Heading Down South - Pucón

We started our trip to Pucón with a 12 hour overnight bus ride.  We finally arrived at 7am, checked into our cabañas and then headed out to explore!

We saw a few cascadas (waterfalls) and some incredible lakes.  The water was so clear!  

 We then visited a Mapuche farm for lunch.  We met this woman and she explained her culture to us and then invited us inside to eat some traditional food.  We had homemade sopapillas with homemade honey, bread and goat cheese (from the goats on the farm), and tea.   

We walked around the farm afterwards looking at all of the animals.  There were goats, llamas, sheep, and ducks.  We then were invited into the "ruca" - a traditional Mapuche house made of thatch and wood.  Typically there are two rucas per family - one for cooking and one for sleeping.  The woman we talked to still utilizes this ruca for cooking. 

Then it was off to las termas (the hot springs).  There were five different pools situated right next to a river.  It was beautiful and very relaxing. 

The next day a group of us hiked volcán Villarrica.  It is one of Chile's most active volcanoes.  The upper portion of the volcano is permanently covered with snow, so we had to use ice axes as we were climbing up.  It got a little scary but was definitely worth it in the end!  It took about 5 full hours to reach the top.  

Although you couldn't actually see lava, it was still a pretty awesome sight.      

We stayed on top of the volcano for about an hour to eat lunch and take pictures.  Then it was time to go down...or should I say sled down.  Fully equipped with snowsuits, a tiny plastic sled, and our ice axes (to slow us down if we got going too fast), we made our way down the volcano.  It was probably the coolest thing I have ever done!   

The whole gang

 We then went back to the cabañas, made a quick dinner and rested up.  The very next day we went white water rafting along the Trancura River.  It was so much fun!  Our guide was wonderful, except for the fact he kept trying to get us to flip over...

The same day, a group of us went zip-lining.  Here I am zip-lining across the Trancura River.   

The south of Chile is AMAZING!  I still cannot believe how absolutely stunning Pucón was, and it's not even that far south.  The trip made me extremely sad that I was not able to make it to Patagonia, but I guess that just means I'll have to come back, right?