Pucon, Chile

Yet another beautiful city in the Lakes District, but on the Chilean side of the border.

This was my first time using Work Away to volunteer in exchange for a place to stay and a small stipend. It was definitely interesting being on the other side of hospitality. It’s also the low season here, so there were not that many people staying, which made the 5-hour shifts that I work go by pretty slowly.

The weather was also beginning to change with many rainy days between the few nice ones, so I tried to do as much as possible on the nice days.

One day I caught the bus to go hike in Huerquehue National Park with a local along the trail that looped around many lakes. The hike took about 6-7 hours round trip, with lots of stops along the way to take in the scenery.

Another day I decided to try to find the waterfall Salto del Claro. At the time the pin on the Google Map was incorrect and there were not many good directions for getting there. After taking a wrong turn I decided to backtrack a little. I ran into a French couple who was equality lost in trying to find it. Together we finally found the trail that would ultimately take me to this beauty. As we were heading back to the city I had my first unintentional hitching experience where a car just stopped and asked if we wanted a ride. The three of us piled in and the very nice woman along with her daughter dropped us off at a grocery store in the city.

One of the final experiences here were the hot springs, which I managed to go to twice both times with other travelers who were visiting the city. It’s really a relaxing way to spend a few hours chatting. The real challenge the first time I went is could I go from the hottest hot spring and then jump into the freezing cold river that was running nearby. I finally took the challenge and while it was really cold when you were walking into the river when you dunked all the way in and then walked out within seconds there was no feeling of being hot or cold anymore.

As I write this I have about 4 hours until my bus leaves to take me to Santiago. I have some mixed feelings. I’ve spent just over 2 weeks here and found the area very beautiful. While it’s pouring rain right now it’s a great time to sit and focus on some learning that I want to do and right now there are several people staying at the hostel, so there is conversation to be had. Some of the other days this wasn’t the case, which makes for a long boring day. On the other hand, I know I need to move on and see some more of Chile.

More photos and videos on Google Photos: Pucon, Chile