Since I had no idea that I’d hurt so much today, I made a booking for us to snowshoe some of the base of the volcano. Oh goodness…
After a quick breakfast, we drove over to Pucón to meet our guide and get fitted for our gear. Then we drove over to the volcano base to begin our journey.
Our guide, Alex, explained that Volcán Villarrica is pretty special because it has an ever-present magma pool in the cone. You can hike up to see it, and even climb into the glacial ice cave in the volcano mouth. (I passed on that). Since the volcano is always venting, it is pretty stable, erupting every 15 years and not doing all that much damage when it does.
So we got on our snowshoes and started climbing. About 2 steps in, we all realized how much we hurt from the day before, and we all were grateful that this was only a 3 hour trek and not a full day!
We walked about 1.5 miles, gaining about 800 feet in elevation, until we got to an old refuge/ski building. The clouds were rolling in just as we hit the halfway point of our time, so we turned back at that point.
Every muscle in every one of our bodies was screaming at the end of the hike, so we decided to use the afternoon to visit another of the area’s geothermal hot springs, Termas de Huife.
We barely made it back in time to return the car and catch our flight to Santiago thanks to rush hour traffic and construction, but we did make it! Since we got in late and are leaving tomorrow night, we are at the Holiday Inn on the airport grounds for the night. Figured leaving our bags here all day while we explore Santiago was easiest.
And now, we are off to bed to sleep like the dead.
Vacation Days 