So it was not all doom and gloom. While I sliced up my body a bit on the first day, the night was great and although I woke up in pain with my legs the next day, I still had a great time.
The night before, we had disagreed on what we wanted to do with the day and so we parted ways. Me, the Guatemalan and Mr. Worldwide decided we wanted to go visit the brewery of our favorite brand of beer in Chile, Kuntsmann, which is actually located in a different city, Valdivia, so we kind of wanted to explore as well. The others decided they did not want to travel to a different city just for beer, so they went on a trek in Pucón on a trail called El Santuario (The Sanctuary). Although I did not get to go, my friends could not recommend it highly enough. It was a very challenging, yet rewarding trek with many species of animal and plant to be seen on the way, and the pictures they had were fantastic.
The Brewery
There is an interesting story behind Kuntsmann. You are probably thinking that it does not sound Spanish, and you would be right. The company is actually owned by a German family who moved to Chile over half a century ago and started brewing beer as a hobby in their own home. At the time, Anwandter, another German beer, was being brewed in Valdivia. When the city suffered from a terrible earthquake in 1960, the main brewery collapsed and was completely out of use. This gave the family a chance to start brewing their own for profit. It was in 1997 when the beer was first sold to the public, and it now exports to several countries including Germany and Brazil.
Due to roadworks, the bus journey which should have been about 90 minutes, took about 3 hours. The roads in Chile are pretty awful the further south you get. Due to the narrowness of the country, there is not much space for main roads and so if one road like the one we took was under construction, then you will most likely be stuck. After 3 hours, we did arrive, and the city looked very nice and developed. However, we did not have much time to explore, so as soon as we got off the bus, we ran to find a “micro” the Chilean-Spanish word for “local bus”, that would take us to the brewery.
Fortunately, the micro dropped us off right outside of where we needed to be. Now, I have never been on a factory tour in the past or anything of the sort, so I did not know what to expect visiting a brewery. In my head, I thought that it would actually be quite dull, that we would be walking through a bit of a drab factory and there would not actually be much to see or do.
I was genuinely surprised. When we arrived, the first thing we saw was the luscious garden outside the brewery. Apparently, the malt seeds they use in certain types of their beer are grown on site. The plants were surrounded by a gentle stream of water being released from an elegant, triple tiered fountain. Fortunately the weather was great and the sun reflected perfectly off the water giving it a very clear, crystal look. The quality in the air was also different. I am accustomed to terrible air quality living in the smog-filled city that is Santiago, but arriving here, it felt so fresh and I was grateful to have it bless my skin.
The night before, we had disagreed on what we wanted to do with the day and so we parted ways. Me, the Guatemalan and Mr. Worldwide decided we wanted to go visit the brewery of our favorite brand of beer in Chile, Kuntsmann, which is actually located in a different city, Valdivia, so we kind of wanted to explore as well. The others decided they did not want to travel to a different city just for beer, so they went on a trek in Pucón on a trail called El Santuario (The Sanctuary). Although I did not get to go, my friends could not recommend it highly enough. It was a very challenging, yet rewarding trek with many species of animal and plant to be seen on the way, and the pictures they had were fantastic.
The Brewery
There is an interesting story behind Kuntsmann. You are probably thinking that it does not sound Spanish, and you would be right. The company is actually owned by a German family who moved to Chile over half a century ago and started brewing beer as a hobby in their own home. At the time, Anwandter, another German beer, was being brewed in Valdivia. When the city suffered from a terrible earthquake in 1960, the main brewery collapsed and was completely out of use. This gave the family a chance to start brewing their own for profit. It was in 1997 when the beer was first sold to the public, and it now exports to several countries including Germany and Brazil.
Due to roadworks, the bus journey which should have been about 90 minutes, took about 3 hours. The roads in Chile are pretty awful the further south you get. Due to the narrowness of the country, there is not much space for main roads and so if one road like the one we took was under construction, then you will most likely be stuck. After 3 hours, we did arrive, and the city looked very nice and developed. However, we did not have much time to explore, so as soon as we got off the bus, we ran to find a “micro” the Chilean-Spanish word for “local bus”, that would take us to the brewery.
Fortunately, the micro dropped us off right outside of where we needed to be. Now, I have never been on a factory tour in the past or anything of the sort, so I did not know what to expect visiting a brewery. In my head, I thought that it would actually be quite dull, that we would be walking through a bit of a drab factory and there would not actually be much to see or do.
I was genuinely surprised. When we arrived, the first thing we saw was the luscious garden outside the brewery. Apparently, the malt seeds they use in certain types of their beer are grown on site. The plants were surrounded by a gentle stream of water being released from an elegant, triple tiered fountain. Fortunately the weather was great and the sun reflected perfectly off the water giving it a very clear, crystal look. The quality in the air was also different. I am accustomed to terrible air quality living in the smog-filled city that is Santiago, but arriving here, it felt so fresh and I was grateful to have it bless my skin.
Pure Water Flowing Down from the Mountains of Valdivia
So we went inside the actual brewery to buy our tickets for a tour, the price of which, at £6, was not too bad. To get to the reception, you had to walk past a statue of Santa, a weird reminder that it was Christmas time in the middle of summer, and a restaurant full of succulent smells of meats cooked in the Kuntsmann beer.
At the beginning of the tour, we were ushered into a narrow room surrounded with glass cases filled with memorabilia documenting the past 50 years of history of both Kuntsmann and Anwandter as well as the families who created them. It was a great, respectful touch including Anwandter as it is undisputably the brand that brought German culture to Valdivia.
After this, we were taken into the first part of the brewery itself, to see the yield of the malt plants and get a taste for each of the different types. There were 2 types of the seed: caramel and toasted, both of which tasted great. This was before seeing the giant vat into which the freshest batch of beer had been poured and we were given a free pint, or “schopp” as they are called here, and we got to keep the glass as a gift. The glasses had been sitting in a sealed ice canister, so they were at the perfect temperature to enjoy the beer on what was an extremely hot day. Our guide told us the trick to pouring the perfect beer, which as most of you probably know, is to tilt the glass at a 45 degree angle so as to avoid a buildup of foam.
At the beginning of the tour, we were ushered into a narrow room surrounded with glass cases filled with memorabilia documenting the past 50 years of history of both Kuntsmann and Anwandter as well as the families who created them. It was a great, respectful touch including Anwandter as it is undisputably the brand that brought German culture to Valdivia.
After this, we were taken into the first part of the brewery itself, to see the yield of the malt plants and get a taste for each of the different types. There were 2 types of the seed: caramel and toasted, both of which tasted great. This was before seeing the giant vat into which the freshest batch of beer had been poured and we were given a free pint, or “schopp” as they are called here, and we got to keep the glass as a gift. The glasses had been sitting in a sealed ice canister, so they were at the perfect temperature to enjoy the beer on what was an extremely hot day. Our guide told us the trick to pouring the perfect beer, which as most of you probably know, is to tilt the glass at a 45 degree angle so as to avoid a buildup of foam.
Next, we were ushered into another museum part which showed Kuntsmann’s impact on the local area. Each year, the company holds a Bierfest in Valdivia to celebrate its german heritage. The festival is always host to a competition for the fastest person to down a litre, with the same man having won for 4 years running with a record of 2.2 seconds. How is that even possible? As a prize, the lucky guy gets free Kuntsmann products for a year. 4 years without paying for beer must be pretty great.
To top off what had been a great day, despite the annoyingly long bus ride, we each decided to buy a t-shirt as a bit of memorabilia. It was actually quite nice and I still wear it. Me and the guatemalan bought the same one, and it was quite funny when about 3 days later, we passed each other in the street wearing the exact same thing, eager to show off we had been to the brewery. We also decided to sit down and order a rocket, which is basically a giant tube of beer with about 9 pints. After paying his share, Mr. Worldwide decided he did not want to drink, so it was up to me and the guatemalan to finish the job. It was a sweet, honey flavoured type and it went down pretty well along with the giant burgers we had all ordered.
On the bus ride back to the hostel in Pucón, one thing was worrying me. Earlier that day, we had signed ourselves up to do a trek and climb to the top of the Villarica Volcano, meaning we would be getting up at 5am the following morning to do it. On the bus back, I realised that my legs were still in a lot of pain from the accident and I was concerned something would go wrong during the trek.
The Volcano Trek
So we ended up paying about £45 each to slug ourselves out of bed at 5am to go and climb a volcano. Sounds exciting right? Well, at that time in the morning, it really is not. My legs were still in a bit of pain, but since I had already paid the money to climb the volcano, I thought I would give it my best shot, even if I did not reach the top.
We arrived at the volcano around 6:30am. After about 12pm, they close the trail because of the combination of the sun and the altitude being very difficult to handle.
When we arrived, it seemed extremely daunting and I wondered how the heck I was going to manage. The guide handed us our equipment for the day which included some very thick clothing, sun goggles, snowshoes and a pickaxe. The volcano is covered in layers of snow and ice, making it very difficult to walk on. I had never seen so much snow in my life, and so I was looking forward to starting the climb.
To top off what had been a great day, despite the annoyingly long bus ride, we each decided to buy a t-shirt as a bit of memorabilia. It was actually quite nice and I still wear it. Me and the guatemalan bought the same one, and it was quite funny when about 3 days later, we passed each other in the street wearing the exact same thing, eager to show off we had been to the brewery. We also decided to sit down and order a rocket, which is basically a giant tube of beer with about 9 pints. After paying his share, Mr. Worldwide decided he did not want to drink, so it was up to me and the guatemalan to finish the job. It was a sweet, honey flavoured type and it went down pretty well along with the giant burgers we had all ordered.
On the bus ride back to the hostel in Pucón, one thing was worrying me. Earlier that day, we had signed ourselves up to do a trek and climb to the top of the Villarica Volcano, meaning we would be getting up at 5am the following morning to do it. On the bus back, I realised that my legs were still in a lot of pain from the accident and I was concerned something would go wrong during the trek.
The Volcano Trek
So we ended up paying about £45 each to slug ourselves out of bed at 5am to go and climb a volcano. Sounds exciting right? Well, at that time in the morning, it really is not. My legs were still in a bit of pain, but since I had already paid the money to climb the volcano, I thought I would give it my best shot, even if I did not reach the top.
We arrived at the volcano around 6:30am. After about 12pm, they close the trail because of the combination of the sun and the altitude being very difficult to handle.
When we arrived, it seemed extremely daunting and I wondered how the heck I was going to manage. The guide handed us our equipment for the day which included some very thick clothing, sun goggles, snowshoes and a pickaxe. The volcano is covered in layers of snow and ice, making it very difficult to walk on. I had never seen so much snow in my life, and so I was looking forward to starting the climb.
The Trek Has Just Begun
The walk takes about 4 hours. Without breaks it could be a lot less but because of the rapid altitude change given the steepness of the trail, breaks were a common thing every 30 minutes. I use the term trail very loosely, because there was no clear-cut path. Instead, we followed in a zigzag pattern the footsteps of all the other people who had attempted this trek up the lonely mountain. Given how the snow slides down fairly easily, the footprint marks get covered up often, so it was important for the guide to go first. The footprint marks provided the only flat surface for the whole entire duration of the trek.
The next few hours went like this; stab the pickaxe into higher ground roughly 2 steps ahead to keep balance; very slowly proceed to take 2 steps forward; struggle to keep balance as the ice is too slippery; pull the pickaxe out of the snow and rinse and repeat. Surprisingly, my legs did not hurt at this point. I think it was because just about everything else did too because of the snowburn. It acted as a sort of natural pain-number.
I actually kept up with the group the whole time. The volcano claimed 2 people from my group about halfway up as they were too exhausted to carry on. The only friend of mine to fall behind was Pedro, the Brazilian guy, but luckily, he still made it to the top, even if it was about 10 minutes after the rest of us.
The view from the top was incredible. We could see the peaks of several other mountains in the area, some which rose even higher, and we could even see over the Argentine border. Although I was not allowed to go too close to the crater, I got a good view and saw the icy insides. We spent enough time up here to take some awesome pictures with our axes and to eat our lunch, although I realized I had forgotten mine so I had to “borrow” some of my friend’s sandwiches. One of the pictures would eventually give me the nickname, Fix It Furlong which is better than my other nicknames to be fair.
The next few hours went like this; stab the pickaxe into higher ground roughly 2 steps ahead to keep balance; very slowly proceed to take 2 steps forward; struggle to keep balance as the ice is too slippery; pull the pickaxe out of the snow and rinse and repeat. Surprisingly, my legs did not hurt at this point. I think it was because just about everything else did too because of the snowburn. It acted as a sort of natural pain-number.
I actually kept up with the group the whole time. The volcano claimed 2 people from my group about halfway up as they were too exhausted to carry on. The only friend of mine to fall behind was Pedro, the Brazilian guy, but luckily, he still made it to the top, even if it was about 10 minutes after the rest of us.
The view from the top was incredible. We could see the peaks of several other mountains in the area, some which rose even higher, and we could even see over the Argentine border. Although I was not allowed to go too close to the crater, I got a good view and saw the icy insides. We spent enough time up here to take some awesome pictures with our axes and to eat our lunch, although I realized I had forgotten mine so I had to “borrow” some of my friend’s sandwiches. One of the pictures would eventually give me the nickname, Fix It Furlong which is better than my other nicknames to be fair.
Now to get down the volcano, you do not walk. It only actually takes about 30 minutes to get down to the bottom, because you are given these plastic surfaces which you sit on to slide all the way down. This is how the people who are too exhausted to continue walking get back to the start so quickly too.
This was one of the scariest but incredible experiences in my life. The guide explained to us that to slow down we would have to dig our axes with a lot of strength behind us into the snow. He also told us not to panic, and to keep our legs straight and slightly elevated. It was because of this advice that of course, to slow myself down I waved my arms and legs frantically and used my hands to dig into the snow, put my feet on the ground to reduce momentum...basically I acted like a loony. It worked, although not so well, and eventually I got the hang of it. One girl had a lot of trouble adjusting and slid so far as to almost go off the side of the volcano.
Now, I bet you are wanting me to get to the part about the volcano eruption. Well, I could tell you that I was panicking like crazy because the volcano had just erupted behind me. It was a race for life, with steaming hot lava flowing fast down the mountain, chasing me as fast as an angry dog. I had to go as fast as possible, reaching the bottom of the mountain without stopping. One of my snow shoes came off, but fortunately that was the only casualty of the descent. However, despite how awesome and adrenaline-fueled that sounds, it would be a lie.
It turns out that a few months later, that very same volcano actually did erupt. This was the first time the volcano had erupted since 1971. 3,385 people had to be evacuated within a 10km parameter because there was a chance of the volcano erupting again. I count myself lucky to have gone in December. It is quite strange thinking I climbed one of the most active volcanoes in Chile, just two months before it would erupt.
Lazy Day and Waterfalls
We got back from the volcano around 3pm. I was very proud for having made it to the top, but also very tired. The pain had not gone, but we had all made it back in one piece. We were exhausted from having woken up so early and worked so hard, so we decided to have a lazy day chilling around the hostel.
The only eventful thing to happen later that day was when the hostel owner brought over her little girl again, who thought it would be a great idea to pull her cat’s tail. When the cat hissed, the girl was having none of it, and she full on two-handedly pushed the cat off of the sofa. Although we all felt sorry for the cat, we could not help but laugh at the girls’ Sweet Brown-like attitude.
The next day, the girls left, and so did Pedro, who would continue travelling further down south. Me, Mr. Worldwide and the guatemalan decided to go to the national park given we had spent too much money. We were all still very tired, but we worked through it to make the most of our limited time.
Surprisingly, it was quite a spectacular park. Beautiful lagoons, gigantic waterfalls, clear water and so much greenery...the beauty of the place was quite astounding. We visited everything we could within our limited time frame because the bus back to Santiago would leave that very same evening. My favourite memory of the day was when we diverted from the trail to go towards a still lake. The sun was making us exhausted, so we took off our trainers and climbed onto a fallen tree suspended over the lake. We must have spent about an hour just dipping our feet in the cold water and chatting. It was a great, relaxing way to top off what had been a very tiring and tolling weekend.
This was one of the scariest but incredible experiences in my life. The guide explained to us that to slow down we would have to dig our axes with a lot of strength behind us into the snow. He also told us not to panic, and to keep our legs straight and slightly elevated. It was because of this advice that of course, to slow myself down I waved my arms and legs frantically and used my hands to dig into the snow, put my feet on the ground to reduce momentum...basically I acted like a loony. It worked, although not so well, and eventually I got the hang of it. One girl had a lot of trouble adjusting and slid so far as to almost go off the side of the volcano.
Now, I bet you are wanting me to get to the part about the volcano eruption. Well, I could tell you that I was panicking like crazy because the volcano had just erupted behind me. It was a race for life, with steaming hot lava flowing fast down the mountain, chasing me as fast as an angry dog. I had to go as fast as possible, reaching the bottom of the mountain without stopping. One of my snow shoes came off, but fortunately that was the only casualty of the descent. However, despite how awesome and adrenaline-fueled that sounds, it would be a lie.
It turns out that a few months later, that very same volcano actually did erupt. This was the first time the volcano had erupted since 1971. 3,385 people had to be evacuated within a 10km parameter because there was a chance of the volcano erupting again. I count myself lucky to have gone in December. It is quite strange thinking I climbed one of the most active volcanoes in Chile, just two months before it would erupt.
Lazy Day and Waterfalls
We got back from the volcano around 3pm. I was very proud for having made it to the top, but also very tired. The pain had not gone, but we had all made it back in one piece. We were exhausted from having woken up so early and worked so hard, so we decided to have a lazy day chilling around the hostel.
The only eventful thing to happen later that day was when the hostel owner brought over her little girl again, who thought it would be a great idea to pull her cat’s tail. When the cat hissed, the girl was having none of it, and she full on two-handedly pushed the cat off of the sofa. Although we all felt sorry for the cat, we could not help but laugh at the girls’ Sweet Brown-like attitude.
The next day, the girls left, and so did Pedro, who would continue travelling further down south. Me, Mr. Worldwide and the guatemalan decided to go to the national park given we had spent too much money. We were all still very tired, but we worked through it to make the most of our limited time.
Surprisingly, it was quite a spectacular park. Beautiful lagoons, gigantic waterfalls, clear water and so much greenery...the beauty of the place was quite astounding. We visited everything we could within our limited time frame because the bus back to Santiago would leave that very same evening. My favourite memory of the day was when we diverted from the trail to go towards a still lake. The sun was making us exhausted, so we took off our trainers and climbed onto a fallen tree suspended over the lake. We must have spent about an hour just dipping our feet in the cold water and chatting. It was a great, relaxing way to top off what had been a very tiring and tolling weekend.