Access to internet (or at least a connection which has been reliable enough to post) has been limited this past week, hence the lack of blog entries. Will endeavour to try and catch up a bit now, in between buses!
After Osorno I travelled north to Temuco last weekend and onto Pucon, which is a town in the shadow of the Villarica volcano. Following the earthquake the eruption warning lights in the town had changed from green to amber ... I was sure that I´d be able to outsprint any lava flow in my sandals though!
I stayed just outside Pucon (well, when I say ´just´ I mean a 24km bus ride) at a Mapuchu farmhouse I´d discovered on the internet. Irma (my host) was extremely welcoming, but found it hard to comprehend that I wouldn´t be eating her fresh meat, cheese or drinking the milk she´d just collected from the cows. There were a couple of Americans also staying there, who had spent the past 3 weeks volunteering on Irma´s farm, in return for food and lodging. However, after chatting with them, that sounds like all they had done since arriving ... I think I managed to see more of the local area in the 36 hours that I was there, than they´d seen during the previous 3 weeks.
The weather there was certainly a contrast to the hot, cloudless (if you don´t count the smog) skies of Santiago. It was cloudy and drizzling most of the time ... it was hard to imagine that somewhere through the mist stood a volcano rising well over 2km up into the air!
One of the recommendations I´d been given for my journey to Chile (from John) was to visit the Termas Geometricas ... this was about 30km from where I was staying. However due to some trees falling and blocking the road, I had to make a 60km detour around the volcano! All the effort was certainly worth it though (I´ll post a flip-clip when I arrive in Bolivia), as I spent the best part of 6 hours relaxing in each of the 17 geothermal pools built into the sides of the natural gorge, part way up the slopes of the volcano.
Check out the website: www.termasgeometricas.cl
After Pucon it was back on the bus to Santiago (12 hours) where I would meet a mystery woman who I had met on the internet and eventually lose my voice!!
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