The Adventure That — Wasn’t

Pucón is the Outdoor Adventure Capital of Chile. Ski/hike/sled an active volcano, skydive, parasail, kayak, raft, mountain bike, snowshoe, zip line, hydro speed, hot springs, water bikes, lava tubes, multiple national parks, canyoneering, horseback rides, waterfalls, beaches, a life-sized Shrek! You name it - Pucón has it! Unless, of course, it doesn’t.

Traveling during shoulder season is great because you usually get fewer crowds, more availability, and better rates in exchange for conditions that are only mildly less than perfect. The problem is that every now and then, you will hit mud season right on point. But at least there was still a life sized Shrek.

Our first day in Pucón was a bit chilly, but otherwise lovely - sunshine and blue skies with a great view of Volcàn Villarrica (South America's most active volcano) puffing out little clouds of poisonous gas. Despite the unexpected collapse of our planned 3-day kayaking class (our main reason for coming), Logan bravely set out to find some adventure for the family and was lucky enough to set up parasailing for our first afternoon. Then came the weather.

Parasailing fell through at the last minute due to insufficient wind. Our hopes of skiing, then our back-up plan of hiking the volcano were dashed upon the shores of inclement weather predicitions. We've always been fine with hitting the slopes in less than ideal condisions, but then the mid mountian forecast calls for 3.5"...of rain, it's time to find something else to do. We found a short rafting adventure that was still scheduled for the following day and booked it with hope yet in our hearts. The next day, the rain started.

The next morning was gray and ovecast, but not actually raining. I had let the tour operator talk us into rafting with the promise of warm neoprene suits and fun water appropriate for ages 8 and up. The boys were skeptical of commercial paddle rafting (due to excellent, if biased parenting) but agreed to give it a try. Naturally, the promised wet suits weren't really sized appropriately, the water was only liquid because it was raging, and the guide went into every wave at a 45 degree angle to increase the excitement. I think our hands froze to the paddles but at least they weren't knocked loose with each rapid. Thankfully, the rain didn't start until we hit the take-out. Lunch by a wood stove and celebration of Logan's birthday saw us recovered by day's end.

By day three, the rain had become steady. Since we were going to be soaked anyway, we rented a car and set out for the Termas Geometricas. These fantastic hot springs, located within the Villarica National Park, features bright red boardwalks wandering their way among 18 pools built up a narrow canyon ending in a waterfall. Our goal was to kill at least 2 rainy hours, but we ended up staying until closing time.

The next day we slopped our way to church before an afternoon hike to a series of 3 waterfalls. Although there was parking and infrastructure for quite a crowd, we were the only ones hiking in the mud and rain. Since the hike was pretty remote, we were grateful that our tire didn't go flat until after we had made it back to a restaurant for dinner. Flat tires are common, especially when you are driving on rough roads. For some reason, being in a foreign country on a Sunday (when most places are closed) in the rain seems to up the odds. What we didn't expect, was that the tire iron wouldn't fit the lug nuts. We were lucky enough to find a stranger with the correct size tire iron or we might have had to abandon the rental car where it was.

Half of the next day was dedicated to attempting to repair the tire - we found out that it was old, had 3 blisters in the sidewall, and was likely to explode if re-inflated. This was followed by discussions with the rental agency and negotiation of a new vehicle. Eventually, we were free to make our way to the Volcanic Caves Park. We had been warned about the poor condition of the road. We were not able to get any updates from the park about the road. But tour companies went there, so why not us?

We were able to get partway up the dirt road before it was completely washed out. Parts of it were an active stream and other parts were simply missing. There were no recent tire tracks and we were unsure if a 4-wheel drive vehicle could have passed. There were no guarantees that the park was open. But since it was only about 2 miles away, and we had nothing else to do, we parked illegally and set out. The rain turned into hail as we climbed the hill, and we were immensely grateful to see smoke coming from the park building once it came into sight.

Hoping to get out of the rain, we paid our fees and donned our caving helmets to start our personalized tour. (Once again, we were the only visitors for the entire day.) Surprisingly, it was far wetter inside the cave with steady streams of water from above and the path disappearing into puddles below. Despite that, we had a fantastic time and learned a lot (see the upcoming post on lava tubes by Tim).

Our final day, naturally, was all blue sky and sunshine as we made our way to the airport. So we look back on Pucón as one of our better examples of Type2 Fun. For those of you unfamiliar with this system of classification, please see the chart below.

Type1 Fun - fun while you are doing it, fun to remember (Halloween)

Type2 Fun - none-fun at the time, but fun to remember (rafting a scary rapid safely)

Type3 Fun - fun while you are doing it, but not fun to remember (eating Taco Bell)

Type4 Fun - none-fun never (getting vaccines)

We usually find that people recognize the Fun Type Classification System, even if they have not previously heard the correct nomenclature. Our family seems to specialize in Type2 Fun. We have created so many of these types of memories with our close friends and family members. And if Pucón is any indicator, there is a lot more Type2 Fun in our future.

Notable Quotables from Pucón:

Tim: Well I guess now is a good time to explore - while I can't feel my body. (after getting out of the ice cold river)

Neil: It started to hail, so Tim and I decided to seek shelter in the Wallmart candy aisle.