Pucon
Monday, August 10th, 2009There is an early morning bus to Pucon which was my alternative to the boat for traversing the international frontier, it was my only choice. At 6 am I boarded a bus in complete darkness. The Border crossing was funny enough. We arrived there right at the break of dawn which was perfect timing as the border itself is set in the shadow of a rather perfect and beautifully snow clad volcano. Like every border crossing there are forms to fill out, pretty much to see if you have either the ebola virus or a kilo of cocaine with you. I had neither on this occasion, but what I did have was a Tupperware container full to the brim of Yerba, which is the raw material for making Mate and looks for all intents and purposes like marijuana.I played with the idea of flushing it town the toilet, of just hiding it and hoping its not detected or just openingly declaring the weed doppelganger and hoping for the best. I chose for the latter and sheepishly carried my mochilla up to the border guard who was a rather jolly looking lady surrounded by more ominous individuals with some rather impressive weaponry. Immediately she asked about the mate. I took it out, handed it over all sweaty palmed I had all the look of a drug mule. She opened the lid and sniffed, the guys either side of her seemed to grip their weapons a little more firmly, she smiled and handed it back and pointed to my bag ‘solo ropas’ only clothes, I nodded and she gave me a welcome to chile gesture. PhewBack on the bus it was a relatively short spin down the road to Pucon. I got off the bus in what seemed like a nothing town, first impressions on this occasion were bang on. The town is famous for its treks up the local volcano and other adventure related sporting type activities which normally I would be keen to check out but on this occasion I was more interested in getting over the pesky cold that I had picked up in Bariloche.The sickness peaked in pucon which made my stay there a thoroughly miserable one. Headaches, sore throat, shakes, blocked nose…. I was convinced i had the bloody swine flu. Come to think of it its highly possible that I did have the feckin thing. Anyways it meant that bar the odd excursion to find the makings of some barley soup and some medication to make life liveable I did sweet feck all in pucon except hangout with a couple of cool irish couples and a crazy german with an impressive catalogue of funny youtube videos.
Phil Gill