After arriving in Pucon late night, I did a quick packing job and was out on the 8:30 a.m. bus to Parque Nacional Huequehue (where-kay-way). I have heard nice things about this park and wanted to try hiking out to the termas (hot springs). My guide book says it is 21km each way and suggests 4 days; we were attempting it in 2. We decided, at my suggestion, to go light and fast. Hence, I ditched my tent and opted for a open air bivouac.
We reached the park entrance around 10:00 and began hiking in the heat. It was then that I discovered some mild discomfort had turned into some intestinal trauma. I have been travelling now for 3 months and have been lucky to stay healthy the entire time, but I must have consumed something disagreeable. I plodded along slowly up the 640m to the little lakes, feeling my innards gurgle. It was hot and humid which didn´t help my cause. The downhills were worse because I could feel the contents of my intestines move around.  |
| Volcan Villarica over lago Tinquilchin(?) |
The bright spot was that it was a beautiful place. The vegetation was absolutely incredible- Lenga, Coigüe, and Araucaria (monkey puzzle trees) trees with an understory of quila (bamboo), fuscia, and lots of other interesting flowers. There were lots of birds too. When we reached the refugio at the half way point, I ran into 2 friends that I had met 2 months ago. I hung out for 45 minutes before continuing on the last 2 hours to the privately owned Termas Ecologicas. This is outside the park boundary and is extremely rustic at first glance. I approached rather irritated that I had hiked so far in the heat to go for a swim in someone´s backyard. As it turned out, the termas were quite nice. They had built several natural pools into the side of the river of varying temps. There were several other Chileans there, mainly families.
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| Lago Toro |
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| Looking skyward at Araucaria Trees |
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| Beautiful flowers that I cannot identify |
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| Termas Ecologicas |
The campground, however, left something to be desired. It was essentially a picnic area with firepits. I was not happy about sleeping out there. Feeling like total crap, I began canvassing the Chileans for a ride back to town. But Alexis convinc
ed me otherwise. He wanted to stay and I felt bound by the commitment I made to my hiking partner. He agreed to start early to beat the heat- whatever that means bc it is usually too hot for me by 9:00 am.
I started to cramp badly and hit a point where I needed to lie down and set up ¨camp¨next to our picnic table. Fortunately, sleep came quickly.
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