11/11/2019 – Huerquehue, Pucon, Chile

We got up early and packed our things for the days adventure. We had just enough time for some coffee and toast before heading to the bus stop for 08:30. We bought our bus tickets and then boarded. The bus was already full so a few of us had to stand for the hours journey through the winding roads. We got off when we arrived at the Huerquehue national park. We bought our entrance tickets and then we were off. Huerquehue is a 28,000 Acre national park in the foothill of the Andes, with mountains, lakes and a view across to the snow capped volcano. It was absolutely stunning! We spent a good 6 hours hiking up and around the many beautiful lakes. We stopped for lunch on a rock by one of the lakes called laguna verde, and Josh even went for a plunge, which took his breath away. I didn’t brave it, the ground still had patches of snow on it so it was far too cold for me! Josh was walking in his barefoot flip-flops as usual. An Australian guy called Joel noticed Josh’s shoes and started talking to us at the start of the hike and then ended up hanging on to us for the whole day! We saw lakes and mountains and waterfalls and the volcano. The lakes were so pretty! We spotted a couple of tarantulas which made Josh’s day! We waited for the bus at the bus stop for half an hour, pretty exhausted from the 24km up and down hike. We managed to get a seat for the way back, thankfully, and both fell asleep for the hour drive. I was pretty disorientated when we got off the bus! We went with Joel to the empanada place, and some German girls we had spoken to on the trek also joined us. They have just finished school and are on a gap year before they start their medical training. We bumped into Nea and Straughny who had popped out from the hostel to grab some empanadas too. We said our goodbyes to Joel and the girls before heading back to the hostel where the other volunteers were setting up a BBQ. We showered and then went and hung out with the volunteers for the evening.