Pucón, in Chile’s Lake district, comes pretty close to what an Austrian ski resort looks like—just without winter sports facilities, and with a snow-topped volcano.
Our hostel host over-ambitiously gave us an enthusiastic pep talk about what to do in Pucón. His top recommendations: volcano hike, hydrospeed boating, horseback riding. Our choice: the “hangover” hike to a nearby waterfall, because (a) the volcano tours were fully booked (and later got cancelled anyway), (b) we preferred not get soaking wet in cold water, and (c) we’re not into horses. It seemed that our host was somewhat disappointed, but then again, we had nothing to prove. And feeling knocked out after a night bus ride counts as a hangover, so the waterfall hike was perfectly appropriate for us. On our way back, we got a ride by a local on his pick-up, which helped us get back to our hostel just before Happy Hour ended.
