Pucon, Chile

I woke at 3.30am and spent the next 2 hours talking myself ready for the hike. How hard could it be? Just needed to put one foot in front of the other! When the alarm finally went off, I was ready….well, got dressed and hit the road to our meeting point. We piled into a bus with about 8 others (all fit walking types) and 4 guides, setting off in the dark for the volcano base which marked the start. As we got out, I was struck by how cold it was, felt underdressed and kept looking up at the cloudy volcano. It was then the guides announced that they would not recommend the ascent and that we could start but would not be able to summit if cloud remained. It felt like a huge anticlimax, but I wasn’t going to hike for an hour in the cold to turn round so all in agreement we headed back to Pucon. We knew the natural hot springs were plentiful in this area, so second choice for the day was a trip to Termas Geometricas, a few hours south. The very bumpy road led to a oasis of ferns which had been landscaped to feed 17 pools. We spent about 3 hours pool hopping at around forty degree water temperatures before bumping our way home, much cleaner!