time in Chile.  

Did I mention we had this gorgeous view of the lake while we dined on carrot and beet soup, trout with a warm (buttery) quinoa salad and pork loin with red cabbage?  Yeah, I know....tough life.  After our somewhat lazy activities we thought we'd attempt some sight seeing.  Since we could climb atop the volcano, we thought a trip inside the volcano caves might be in order.  So we learned a bit about the Villarrica Volcano (last eruption = 2008) and headed inside to see the caves the molten lava left behind as it traveled through the innards of the mountain.  Exhausted by our minimal physical effort of the day, we napped before eating our excellent wood-fired dinner :)

Entering the caves!

don't the walls look so cool
(as my husband looks in that helmet)

yum-o smoky flavor

enjoying our dinner with pisco sours!

in the car on the way up
(we are so naive)

Our plan for Wednesday: get up, get ready, pack and check out by 7am, meet Sergio (our hiking guide) to get suited up and drive (as far as we could) up the mountain, hike up the volcano (should take 4-6 hours) hurry down the volcano, pick up bags from hotel, frantically drive to Temuco airport, fly to Santiago.  It was going to be a busy day.  We were excited, but slightly nervous about the hike.  William had warned that it definitely took some physical exertion and we knew we weren't quite prepared (attire wise) for the snowy top.  But we were pumped for the adventure!

we are not at the top yet
but look at those clouds already

Climbing this volcano was the hardest thing I've ever done (and I feel fairly confident saying the same of Javier).  It took us 5 hours.  Five hours of tiny, steep, wind blown steps.  The hardest part was the wind.  It cut your face and froze anything that was exposed (like poor Javs' ears).  It was also physically tiring.  We were carrying big packs and sinking in soft snow.  When you didn't sink, it was because we were walking on ice and had to dig our company issued ice picks into the ground to keep our balance.  Sergio said we needed to reach the top by 2pm (we didn't start until 9am because of the snow falling) if we were ever going to make it back for our flight.  We reached the top at 2pm on the dot (with some heavy encouragement from Sergio at the end).  The views were amazing! (As was the wind...)

showing some Cvent pride

next to the crater

look at those clouds!

I think its the closest to heaven I'll ever be here on Earth (something pictures just can't capture).  And we decided that if we could survive this challenge, our marriage could certainly survive (at least) the next challenge that comes our way!  The trip down was a lot quicker (and a lot easier!)  Sergio gave us little plastic paddles that we sat on to slide down the mountain.  The distance we had covered in 5 hours, was traversed in 1.5 on the way down.  It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.  We were both, so glad that we did it.

our paddles
(and FINALLY a view of that volcano!)

with Sergio (he was awesome)
we just climbed that!

We made it in time for our flight (even with a vital bathroom and food stop!) and headed back to Santiago to start our trip back to the US of A!