April 18th, 2015

My journey to Pucon starts with my last ride on the Chiloe ferry for now, though each one has been interesting, this one beat them all, as we passed not only countless giant jellyfish, their eery incandescent glow lighting the water like the dead marshes from Lord of the Rings. Then more than hallway across there’s suddenly a mad frenzy of sea lions and sea birds leaping and flying low respectively, clearly all enjoying some fish.  Either way it’s a great goodbye from Chiloe.

I head to Puerto Montt and narrowly miss the last bus to Pucon  (Buses JAC 9 am and 5 pm 9,700 CLP) so I spend a night near the bus station at a random little Hospedaje before hopping on the 9 am to Pucon and it’s countless waterfalls.

Before we get to the waterfall… which we will (Oh how we will)  Let’s begin with how my productive time in Pucon began.  Known as Chile’s tourist mecca in the lake region 10 hours south of Santiago, Pucon is a charming little gringo filled village on Lago Villarrica, built in the shadow of the impressive Villarrica volcano, which looked like this just over a month ago.

Needless to say I’m lingering here in hopes of seeing an actual eruption.  Regardless the town has tons to do, as you’ll see in the coming entries and also boasts at least one amazing hostel (el Refugio– tent dorm bed for 6000CLP a great bargain)  and one amazing burger place (Latitude 39 – tied for the best burger I’ve had in South America.)

In fact that’s where our story begins, my second night spent blogging and relaxing in Pucon saw me work up a burger hunger and stop into Latitude 39 where I ran into Rob and Tyler two Canadians I met all the way back in Banos Ecuador.  Ty is just ordering his second burger when the subject of eating comes up.  Turns out their going to all you can eat sushi the next night.  The challenge didn’t need to be made more explicitly.

The next night, come 8 o’clock we’re all headed up the block from the incredible Refugio hostel to a place where dreams come true, Black Forest Sushi.  all you can eat on a fairly wide selection of rolls all for the somewhat reasonable price of 9.950 CLP (20 dollars Canadian)

We settle in and get to eating, Robb and a nice american girl named Allison with us to observe and adjudicate.  4 hard, delicious, and heavy hours later I emerge triumphant, the final tally 84 rolls, to Ty’s 75, Rob managing a respectable 50 and Allison bringing up the rear at 32.  Of course only Ty and I are involved in the competition and so he takes care of my bill and I revel in having just eaten about 100$ of sushi at normal menu price.  84 is much better than my 50 some rolls back in Lima.

After spending the next 36 hours recovering (84 thick rolls is even more than it sounds like) I decide it’s time to work off that Sushi with a trek to a waterfall, something you can find in abundance around Pucon. Taking a hand drawn map from my hostel I walk down to the corner of Palguin and Brasil streets climbing into a number 1 2 or 4 collective and telling him I want to be let down at calabozos the ride takes about 15 minutes and costs only 500 CLP (1 dollar).

The friendly driver lets me off and points me up along a dirt road which I start walking along it.  Pucon’s most famous attraction is hidden entirely by a mass of white clouds, blemishing an otherwise blue sky, hard o imagine mountains disappearing, but its been 4 days in Pucon and I’ve still not seen a glimpse of it’s snowcapped peaks.  I follow the map closely as shown here, taking my first real left, and then my second right, walking past charming Chilean farms and houses, listening to music and enjoying the clean mountain air.

Eventually I reach the first major fork in the road marked by a sign for Lateo El Sol (an apartment complex I think?) I take the right branch and start what is going to be a fairly long ascent into the foothills of the Andes.

The map says I’ll only pass one house on the left, but there’s a couple, one that even has a barrier which you could mistake for your path.  Here’s a good piece of advice, If the fence doesn’t look easy to go over or under, it’s not the right one.

Eventually, sweating quite thoroughly despite the cool air, I get to the house on the left, and take the road to the left climbing over the barrier and looking down at the map shaking my head  I’ve been walking about 90 minutes and by the map I’m not even halfway to the falls.  If I’d been heading anywhere but  supposedly 90 meter set of falls I’d likely have turned back.  (That said if you’re in decent shape and without a blood clot this walk would not be too hard)

Then something wonderful happens, and I realize the map is not to scale as the last half of the main road section passes by in a blissful 20 minutes of strolling through farmland complete with Ibis’ and horses in the shadows of some truly impressive green cliffs, which sadly block out any possible views of the volcano despite the much bluer sky.

I leave the open fields behind and enter the forest finding one more wooden fence to climb over ahead of me.  Before the climb though, I follow the danger signs down to the top of the waterfall, wading into the knee deep stream and crossing it for some dizzying views down into the basin.

I eventually crawl back and climb that wooden barrier keeping my eyes peeled for a path down the pretty steep descent towards the base of the falls.  I find it on the right about 50 meters, just before a fallen tree and head down the narrow, rooted and white brown trail, towards the rush of the falls blaring in the distance.

Along the cliff the path dissolves into countless little game trails and somewhere along the way I lost the trail.  What followed for 20 minutes was a mix of scrambling, climbing, falling, and a little walking.  I manage to make it all limbs intact, though I’ll admit I probably should have turned back and search for the path, at any rate, I reach the bottom of the gorge maybe 200 meters downstream from the falls themselves, sliding the last 20 meters on my bum.

Then, taking off my shoes, I climb up through the shallow chilling waters, over a mix of fallen logs and rocks, until I round a bend in the brook for my first full view of the impressive falls.  Tall and narrow like a supermodel the water tumbles down the cliff face in one single jump, a gentle mist filling the air as it lands in the pool below and bounces back up, cold wind taking it and blowing it towards me.

Heart racing half from the adrenalin of surviving the descent and half from the excitement at the sight of the waterfall I clamber closer, eventually finding an ideal seat at the edge of Claro’s fairly large pool on a huge fallen log, far enough removed from the mist to keep me at least somewhat dry as I let my feet and calves regain feeling, contemplating trying to get into the waterfall despite the terrifying temperature of the water.

A British man from the same county as Bradford arrives after maybe an hour there, the only other sign of tourist life I’ve seen since leaving Pucon.  He snaps a few photos and then is kind enough to stay long enough (like 4 minutes)  As I peel off my clothes and head into the frigid pool, climbing over rocks to avoid having to swim too far.

Eventually I reach the point of no return, the mist drenching me as I edge my way out along the slick rocks, slipping into the water and climbing under the crushing  flows of icy water, a little like frozen  needles driving into me, but in a good way…. if you can understand that.  You probably can’t,  I’m told over and over again that I’m weird about waterfalls.

At any rate, the body can only stand so much and my screaming skin forces me out of the falls before long, climbing out and wishing for feeling in my extremities as It’s hard to navigate the slick rocks without it.  Somehow I manage and the man from England hands me the camera back and then almost immediately hurries back up the hill.  I don’t think it was me, I just think he was looking to tick seeing the waterfall of his list.  He spent all of 8 minutes there before disappearing into the thick forest.

I try to settle back down into my seat once I’m dried off and reclothed but find my bones too frozen to linger long, so, I shoulder my pack and set off up the cliff along the right trail.  it’s not long before I’ve lost it and I’m scrambling up, hacking my way through thick undergrowth and praying the roots which let me pull myself up the slick incline don’t give.

They don’t and I make it, gasping and covered in mud, but very worth it.  The hike, the climb, everything was worth it for this wondrous and isolated waterfall just a few km from Pucon.  If you’re nearby don’t miss it.

I stumble out onto the main road and turn around to see a bunch of kids walking along the road with a football and only then do i see it, my first true glimpse of the volcano that makes Pucon so famous.  A pretty damn beautiful sight.

Once I’m back in town I decide to head down to the the lake for some more incredible Volcano views and believe me Villarica and the town delivered, the lone snowcapped peak looming over the town and leaving me smiling, though a little afraid.

I head back to the wonderful Refugio hostel and wait for night to fall, ducking outside to try to see some lava, picture’s are a challenge in the darkness but I manage these two, which could be worse.

How to Get to Claro Waterfall:

Get a map from hostel Refugio then follow these steps.

1.  Collectivo  number 1, 2, or 4, to Calabozos

2.  Follow the map knowing that the house you leave the main road at looks like this.

3.  Past the house and through the wide open field with views of the cliff you will see some numbers and they may be different than what’s on the map.  The key here is once the path you are on bends to the right, you take another left on a slight road into the forest BEFORE crossing the main road again.

4.  Climb over the wooden fence and look for a path down on the right about 80 meters past the fence.

5.  Get to the bottom and enjoy the waterfall!