Pucon,
Chile (1-3
February 2016)
Pucon is very relaxed and is quite beautiful.
It is home to ~20,000 people swelling to substantially more with tourists. The main reason for visiting, apart from the beautiful
lakes district itself, is the active Villarrica Volcano. Also a bit of a shock to
the system as it’s over 30 degrees when we arrive and an absolutely gorgeous
and stunning day. From the deck of our accommodation we got our first
view of the Volcano in all its glory. We were told that it had been putting on
a show from the top the night before but the smoke coming from it was still
clearly obvious (and remained that way during our stay). The Volcano last erupted in March 2015 – a 30
minute eruption that caused damage mainly through the lahars that resulted and
changed the top face somewhat. It has
only just recently reopened, late 2015.
After chilling out the first day we headed Lake Villarrica where the masses were making the very most of the sunshine. What a symphony of colour - we had a quick swim and knowing we had booked a Volcano trek for the following day we were already right at home.
The trek started with a 5.15am wake up call,
then going to get decked out in trekking shoes (for ice), pants, jackets and
gators. Thankfully we got a bit of a head start commencing at 1482m and taking
the chair lift to 1882m (arriving 8.35am).
From there it was a trek to the summit, yes
where the smoking crater is live, at 2847m – with a fully laden backpack – as well
as the clothing we already had we then included an extra layer for warmth,
water, lunch, power snacks, crampons, gas mask, 2 x gloves, plastic seat and
protective pant layer.
 |
| 1/3 of the way up |
The trek was pretty tough on loose rock,
scoria, snow and ice and was super steep but also really amazing and
beautiful.
 |
| Half way up |
We arrived at the top at 12 noon and spent 30
minutes taking in the stunning views and listening to the volcano’s angry
sounds deep down in the crater. No lava
to be seen (although there had been a couple of days prior) but lots of
grumbling noises and steam to prove the point that this is no sleeping giant. Amazing to think we were walking on the 10
month old scoria formations created by the March eruption.
 |
| At the top |
 |
| Looking back down |
We started our 2 hour descent at 12.30pm via
the super cool snow slide that’s been created by many trekkers before us. It’s like a luge at the top and where it’s
steep you just sit on your pant protectors and where it’s not so steep you sit
on the plastic seat to speed up the ride.
Your ice pick acts as a brake if required. So much fun and about
900-1000m vertical drop of downhill slide.
Apart from the views the walk up was worth it
just to do the slide down! 11 hours
after we got up, we made it home again.
A treat in the evening, if you’re lucky, is the red glow coming from the
top of the volcano – makes for a pretty special view as the sun starts to
slowly disappear.
Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil (City population 6.5m, Regional population 12.5m) (4-11 February 2016)
Welcome to the biggest party in the world! Carnaval kicked off about the time we arrived
and it is literally one massive party that finished on the 9th
February. Millions of people partake in
street parades, blocos (block parties) and just general parties anywhere in
public. Main roads are closed, lots of
amazing costumes and lots of frivolity and alcohol included. It’s been an amazing time to be here and
witness the celebrations.
We made it to the Sambadrome twice for the official Samba school parade/competitions
which start around 10pm on a given day and finish anywhere between 4 and 6am
the following day. On the Sunday we
lasted until 4.30am finally getting home an hour after that.
The two nights we attended were quite different – first the smaller
neighbourhood schools which are fantastic however much more modest in
comparison to the second parade which effectively is the semi-finals and made
up of schools with thousands of participants and a huge amount of money, which
is evident in the size, makeup and extent of their costumes and floats. Lots of happiness, singing, dancing and
general good feeling.
Rio isn’t all about the party and we managed to do a few things whilst
we have been here. Christ the Redeemer
at the top of the Corcavado mountain is a wonder. Sitting 700m above the city the statue is 30m
tall, not including the 8m tall pedestal, and 28m wide. It was opened in 1931 after taking 9 years to
complete and is listed as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
Escaderia Selaron (or Selaron Steps) in Lapa. These are Rio’s most famous stairs and all 215
of them are tiled from top to bottom (and sides) with over 2000 tiles from 60 countries
in mosaic style – they are quite beautiful and a very popular spot.
The Sugar Rock and the cable car provide another unique view of the
city at 396m. You change cable cars just
over half way at 215m and the views from both spots are pretty special. Rio is quite unique with its rock formations
and pockets of life built in around them.
Of course there are the amazing beaches and a lagoon also thrown in to
make the views pretty spectacular. The other special outing from Sugar Rock was
a helicopter ride – it was a beautiful day and the temptation was too much so
we did a 10-12 minute ride over Copacabana, the city, Corcovado and Sugar
Rock. This city is quite simply
stunning.
Our last excursion, apart from walking miles around Copacabana and
Ipanema, was a visit to Santa Teresa and one of the 2000 odd Favelas. Santa Teresa sits on a hill (no surprises
there) and is filled with cobbled streets and aging mansions. The Favela we visited
was Rocinha and this is certainly how the other half live. Rocinha is home to ~200,000 people and the
area is up on the hill behind the city (as Favelas usually are). It’s very simple and there is clearly not a
lot of money to spend although everyone is happy. Renting here costs around 1,200 Real per month
(NZ $465) and a basic wage is around 800 Real resulting in multiple
families/adults living in the same house.
 |
| Saint Teresa |
 |
| Favela (here and below) |
We made it out to sunset point a couple of times (Ponta do Arpoador)
and got some very pretty sunsets. The
second visit coincided with a reunion of 3 couples (+ us) from our Antarctic
voyage (Lucy & Simon, Ed & Joanne and AJ & Ang) after which we had
a really nice dinner and lots of catching up.
The rest of our time was literally spent wandering the city,
restaurants, supermarkets, people watching, planning our next steps and of
course Copacabana beach. Copacabana
beach is 4.5km long and is made up of beautiful white sands and thousands of
beach chairs, people and umbrellas.
Best moment – Helicopter ride over the city
Worst moment – Getting in a cab with a non-English speaking driving and
doing a lap of the city, effectively seeing nothing and costing us NZ $42
Most special – Sunset at Ponta do Arpoador
Most surprising –
Getting stuck on a small cobbled street in a cab whilst a street Carnaval parade
took place
The trip is getting better! I thought I read news that Rio carnival was going to be cancelled, but obviously they went ahead. Thank goodness. Looks like a good beer drinking weather.
ReplyDelete