In the morning, we have our early breakfast before going to the bus terminal.
Due to the location of this hostel, there is an way without any deep ascent to the station.
If you walk from the plaza, there wiil be a long deep ascent before the station.
For about 20 minutes, we arrive at the Tur-Bus terminal easily.
The bus to Pucon takes about six hours.
Sometimes, it's interesting to observe the surrounding while the bus stops at other station during the trip.
Just like the coffee vendor in the crowd, the hard working is repectable.
While arriving at Pucon, the condition of the bus terminal is the same as Puerto Varas, but in the JAC terminal, the buses are all JAC Bus.
Because my study in advance, the hostel El Refugio I chose is quite close to the JAC bus terminal.
If you are confused with the direction, just ask the local with the name "El Refugio" in Spanish.
El Refugio is a small woodhouse with a big sleepy dog that may come to you if you have food.
The living is not big but always full of guests playing their Pads or cellphones.
On the board, there are many tours which the staff could contact for you.
Among these activities, the Volcano tour to Villrrica volcano is the most popular.
Villarrica volcano is one of the most active volcano in Chile and has the active lava lake within the crater.
Besides, the snow and glacier permently cover the top part of the volcano, and the volcano is also good for skiing in the winter.
It's said that it's interesting to slide down the volcano from the top.
I think the helicopter tour would be great but I don't find any information about it.
As for others, Geometricas hot spring is recommended by other tourists.
There are two places for the hot spring in Pucon area. With the basic facilities, the two hot springs are also popular.
Unfortunately, the rain seems contine for a few days from the day we arrived. It's impossible to hike the volcano.
Maybe we should change our itinerary right now, but I don't want to come back to Santiago so early.
The weather in Santiago is too hot for me and the attractions are not enough for six days.
If we go southward, it's also raining around the Lake district and the time is not enough as well.
Therefore, we still stay at Pucon choosing other alternative activities for the next two days.
In the rainy afternoon, we walk for the attractions around the town.
By the way, today is also the Chinese New Year, so cooking a good meal is also an important thing on the list.
Outside the hostel, the vendor sells the vegetables. We buy a bag of tomatoes and chili for only 1000 pesos.
Pucon is a town much bigger than Puerto Varas and Frutillar, and so is the number of the toruists.
It's said that Pucon is a very popular place for vacation for both the foreigners and locals.
We walk along the main street westward. In the half way,we find a statue of Christ far away on the hilltop.
While passing a park, it's interesting that the small eagle stops at the treetop "In The Town".
Though birds are not rare in the human comminity, I've never seen the eagle before.
On the hilltop behide the cementery, the wooden Christ is acommpanied with two kids.
Though the cementery is not so attractive as the cementery in Punta Arenas, you could get a view of the whole town.
If the weather is sunny, it would be nice. In a cloudy day, the scene is boring.
Walking toward the lake, the northwest side is parked with lots of water bikes and sailboats.
As for the north side, the beach is crowded with tourists even it's a cloudy day.
No doubt, the scenery is not nice therefore we don't stay here for long.
Except the lake, a wide area of the streets nexrby is full of hotels, restaurants and shops.
I'm not interested in any of them and we go to the supermarket for the food tonight.
Our New Year's dinner is the steak, vegetables, soup, fruit and wine.
The peach and blue berry are delicious and cheap in Chile.
I feel quite sleepy after drinking only a cup of the wine.
The next morning, the rain doesn't stop. It's sad.
We adopt one of the alternative activities and catch the Caburgua minibus at 8:30 to Huerquehue National Park.
Bus driver will collect the fee on the bus. It costs 3600 pesos for a round trip.
Remember to get your tickets if the driver is busy.
Because the bus schedule may change, it's recommended to check the newest schdule in the kiosk of the Caburgua terminal.
The time to the national park is one hour and then you have to pay the park fee, 4500 pesos, in the office. (The guided map is available)
In fact, you could spent a few days hiking in this national park.
If you want to take a easy hiking in a day, there is only one route.
During this route, there are miradors, cascades and lakes.
The nature here is different from Torres del Paine or El Chalte.
Except for the trees, bamboos are a lot.
In the rain, walking is still fine with an umbrella. I think the raincoat might let you feel too hot.
After all, the weather is not cold as the south.
Hiking along the route is easy and it's the first time that I see bigs and chickens in Chile.
These animals are not so common as the cows or sheeps.
According the map, the first attaction we will see is the Cascada Nido de Aguila.
I think this cascade is not so surprising to me.
In Iceland, I've many big waterfulls. Besdies, the Iguazu waterfull should be the most expected one in South America.
As for the miradors along this route, the view of the lake is unclear beacuse of the rain and fog.
While passing Laguna Chico, there is a circle around two lakes.
The mud is quite annoying and slippery so we could not walk too fast in the consideration of our cameras.
In order to save the time, we go to the right first to watch Laguna Toro, and then come back to the left for Laguna Verde.
Of course, if your speed is fast, you could walk the whole circle in any direction, or even go further and the come back to the circle.
Watching the scenery of trees and lakes, I suddently feel that this place is a little similar to Ali Mountain in Taiwan though the trees in Ali Mountain are mich older.
It's a pity that the weather is bad, otherwises, the scene should be good.
Returning to the hostel around 7 p.m, I cook the spicy curry-flavoured chicken spaetti.
The loca chili is quite suitable for this dish with the base of onions and carrots.
I like the spicy food very much, therefore, I bring the black paper and the curry powder from home.
Even though the taste is not the real curry, I'm satisfied when I travel aboard.
No doubt that our third day in Pucon is still a raining day.
Originally, I prefer to go to the hot spring in the morning.
However, the information told by the staff is wrong and I could not catch the bus.
Therefore we don't anything but just keep absent-minded for a day.
Wathcing the weather forecast on the board, the only sunny day is the Wednesday that is the finally day for Shan to leave Chile.
From another perspective, we're already lucky for most of the journey.
Resting in a cool rainy day is not so bad as an option during the long journey.
In the afternoon, Shan look around aimless in the town and I only walk along the main street before buying the ingredients for the dinner.
While we share the Queso as Shan comes back, the black dog is looking at Shan for a long time.
I really think the Queso is a very representative food of Chile.
The price is not expensive and the fill is various such as mince, cheese, king crab and etc.
In Taiwan, I also know a restaurant that sells the tasty Queso.
Of course, the most impressive Queso is still the Centolla Queso in Punta Arenas.
After all, the king crab is very expensive in Taiwan.
Since the time is too long until we take the night bus to Santiago, I try my first dish with the red wine remained.
The method might not be tradtional for I used to cook by my intuition.
First, stir-fry the cut onion with the samll fire. As the onion becomes soft, put the red wine.
In the meanwhile, pan-fry the cubed beef that is soaked in the red wine with black pepper in advance.
While the beef medium, put the beef and sweet pepper into the source.
Finally, in order to balance the sour of the red wine, I put some ketchup.
If there is a beef soup and I could cook this dish for a long time, I think the taste would be diferent.
Anyway, the dish is still fine as my first try.
In the evening, we're ready for taking the night bus to Santiago.
Shan says that the night bus in Chile is much better that Argentina with the similar price.
I also wonder how luxury the best beat will be.
The semi-cama seat is not so comfortable for me unless I have the seat in the first row.
That's also why I choose the expensive but comfortable seat in the first deck.
Torrow, we will return to the hot Santiago for the last part of the journey.
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