AlwaysOnTheRoad

We are planning a trip to Chile in November. One of the main areas we intend to visit is in the Lake District - mostly hiking in national parks - Conguillio, Herquehue, Villarica, Puyehue, Vincente Perez Rosales. We are having a difficult time determining the impact of the volcano. Any ideas?

mlgb

No one will know about November. If you are flying LAN you can check their website under News, you can get an idea about what is being cancelled now.

http://www.lan.com/en_us/sitio_personas/news/index.html

As far as local impacts I'd try emailing a hotel with a good English language website.

Huentetu

The impact is only around the Ranco lake at the moment. No one can say what the situation will be in November. Although the Cardenal Samoré pass between Osorno and Bariloche is closed, so far the lake crossing between Puerto Varas and Bariloche is functioning. It is just impossible to predict what the situation will be in November. But I will post any news of anything which might affect visitors.

odie1

AotR- I have been wondering the same thing. We are going to Arg lake district for three weeks end of Dec-Jan. Half the trip was centered around fly fishing in San Martin/Angostura. I have been in communications with our travel agent and with some of the fishing guides to see hat their thoughts are. Angostura sounds like a no go for us. There was just an article this morning on MSNBC website showing pictures of it buried in a foot plus of ash. If you find a good website (or if I do) maybe we can post it here.

JBX

_
Volcano sites ???
My favorite is Erik Klemmetti's blog ....... http://bigthink.com/blogs/eruptions/

Additionally, his website has a list of other links re: volcanoes, webcams, etc.

Huentetu

I think the area around Villa La Angostura will be very lucky if it can save its summer season, certainly as far as fishing goes. San Martin de los Andes and Junin de los Andes had relatively little ash fall and, providing the ash does not return, should be OK. Bariloche is hoping to salvage its skiing season but the airport is still closed. The land crossing at Cardenal Samoré, between Osorno and Villa La Angostura/Bariloche, is cleared on the Chilean side but awaiting work on the Argentine side, which had a lot more damage. It is a major truck route and they are anxious to open it but Villa La Angostura is worried about the ash which will be moved with traffic and which will fall on the town.

It is not just future eruptions you need to follow, but recovery from the initial ash fall and the conditions of the rivers. The fall on the Chilean side has been relatively light even when the wind changed. It affected flights off and on. Most of Puyehue park is open now and, although it is strangely monochromatic, you can hike there. Conguillio, Villarica and Huerquehue haven't had any problem. They are quite far away.

I would say that a hiking holiday would not be greatly affected unless there were huge ash falls in the future, something the vulcanologists don't think is going to happen. Fishing is more complicated because a lot depends on breeding and hatching, the state of the rivers etc.

AlwaysOnTheRoad

Could someone provide an update. We moved our trip to January but understand there have continued to be daily eruptions.

Our original plan was visit is in the Lake District - mostly hiking in national parks - Conguillio, Herquehue, Villarica, Puyehue, Vincente Perez Rosales.

Huentetu

I understand that there is little information about the Cordon Caulle-Puyehue eruptions abroad. Most of the ash was blown into Argentina and very little has been affected in Chile. Of the parks you mention, only a very small portion of Puyehue even got any ash fall. Conguillio, Villarica and Huerquehue are too far north and never had any ash fall. Problems with ash and closed airports are in Argentina and not in Chile. The road between Chile and Argentina at Cardenal Samoré pass has been open for about a month.

What is happening is that the volcano is still active, still on red alert, and sometimes producing moderate amounts of ash which get sent into Argentina because of the wind patterns between the two. Ash which fell 6 months ago in the initial large eruption also get picked up by the wind and sent into the air over places like Bariloche, Argentina, virtually closing the airport there ever since.

AlwaysOnTheRoad

Huentetu,

Thank you. Very good information. We will go forward with our trip. I did notice many places offer significant discounts which is probably due to a major decline in tourism.

Huentetu

Since your trip is now in high season, look into lodging and car rental now so you have the choices you want for places like Pucón. January is the month the Argentine tourists visit Chile in large numbers.

You might like to look at some maps of the interlagos route in the lake district. This is a north/south route more toward the mountains and with some lovely scenery. Under 'mapas' click on each of the three. The first is a general map of the interlagos route with type of road. The second map has suggested routes in each area. The third is one of those cartoon type maps with what is available for tourists in each area. Clicking on any of the maps will enlarge it.
http://www.vialidad.cl/proyectos/Red...s/default.aspx

Renting a car is an excellent way to visit the national parks in the area and getting off the main roads can be very rewarding. Most cars are manual and not automatic in Chile, so if you require that book something soon. Not Alamo.

stilltravelingat62

Thank you, Huentetu! We pulled up & printed the maps you suggested. They look excellent!