Region IX

Lots to write about! For the last few days ive been in a town called Pucon in Region IX of Chile, also known as the lakes district. FYI, chile is nicely sliced up into 12 regions, the first one being at the north and the 12th in the south. This area of the world looks like Ontario cottage country (lots of lakes and big green trees), plus some magnificent volcanos and of course the Chilean people who come here on vacation. I must admit, the locals here have been the nicest, most welcoming people in SA thus far.

The town is situated on lake Villarrica and has a very german/swiss feel to it...actually there are many german/swiss immigrants here so at times it doest feel like chile at all. The big attraction is Volcano Vallarrica...a beautifully shaped volcano, much of it covered in snow which hovers in the horizon. The weather was perfect yesterday so i took the opportunity and rented a boat to get some nice pictures of the volcano with the lake in the foreground. Today was my adventure day. The plan was to hike the volcano...but when i woke up this morning the entire sky was clouded over. I still managed to get myself up and walked over to the tour company and to my surprise the trip was still on. Fine i thought...but we´re not going to see anything. But as the bus drove up to the base of the hike, we broke through the clouds to reveal the mountain lit up by the morning sun. The hike was simply amazing, when we reached the sumit (2850m) i had my first look at lava. A whole at the bottom of the crater would every few minutes makes some gurgles, then heat up red and finally blow lava over 100 feet into the air. Even the guides were impressed since it was more active than usual. But the best was saved to the end, sliding down the entire volcano lying on my back and using my ice-axe as a brake. Great fun.


The Goal


The Lava


The Hippie