Trip to the South: Day 2

This was the busiest and the most eventful day of the trip to the South. We left the house after a delicious country breakfast (oh yes, there was country bread!), we headed off to Pucon, a nearby ski resport city. All the buildings were made of wood and it a unique style, with Volcano Villarica in the background. Of course, I have never been to Colorado, but Pucon had a feeling of Aspen or another ski resort, with numerous cute restaraunts, outdoor gear stores, and hotels.

On the way to Pucon, we stopped in the town of Villarica that is located on the bank of the lake Villarica and the volcano Villarica. It was still pretty foggy, so we couldn't see the top of the volcano, but we were still mesmerized by the solemnity of the lake and the volcano

Another detour we took on the way to Pucon was actually to climb the magnificent volcano Villarica. It took the poor 4x4 a while to climb up, but when we finally reached the mid-point where we planned to take a look, it started snowing. Yes, I know that I don't quite like snow, but it was something magical to be standing on a volcano looking at a pristine crystal blue lake and have the soft snow flurries falling down around you. It was still clouded when we got there, so we couldn't see the volcano, but for about 2 minutes it cleared up, so we were able to take pictures.


When we were almost ready to leave, we decided to see if we could take a ski lift up to the top....we succeded, and were rewarded by a beautiful ride that almost conquered my fear of heights.

However, what was waiting for us at the top was even more breathtaking---an amazing view of the lake, surrounding mountains, warm lunch, and another pleasant acquantaince: while surveying the surroundings and acting like the Japanese in Disney World (aka clicking a million pictures), we saw a snow patrol vehicle with a patrol dog. He was soo serious and official looking that we couldn't resist and asked his owner to snap some shots. The dogs name was Dante; he condescendingly allowed us to take some pictures and pet him.



We had a pleasant descent down to the parking lot enjoying the view of the top of the volcano.



We ended the day at the hot springs/thermal baths relaxing and warming up. After eating in Pucon, we went home to rest and recover.