April 21st 2015

Pucon is famous for it’s volcano and adventure sports, but underneath all that is a waterfall meca.  You can read about the isolated Salto de Claro and the smaller but more accessible Ojos De Caburga here and here, but today is for me the region’s highlight.  a road to Palguin with tons of waterfalls alongside it.  The only problem is, there’s no buses, and this late in the fall almost no chance of hitchhiking going well. Enter the problem solvers, in the form of a very friendly Israeli couple who are travelling with a car and looking for something to do. Yossi and Orit: codenamed Luke hits the jackpot.

I sell them on the idea the night before and so at 10 am we’re climbing into their rented car and heading out of Pucon towards Palguin, the main turn off found from the road which leads to the Argentinean border.  We follow the signs and turn right off the road heading up into the mountains, blessed with another beautiful day after my first 5 days in Pucon were all rain and cloud.

There’s countless waterfalls along this route, some easier to find than others, and despite my enthusiasm we only managed to see about half of them, but from what I can tell we saw the best half.

Yossi and Orit have a wonderful way of just going and not worrying about the plans so we turn off at the first sign of a waterfall, the name sadly I’ve forgotten.  After turning left off the main road we soon reach a closed gate which I climb out and open.  We drive to end of the road alongside a few dilapidated farmhouses and see a sign stating a 1500 CLP admittance fee.  That said there’s no one around to pay so we head down the trail, only for a Chilean man to catch up to us a few minutes later and politely demand payment. Yossi asks him if he’s out for a stroll and he immediately answers that he’s out to collect our payment.  Fair enough I suppose.

The proprietor paid we continue down to the end of the trail and see a few small falls pooling with more underground waters emerging creating some interesting colours and currents somewhat reminiscent of Ojos de Caburga.  Unfortunately the trails don’t let you get close, and, after the initial approach, in fact lead us away from the river and through a forest before returning to open farmland, where we find another small cascade before returning to the car.  On the way there though we get the best part of this particular waterfall, information from a friendly farmer about where to find other, more impressive falls.

Piling back into the car we head back to the main road and continue away from pavement for another 10 km or so before again turning left at signs for Cascada de China.  Somewhere along the road we’ve missed the access to Palguin waterfall, but we figure we can always go back and so pull into to an all but empty parking lot with a small restaurant and a small canyoning business on either side of it.  Some people have arrived in a white tour van and are being suited up for canyoning but we don’t wait, paying the 1500 CLP admission fee (3 CAD)  and heading along a short trail towards the waterfall.

We get there after maybe a 10 minute walk through the very green and wet forest, stepping out to a viewpoint near a natural looking wooden bridge for our first view of the impressive ribbon style falls.  The water plunges about 70 meters down the cliff face in a narrow stream to a lovely and very inviting pool, even despite the cold air and water I know awaits me.

After marvelling at the beautiful falling white water we clamber up over some logs and rocks to get closer to the falls for some better views and pictures  I can feel the urge growing inside me and ask my companions if they’d mind me seeing how close I can get to the falls.  They just smile and shake their heads at my enthusiasm, so I peel off most of my clothes and start clambering over more fallen logs and boulders, circling the pools edge, as the freezing cold mists surround me, icy waters lapping up against my bare feet rendering them beyond numb.

I reach the cliff and edge my way into the waters, carefully approaching  the main falls into thigh deep water.  I manage to get under one side of the pelting waters, my brain quickly scrambling as the frozen daggers crash down on me.  What a feeling!  Pain and pleasure all intertwined, making it impossible to stay under the waters for long.

I hurry out and back to my friends.  On our way back to the car the Israeli has a brilliant photo idea.  Hardly original, but highly enjoyable.

We get back in the car and drive a little further back into the rolling green mountains, following signs to get to Cascada Leon.   It’s not far and it’s also the only one I could find any solid information about online.  Despite this as we pull up in the shaded parking lot, we’re the only ones there, save for a Chilean man to accept our payment of 2000 CLP each (4 CAD) each, and an extremely friendly black lab who seems thrilled to get some attention.  One of the reasons I love South America perhaps even a little more than Asia is because the dogs here are healthy, friendly, and for the most part, safe to play with.

We enjoy another very short walk along a trail through the forest, and I gasp just from catching scant glimpses of the top of the falls.  There’s a lot of water there.   A lot, a lot.  The suspicion is starting to build in my mind that this set is going to be something special.

I’m not wrong.

As we step out of the forest and around the corner, the full falls are revealed to us.  divided into two jumps, the lower maybe 15 or 20 meters of huge amounts of water crashing down through narrow channels between two huge boulders, the upper falls are even more impressive, plunging about 8 meters in a rushing and fairly wide stream.  In terms of Water volume these are the most impressive falls I’ve seen since San Rafael Falls in Ecuador.

The whole area surrounding the falls is beautiful too, and I quickly take a little side trail out towards the main pool, weaving my way through a through an obstacle course of rocks and logs, balancing precariously as the river rushes below me.  I’m lucky none of the logs give and I make it out for a great view of both falls, drenching myself in the spray and watching Yossi get behind the bottom set of falls.  Sadly, it’s looking like there’s no way up to the base of the massive upper falls, at least not without professional climbing equipment.

Eventually Yossi returns from behind the falls, wet though not soaked and I retreat from my precarious perch, managing not to fall again and ask once more if they mind hanging around while I go check out the back of the falls.  I’m not surprised when their happy to wait around, not only are my antics usually quite entertaining, but this place is truly beautiful, the raw sound of crashing water contradicting the serenity of the scene in the most perfect way imaginable.

I climb over a another labyrinth of slick wet rocks to get behind the falls, still wearing my soon to be soaked clothes, though leaving my bag in the dry haven back with Yossi and Orit.  Behind the falls is  selective madness.  There is a quiet  though damp oasis far enough back from the falls, but as you edge closer over slick rocks you have no choice but to get drenched.  I want to enter the falls from there but the narrow channels through huge sharp looking boulders make this impossible so I’m forced to settle for climbing out onto some of the huge boulders alongside the falls, fully immersed in the spray.

I eventually start to head back towards Yossi and Orit but get distracted halfway there, slipping into the painfully cold waters and swimming out towards the bottom of the lower falls, posing for a few more photos as I go.

After just a few minutes I’m forced out by the cold, wrapping myself up in what few dry clothes I have left before continuing back to my friends.  I spend a few more minutes just soaking in the incredible beauty of this place before heading back to the parking lot with Yossi and Orit where we enjoy a nice picnic lunch alongside our friend the black lab.

Eventually we climb back into the car deciding to continue along the road towards Villarrica national park where the road turns rough.  We press on a little ways but their small car is not designed  for such roads, so after a brief stop alongside the river and a few smaller sections of rapids, we head back the way we’ve come in search of the missing Palguin Falls.

Alas, the search is hopeless and after exploring several side roads, getting the car badly stuck in a huge puddle and having to push it out of the knee deep mud and water, as well as several stops to pick some delicious blackberries we head back to Pucon and the comfort of Refugio hostel.

Before we get there though Yossi slams on the breaks on the main road and pulls over to a truly stunning viewpoint of the Villarrica Volcano, framed by cliffs on either side, tick forest below, and a perfect blue sky above, save for the persistant plumes of smoke sprouting from the volcano’s open caldera and making a trail against the blue.  I’ll let pictures do what word can’t, and I’m sorry that I’ve included too many, just let them wash over you like a cresting wave rushing in towards the beach.

After relaxing for an hour or so I make my near daily pilgrimage to Latitude 39 for a delicious burger (try the grand prix!)  before heading down to the lake where I get lost in a truly beautiful sunset.  It’s a photographer’s dream and as I linger on the rocks above the boardwalk, alternating between capturing the moment and basking in it, a Chilean woman comes up and asks to take my picture for Pucon tourism while chatting to me about the area and Canada alike.  Sorry again for all the photos.  I couldn’t help myself.  (This brings me to an interesting nightmare I had,  In it the volcano erupted rushing towards Pucon, ready to kill us all.  but this wasn’t what made it a nightmare…. as the lava advanced for the life of me I couldn’t get a good picture of it.  Pretty awful.)

As the torn orange red glow fades to dark purple before finally giving way to the back of night, I head back to the hostel, but not before capturing some more photos of the volcano which looms over the city,glowing angry red and even sending up splashes of lava for my eyes.  Pucon is a truly amazing place.