Land of Fire and Ice

After our exertions climbing Quetrupillán volcano, we decided that we needed a bit of a quieter day. We'd been told about a 'secret' waterfall a couple of hours walk from the hostel in Pucón. 'Just go up the road, through the field and climb over the fence. Then walk 150 paces and there's a path down to the right. It's a bit steep. The waterfall's just at the end.' We found the path, then discovered that 'a bit steep' meant climbing down a muddy cliff. 'Just at the end' meant scrambling along a river, jumping between boulders. It was all worth it though - the waterfall was around 80 metres high and we had it all to ourselves.

Leaping along the river towards the waterfall

We've moved on from Pucón now and have spent the last few days in Curacautín. It's a great access point for three national parks - Conguillío, Malalcahuello-Nalvas and Tolhuaca, which are centred around the volcanoes Llaima, Sierra Nevada, Lonquimay and Tolhuaca. Nobody was sure if Tolhucaca was currently open or not, but we made it to both of the others.

Volcanoes Sierra Nevada (left) and Llaima (centre) from Malalcahuello national park

Conguillio contains both Llaima and Sierra Nevada volcanoes. Llaima is the second most active volcano in South America (behind Villarrica), but was fortunately not erupting at the moment. Sierra Nevada is much older, and we hiked to its base, with spectacular views of the double-cratered Llaima all the way. The park is famous for its araucania (monkey puzzle) trees, which make an intriguing frame for photos of the volcano. We also heard, and then saw, several Magellanic woodpeckers hammering away in the forest.

Monkey puzzle trees and Llaima volcano in Conguillío national park

We also went to one of the two sections of the Malalcahuello-Nalvas park, containing Lonquimay volcano, which last erupted in 1988. The steep hike along its flanks took in fantastic views over Conguillio national park and its two volcanoes, before turning around to face Lonquimay itself. The main cone is covered with glassy ice that glistened in the sun. The park is another great place to see monkey puzzle trees, and the terrain alternated between forests and barer sections of rocks and volcanic ash.

Lonquimay volcano in Malalcahuello national park

We've had enough of volcanoes for the minute, so we're heading north towards Talca and its nearby wine region.