Blog post for Friday, November 3, 2023

Today after breakfast we walked up to the lookout just above our hotel. It has been a clear day so we had a good view of Volcano Villarrica. Yesterday there was a significant amount of smoke coming out of the top. This morning there was almost no smoke and the snow at the top seemed to have a dusting of ash.

After checking out we drove south to Huilo Hilo Rain Forest Preserve near Volcano Mocho Choshuenco and Panguipulli. Along the drive we had some wonderful volcano and lake views.

After checking in at at Nothofagus Hotel we went for a two mile hike. through the forest to see the nearby waterfall.

We ate in the hotel restaurant.

Blog post for Thursday, 2 November, 2023

Ten percent of the active volcanoes on earth are in Chile. Volcano Villarrica is very near where we are staying in Pucón.

Luckily it didn’t rain today and we had enough blue sky that we were able to see the volcano. We picked out a hike on the slope of the volcano. When we got to the park entrance and talked to the ranger we learned that the storm Monday had left too much snow to hike our chosen hike. So we hiked up from the entrance station about a mile and a half.

After our hike we went into the town of Pucón and had lunch.

Back at our hotel we rested then played cribbage and Rummikub.

We had pizza for dinner at our hotel.

Blog post for Wednesday, November 1, 2023

Today is All Saints’ Day in Chile. We couldn’t find a place open for coffee but we did find a mini mart where we got some pastries and took them back to our dome where we stayed the last two nights. Then we packed up and drove from Futrono to Ni-Newen Lodge near Pucón where we are tonight. Because of All Saints’ Day every cemetery we passed on our drive had cars parked for blocks around and lots of venders selling flowers.

We ate dinner at the lodge

Blog post for Tuesday, October 31, 2023

This morning we went into town to find some coffee. We didn’t really find a coffee shop but we did find a place that served coffee and we got some very good pastries from the bakery across the street.

In the afternoon we decided to do a nearby hike we found on AllTrails. But when we got to the trailhead it turned out to be a nice dirt road in a beautiful valley. It definitely wasn’t a hiking trail. We walked for about three miles mainly on the road.

For dinner we went to a steak house called Restaurante De Pellin y Coigüe. It had a wonderful view of the lake and mountains.

Blog post for Monday October 30

It rained all day today. We found coffee at a park visitor center not too far from Ensenada then drove to Futrono where we are tonight. Last night at Cabañas Ensenada Bosque Nativo we were in a very rustic small geodesic dome. Bonnie and Brian had to get up every two hours to put wood in the wood stove. Our stove was a bit bigger so we only got up a couple of times.

Tonight we are in a lovely new three bedroom dome with a washing machine and an automatic pellet stove. It’s called Domos Futronhue. We tried to find a place for pizza in town but gave up and ended up cooking grocery store pizza in our oven. We played cribbage, rested and read for the rest of the evening. The big downside of the place we are staying is that there is no wifi.