Pucon, on the banks of Lake Villaricca is very scenic. The conical, snow covered Vulcan Villaricca a few km away is spectacular. We took a “random walk” on the way here — steven spotted a road on the map that might give us good views of the volcano over the lake. We ended up getting a guided tour of a local farmer’s fields to get to the spot the local thought gave the best views. They were, indeed, spectacular.
The next random walk was a little less successful. The load location looked suitable for wonderful views. Alas 25 km along, 3 km from the scenery, we were stopped by a gate. The end of the road was private property. Sigh.
Accommodation was fine. $80 a night for a 2 bedroom apartment with lake views. We made do with the 6 cheap matches provided to light the gas for 3 days. And clearly there are some issues with Chilean plumbing that cannot cope with toilet paper. I tried Google but came away unenlightened.
Wandering around Pucon town centre we heard music and ended up in a concert in the local civic hall. Lovely singing, and we were plied with a plate of cake and a glass of mulled wine. Very pleasant.
They run tours to walk up the volcano, providing the necessary crampons, ice axe and warm gear, but it is a long long long uphill trudge. We decided it was safer and more scenic to head to the national park with the Araucaria trees and lovely lakes instead. It was very pretty. We headed up there two days in a row (ran out of time on day 1 to go everywhere and see everythin
g).
Lots more photos, as usual: https://goo.gl/photos/5ZsnBM7f2yNaCwaf9
Now back to Santiago. Today it is raining, so we did well with the fine weather whilst we were down here. We’ll revisit Salto del Laja on the way back and then I will build a post on that scenic attraction.