Volcanoes, earthquakes and one mysterious condom

I arrived in Pucon, which is sort of the Chilean Queenstown. The main attraction is scaling Volcan Villarica, an active volcano which looms over the city. The hike up is done in organized tours, since it requires use of crampons and an ice axe. The view from the top is great, and the slide down in toboggans was a lot of fun. Looking down the colorful crater, there´s no lava to be seen, however the occasional rumbling noise is heard, followed by a big puff of white smelly fumes.

Volcan Villarica, as seen from Pucon

View from the top of Volcan Villarica

The fuming crater of Volcan Villarica

After this excursion I had to take a couple of rest days for my sunburned lips to heal (I did put on lip treatment with 15 spf, I get it was too little, too late). Once that happened, I set off to Huerquehue national park. When the weather cleared up a bit, I could enjoy the park´s lakes, following the Las Lagos trail. In the meantime, I had the slightly weird experience of sleeping alone in a refugio/hostel (even the person in charge left).

One of the lakes on the Los Lagos hike

I left Pucon, and headed north, to visit the Malalcahuello-Nalcas national reserve (pronounced MA-LAL-KA-WE-YU). I hiked up Crater Navidad, a volcanic crater formed in a powerful eruption in 1988. The surrounding view was that of a volcanic desert, with some basalt ¨peels¨. Once I finished admiring it, O started up the adjacent Volcan Lomquimay, a much more gruelling task, involving a very steep scree slope. At the top of the volcano I found a metal case containing the ¨Lonquimay Conquest Book¨, which I of course duly signed. The crater of Lonquimay was filled with snow, assuring that here a new eruption was not imminent.

The volcanic desert around Crater Navidad

Volcan Lonquimay

The top of Volcan Lonquimay

My next destination was Talca, a major city, from which I could go to visit the Altos del Lircay national reserve. Against my better judgement, I arrived in Talca after dark. As I was walking from the bus terminal to the address Lonely Planed cited for my choice of hostel, I was a bit worried. The town was dark, the area seemed decrepit, and there weren´t many people around. I finally got to the hostel, only to find an abandoned looking building, with cracked walls, and a graffiti saying something about demolition. I decided to try and catch a cab to go to my second choice of hostels, but after waiting for twenty minutes, I realized this is not a good spot to flag down taxis. I spotted a young man passing by, and asked him if he knows where would be a better place to catch a cab. As we were talking, I also explained my predicament, and he noted that on all probability any other hostel that I´ll try will be closed as well. It seems I forgot to check my map of Chile, otherwise I would have noticed my proximity to Concepcion, the epicenter of the last earthquake. That explained everything. When I noted that this means that I have no place to sleep, he agreed, and suggested to host me for the night. At first I was reluctant, but he seemed like a nice guy, plus it was 22:30 and I really didn´t have any other choice. We grabbed a clectivo (SHERUT) to his house, where we had a very nice conversation, which involved him trying his best to speak slowly, and I trying my best to know Spanish. Turns out 200 people died in the earthquake in Talca. That night he was in a club, and the second floor collapsed, killing 5 people, and wounding him. Then, to my surprise, he said that he knows something similar happened in Israel a while back. In the morning, as I woke up, I felt the bed moving under me. It was a small aftershock. Christian, my host, made me breakfast, and put me on a cab to downtown, to arrange my visit to the national reserve.

The reserve was very dusty, and deserted. As I was setting up the tent, I opened its zipper to find a new condom, in its wrapper, in the tent. I have no idea how it got there. The next day I hiked to Laguna del Alto and Enladrillado. The latter is a flat basalt surface, made up of big stones, carved to smooth perfection. The locals are convinced its for alien landings. I reserve judgement. from there it was possible to see Volcan Descabezado Grande, a volcano that appears to have lost it head (descabezado = beheaded), among other peaks. I got back to my tent, and got ready to leave in the morning, for my next destination: Santiago.

Laguna del Altos

Volcan Descabezado, as seen from Eladrillado

As always, all pics are here.