An Update From Pucon, Chile
Tuesday, August 7th, 2007
So far, the trip’s been a crazy adventure. We had troubles and tribulations with our travel, but we arrived here with all of our gear. Our first day of boarding found us on hard pack snow that was ice in the morning but softer in the afternoon. We rode off piste on terrain I’ve never experienced before. The resort is low tech. Watch out for chair lifts on your way down or you’ll run into one swinging low. The view from the volcano is a ‘top of the world’ type experience with mountains, lakes, and other volcanoes all around.
Our room caught fire at the end of our first day. The hotel moved us to a different condo and cleaned all our belongings from the smoke damage. During our down day yesterday, we made our way out to Termas Geometricas. In short, we found a mystical experience. The scene was complete with ice cold waterfalls and streams, steaming pools of scalding hot water, rock overhangs with thick moss and lush vegetation hanging down, pillows of snow on top of red huts, and the most elegantly constructed system of bridges, decks and buildings. We jumped from the hot tubs into the ice cold streams and found ourselves comfortable sitting in wet swim wear in the open air at zero degrees celsius.
Today is another down day. A big rain storm blew in with lots of wind. We’re hopeful that it’s snowing up on the volcano Vallarrica. Tomorrow is supposed to be clear and sunny so it could be a good day. Here’s hoping for a little powder.
