.February 17 – Temuco to Pucon

We got to the Temuco Rotovario (Bus Terminal) in plenty of time for our 0900 bus.  Here's a good photo of the double decker bus.  No more bus photos, I promise.


Our particular bus left Valparaiso last night at 10:45 pm and traveled overnight.  We got picked up at 9 a.m.  I'm not sure that I want to take an overnight bus, since I'm pretty sure it will be a poor night's sleep.  However, there are a couple of legs on this trip that we will be faced with sleeping on the bus.

Today's trip is 2-1/2 hours. We start off under cloud. The vegetation is getting more lush as we travel along. Our progress is hampered at various times because we are on a secondary (paved) road, but we seem to keep getting behind farm tractors.

The cloud breaks up as we enter Villarrica and we get our first glimpse of a volcano, Volcan Villarrica. Here's a 'bus window' shot of it, just in case it clouds over again. That is steam coming out the top. The volcanoes have caused death and destruction locally over the centuries, not from lava, but from the floods and mud flows associated with the volcanoes.

A bit later and we're in Pucon, tourist central. It has clouded over again. We walk the 1/2 km to our hostel (Ecole) and get settled in. I see this sign on the way in. We're familiar with Tsunami escape routes, but a Volcano escape route is new.

Now its off to tour the town. We're at the lake front with a good view of Volcan Villarrica (I confirmed that it is), however, there is a pesky little cloud that hangs around the peak. This is the bay all the boaters use.

 Check out the duck boat. Only in a tourist town.....

We walk a bit and hit the main beach. See what I mean about tourist central. The beach sand is dark, not quite black but obviously volcanic.

One of the beach front hotels. We could have stayed here, but.....

This is the room Laura chose. The room is so small I'm going to have to go out into the hall to change my mind!.

Actually, this is a good hostel. Here's the lobby where they have a vegetarian restaurant.

And here is Laura chowing down on some great veggie nachos for lunch.  She let me have a few of them.  Fresh strawberry juice, too.

There are lots of artisans in this town, with a huge range of crafts. JD, they were selling hand carded and dyed wool. Sorry, but the stuff wouldn't survive another month in my pack.

A new twist on street busking. This guy was getting lots of contributions. He could use a new VW van, though.

And, YAY, as we went out for dinner the clouds have cleared and I got a good view of the volcano.

Tomorrow is hiking in the local national park. Hopefully, we'll have some good photos.