Villarrica Traverse

For five days I tramped through the spectacular Villarrica National Park.

Por cinco dias hice una excursion hasta el Parque Nacional Villarrica.

Day 1: Walking through the forest I met a family of Chileans collecting the fruit (Piñones) of the very unusual looking Araucaria tree or Monkey Puzzle tree in English. They are everywhere on the ground and I was given some to try. The taste is very nutty and are considered a delicacy here.

After 6 hours walking I arrived at the first camp site just as it started raining.

I met my first person tramping the traverse when I had to walk back half an hour to find water. Amanda from the US invited me to drink Mate with her before I headed back to my campsite. Yerba Mate is a herbal tea and  Argentinians are very passionate about it. The tea is drunk through a metal straw (bombilla) from a gourd (mate) and is a drink to be shared around friends involving certain rituals.

By the time we finished the Mate it was dark and misty, which made for an interesting walk back to my campsite At one point I did lose the track and thought I was in for a cold wet night out without the comforts of my tent and sleeping bag. Luckily for me I did manage to navigate my way "home" safely.

Dia 1: Caminaba por el bosque y conocía una familia de chilenos que recogían los Piñones. Habia muchos en el suelo. Me dieron para probar. El sabor es como nuez aquí estaba una delicia. Después de seis horas llegue al campamento, cuando empezé a llover. Encontre la primera persona hizo la traversía cuando volví treinta minutos para encontrar agua. Amanda de Unidos me ofrecío mate después regresé a mi carpa. La caminata de vuelta fue muy interesante porque la noche estaba oscuro, y había mucho niebla y casi me confunde el sendero. Buena suerte y encontré mi carpa.
 

Volcán Villarica (2847m)

Araucaria/Monkey Puzzle tree

Day 2: The weather cleared and the skies were blue once again. I walked around the volcano through the lava fields with great views of the glacier on the northern side of the mountain. I also got my first glimpses of the other two volcanoes in the area Volcan Quetrupillan (2360m) and Volcan Lanin (3747m) which sits right on the border between Chile and Argentina.

Dia 2: Me desperté y el cielo estaba azul.Caminaba alrededor del volcán por el suelo de lava. Había una vista magnifico del glaciar norte de la montaña. También podía ver los otro dos volcanes en la zona, Volcán Quetrupillan (2360m) y Volcán Lanin (3747m), entre la frontera de Chile y Argentina.

 

Lava field

 
I walked another 6 hours to the next campsite at Rio Pichillancahue. Unlike the night before this campsite was situated right beside the river so I had plenty of water.

Today I met a French couple, a Canadian woman and a Chilean man doing the same tramp. So much for the prediction that the park was deserted.

Day 3: From the campsite it was a short walk to a 4WD track. It is Easter time now and there were many Chilean families in the forest collecting the Pinones.

I checked in with the CONAF office situated here as required before setting off on a steep climb out of the valley to the next campsite at the Upper Estero Mocho at the base of Volcan Quetrupillan.

Caminaba otras seis horas hasta el campamento próximo a Rio Pichillancahue al lado del río entonces tenia mucha agua.

Hoy conocía a pareja una de Francia, una mujer de Canada y un hombre chileno que la misma excursión. No es verdad que el parque esta desierto.

Dia 3: Era la Semana Santa y había muchas familias chilenos en el bosque que recogían pinoñes. Conocía la oficina de CONAF quedaba aquí. Después dejé el  valle y subí hasta el campamento próximo: Upper Estero Mocho cerca del Volcán Quetrupillan.
 

 

 

Araucaria/Monkey Puzzle trees

Volcán Villarica

Me with Volcan Quetrupillan and Lanin in the distance

 

 

Volcan Quetrupillan

 

Day 4: Today I set off to climb Volcan Quetrupillan. I was disappointed I could not reach the highest point due to the very unstable rock. But I did get great views of the glacier and the surrounding countryside. From the mountain I took a short cut accros the moraine and lava fields to reach the track and my next campsite at Laguna Blanca (1600m). This place is magical. I was the only person here apart from a couple of guys hooning around the lake on their motor cross bikes and disturbing the peace. Luckily they left after an hour and I was left alone to enjoy the tranquility of this place.

Día 4: Hoy quería subir al Volcán Quetrupillan. Estuve decepcionada porque no podía caminar a la cima porque la roca estaba inestable. Pero el mirador del glaciar y el campo estaba buenísimo. Desde la montaña atravesé el suele morrena y lava entounces encontré el sendero y el campamento próximo a Laguna Blanca (1600m). Esta lugar es mágico. Estaba aquí sola excepto  por dos hombres que andaba en motocicleta por un hora y haciendo mucho ruido.

 

Volcan Quetrupillan

View from Volcan Quetrupillan

Me standing in the moraine and lave field

Laguna Blanca

Day 5: Today I walked past more lava fields and an old volcano crater before dropping back down into the forest. I ate and sunbathed on the sandy beach at Lago Avutardas before walking out to the road end.

Día 5: Caminaba por el suelo de lava y un volcán muy viejo. Después bajé al bosque y el valle. Pare almorzar  y descansar por la playa el Lago Avutardas antes caminaba el fin de sendero.

Lava fields

Relaxing at Lago Avutardas

The tramp ends about 10 km away from the border with Argentina. I easily hitched a ride to the border and walked across into Argentina. This turned out to be a much faster way to get through immigration as there were massive queues of cars going back many kilometres. One man told me he had been waiting 6 hours in the queue to get into Argentina.

El sendero terminaba a 10 km de la frontera de Argentina. Hice dedo hacia la frontera y caminé a Argentina, lo que fue mas rápido que los coches porque la fila estaba muy largo. Un hombre en la fila me dijo “tuve que esperar seis horas aquí para ir a Argentina".

The border

Safely through the border I walked the 2 km to Tromans at the base of Volcan Lanin to camp.

Cuando llegué a Argentina caminé 2 kms a campamento Tromans cerca de Volcán Lanin.