Sunday 3rd January

Volcan Lanin (3747m)

We left Junin de los Andes and headed north briefly to get a view of Volcan Lanin.
On the way we passed a shrine to Disfuncta Correa. She died following her husband whilst colonising Argentina. He was a soldier. Her baby was found suckling on her corpse and Argentinians treat this like St. Christopher at home.

Volcan Lanin again.

San Martin de los Andes

Today we drove the classic scenic route of the seven lakes between San Martin and Villa La Angostura.








This is Arroyo Partido. The stream on the left flows to the Pacific, the one on the right to the Atlantic.

Another lake.

Cascada Vullignanco

A typical house. Looks like Austria!

For most of the route it was gravel roads. See the dust clouds.

Most of the cars, were 4X4, except ours.

Another lake.

Back at Bariloche we booked into Bungalows La Caleta, right on the edge of town with great views of the lake and this lizard.

The kitchen.

The view!

Saturday 2nd January

Today we left Villarica having at last seen the volcano and also experienced hot weather. In Argentina the "hora de salida" is a strict 10 am - the Chileans are more laid back and make it 12 noon. Very civilised!

We stopped at Villarica to get some last photos of Volcan Villarica and to take a picture of the above bird.

Across the lake we also got a glimpse of Volcan Llaima which erupted the last time we were in Chile. It is Chile's most active volcano and also erupted last summer. Currently it is 3125m tall. Today it was dormant. It's name in Mapuche means "spits blood."

Llaima

Villarica(2847m)

The skies were clear blue and we headed quickly up the motorway. It was a bit of a volcano fest as at one point we could see seven in one glance.

Volcanoes Tolhauco (2806m) and Lonquimay (2865m)



Lonquimay (typical Strombolian volcano)

It seemed a shame not to spend more time exploring the National Parks which surround the volcanoes, but Chile is a HUGE country and unfortunately we don't have the time to do everything.

Llaima and her twin cones

Lonquimay and clouds!

Sadly today was a huge rush. We've had to cut one section of the holiday out because of our problems earlier, but hopefully one day we will come back.

We crossed back into Argentina, where there was a forest of monkey puzzle trees. Then after a petrol stop at the town of Zapala we headed back south down the RN-40, and finally stopped at Junin de los Andes for the night. It was getting dark. The town centre, when we found it, was pleasant enough. We stayed in a guest house used by trout fishermen and ate at a busy restaurant on the square - home made pasta and Argentinian Cab Sav!

Argentines and Chileans eat late, rarely before 10 pm. We have manged to adapt to this well, but we're not so good at getting up in the morning.

1st January 2010 New Year's Day

We didn't rush to get up as the weather was still overcast, and after all it was a Bank Holiday!

In the afternoon we decided to drive up to the lava caves on the side of the volcano. A volcano we still had not yet seen. The road to the caves was rather rough so about a kilometre before the caves we parked the car and walked up. There was a great view of lago Villarica.

The caves were closed but we noticed a board higher up which said there was a 4km walk to a mirador of some parasite craters on the side of the volcano. However there was still no volcano to be seen.

The walk was labeled with 16 interval posts along the way.

Initially the walk was across lava flows, and we were a bit surprised that people had newly built cabins right in their flow.

We then crossed a couple of gorges with some large fallen trees.

The path then steadily rose for a while, through bamboo.

Eventually the views opened out and we began to see that the clouds were lifting. We had a tantalising first view of the snowy slopes of the volcano and a ski lift on its side. We carried on and then at a clearing saw the clouds had lifted more and for a few seconds we could glimpse the summit and its smoking cone. We had waited four days for this!!!

Kevin took some video of the crater.

It was getting late and we had only reached half way in the walk so we decided to turn around, elsewise it would be dark when we got back to the car. The volcano was once again hidden in cloud.

Later that night we sat in the car and blogged - the only way we could get a signal. However by now the skies had cleared and we could see that for the last four days we had been literally living under the volcano!

Thursday 31st December 2009

It rained overnight and was still damp when we awoke. The cloud had not lifted since we arrived and we had not even had a glimpse of Volcano Villarica.

We had a lazy morning and set off again for the Termas Geometricas - the long way round.

The springs were up the other end of the dirt road that we had failed to pass yesterday. However the track was better and we made it about two in the afternoon. The Termas are slate baths in a gorge on the side of the volcano, filled with naturally hot waters. It was very lushly vegetated, with ferns and fuchsia bushes. The different baths are linked by a walkway that heads to a waterfall at the top.

It was tipping down with rain, but the baths were warm - between 34 and 37 celcius. Steam rose from the pools, hence the blurred photos.

It was quite quiet, and most of the time we had a pool to ourselves. We were both surprised to find that we had spent 5 hours there doing nothing in particular.

We arrived back to the cabanas as darkness fell and celebrated New Year with a miniature bottle of Glenfiddich.

Wednesday 30th December 2009

After breakfast we decided that we would go and visit the Termas Geometricas, as the weather was not looking good and the cloud was low.

We drove out of Pucon alongside Lago Caburgua, but missed the turning for the springs. So instead, when we realised we had made a mistake we deided to go and visit the Ojos of Caburguas, some waterfalls. At the entrance to the falls, you could either walk in or take the car. As it was only 800m to the falls we decided to walk.

On the way we saw some chicks who came running to see us, probably expecting food.

Later we saw a turkey with three chicks.

The falls are two separate falls, tumbling from different directions into the same blue pool.

Back on the right road, we headed towards the Termas but the route was very rough, and we no longer have a 4WD. We decided it would be best to take another route there. On the way back there were piglets in the carriageway. Nearby their mothers were staked down with sticks, perhaps to avoid them rolling on to their young. It seemed cruel.

As it was now mid afternoon, we decided to postpone our visit to the Termas. Instead we sorted out the internet connection so we could blog. To get a signal we have to sit on a bench outside.

We posted some photos from the days before.

After that we strolled into town. On Lake Villarica there were speed boats.

Trips up the volcano, kayaking, canopy trails, horseriding, etc were on offer everywhere. Though the weather was bad, some of the operators were rather cynically posting signs saying the weather would be good the next day. This is to attract people to prebook the ascent of the volcano and other trips. If the weather is bad, according to the guidebook, you still pay full price if they take you part of the way up the volcano, or expect you to wait until the next good weather day.

There are signs in town which tell you what to do if the volcano erupts - which it has not done since 1984. As you can see, there is also a traffic light system and it was green today.

Though we'd both like to do the ascent of the volcano to its smoking summit, we could see the weather was not going to improve.

Ate in the cabana, despite plenty of options for veggies in town.