Pedal Power in Pucon

Aaaah-the joys of luxurious long distance bus travel. Arrived in Pucon feeling fresh and ready to attack the great outdoors. Although a major tourist hub thronging with disco divas, Pucon is a beautiful town straight out of a Hans Christian Anderson fairytale surrounded by active volcanoes, national parks and lakes.

Thinking we'd ease our bodies (which have forgotten what the inside of a gym looks like) into it, we hired mountain bikes for a day to go exploring. Must have muddled the spanish somehow to lead the lass hiring bikes to believe that we were Olympic cyclists as we found ourselves cycling in the gravelly dust of the Chillean road cycling team for 8 hours. Despite the gruelling effort it was a picturesque scene of rolling farmland and snow capped volcanoes. Our efforts were rewarded with an icy dip in the Ojos de Caburga - moutain waterfalls that go underground and resurface nearby. Without bathers or towel we did the "will we or won't we?" foot hop for a while before continuing on our theme of entertaining the locals and plunging in, in our finest underwear. Feeling revived and cool, we were fired up for the cycle home until Stu's chain snapped 2 minutes back on our bikes. In typical Stu "I can fix anything" Wales fashion and the use of a kind Santiago couple`s pliers we were back on the road again.

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Top of the "to do" list in Pucon was climb Volcan Villaricca - a 3000 metre active volcano. (top photo). After reassuring Mums that the volcano hasn`t errupted since 1991 and just quietly checking the warning lights in town (green=just smoking, amber=getting twitchy, red=get out of there!!) we set off at 7am with ice picks, helmets and plenty of chocolate for the 5 hour hike up a 45 degree slope, Kaz wishing that she`d spent more time on the stair climber back home. Our chirpy swiss guide Tobias pushed us onwards and upwards after a quick demo of how to use our ice picks to stop us from going "bye! bye" down the icy slope. Being able to see the lava in action up the top and the surrounding views was well worth the effort. Getting back down the volcano sliding on our backsides made us wish we´d eaten more kuchen for padding though. Ouch! But much easier than the upwards journey.

After our exertions Stu still had enough energy to threaten the local french outdoor "experts" with his seemingly effortless jaunt up the climbing wall they were struggling with...Mon Dieu! Regardez la monkee de escotia!! (Mrs Bailey can correct my french here!).

Finally, Kaz got her way and we spent our last day on the beach. Stu still hasn´t mastered the art of sitting still and relaxing so took out a Laser dinghy and cruised the lake. All in all a top spot.

Kaz & Stu xx

Bargain of the week: posh beach shade and sun lounges for the day, $7 AUS

Arse of the week: who keeps blowing out the boiler at Hospedaje Irma? Something suspicious is a foot...