After having tasted some fine Chilean wines, we headed further south to Pucon, in an 8 hour bus ride with no air-conditioning. Pucon is a cute little town on the edge of a lake and at the foot of an active cone-shaped volcano, like Kilimanjaro or Fuji or mount Doom. It's quite strange to see the smoke come out of the top, and to be aware that we are right near a potential natural disaster whilst pretending that it's not a worrying thing at all. There are green, amber and red lights outside the tourism office, indicating the volcano's level of activity, plus maps of secure zones to go to in the event of an eruption. Also, sirens are tested on a regular basis, but always at different times it seemed, so I never knew if it was a test or time to panic. I said Pucon is cute, but it doesn't really feel like Chile. More like Germany or Switzerland. There are streets called Holzapfel and Otto Gudenschwager, which don't sound very Chilean, I'm sure you'll agree. It's more expensive than Santiago, much cleaner and almost civilised. Cars stop at pedestrian crossings and I saw a kid pick up litter from the pavement. The houses are wooden chalets (though here they call them condos), which is weird because I don't see how that would resist lava flow.
Photos Chili
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Vidéos Chili
Carte Chili
Guide de voyage Chili
Santé Chili
Billets d'avion Chili
