Pucon is the place to be seen if you are holidaying in Chile, though thankfully high season does not start for another few weeks. It is only 40 miles from the town of Bariloche in Argentina that we visited earlier in November and whilst they both form part of the Lake District, they are quite different in surroundings. This area of Chile is very green with wonderful lush treelines sweeping high onto the surrounding mountains of the town. It is also a much smaller place with only 4,000 people resident here all year round. The good thing is that this gives it a much more personal feel and we have been pleased at the number of local people who have wanted to talk to us (thankfully in Spanish, so we must be getting better) and find out where we are from and where our travels are taking us. The town itself is known for two key things. The first is the active volcano that sits precariously on the edge of town. Each morning we have been able to look outside of our bedroom window and see plumes of smoke rise ominously from the snow capped peak. Whilst wandering along the mainstreet yesterday we had something of a shock when a siren wailed across the town - we anticipated an immediate evacuation but were pleased to learn it was only calling the volunteer fire service in for business! Your mind definetly becomes more active when something like this is looming over you. The volcano last erupted in 1984 though thankfully with no casulaties. There are now two avenues for the lava, down from the top of the peak and they move towards the river. However, in 1971 there was a moderate eruption and a number of people were killed due to the melting ice floes which caused large mudslides in the underlying valley's. There are regular sightings of a red lava floe within the crater and only two days ago rocks and ash were spewed from the interior, much to the terror of a group of people who had hiked to the top. We will be leaving here tonight just in case! One of the results of having an active volcano in your midst is that it heats any naturally occurring springs in the area. Today we took a visit to one of the thermal baths close to Pucon and were treated to 5 different pools, each naturally heated, that got progressivly hotter, the closer to the mountain that you got. We just about managed 5 minutes in the hottest one but looked like broiled lobsters for some time afterwards. We decided that as we had been so well looked after on the Antarctic trip we should at least try to do something active whilst here. We hired a couple of mountain bikes for the day and set off on a "gentle" trail to see the local waterfalls, a little off the beaten track. After we hit the first 1in 3 grade hill, it quickly became apparent that there is a language barrier, particularly in relation to the word gentle. We did eventually make it, over fairly rough terrain, though Carol did seem to stop every 100 yards or so for a break. The journey back was somewhat less arduous as we chose the paved road and you have never seen Carol cheer up so quickly - not another major hill in sight. In total we managed 38 km's as a round trip and we are still feeling the effects 2 days later. We are off to Santiago tonight for a week by the pool whilst we celebrate Christmas and wait for our flight to New Zealand. We are missing everyone at home and all the parties we would normally be having about now but there is one advantage of being abroad at this time of year - Chris does not have to rack his brains to think of a present to buy Carol. Carol says Chris will just have to make up for it next year! We have both really enjoyed our very short time in Chile and the people here but we are both now focused on having a good Christmas together and then moving on to another continent.