Back in El Calafate our room was like a sauna in the afternoon, here in Pucon our room is like a fridge all day and all night. There are radiators but the heating is turned off. There is a log burning stove in the lounge / dining / kitchen area but only seems to be lit for a few hours in the evening. We complained about the temperature in our room and they gave us an electric heater. The weather improved but this was difficult to discern from inside the hostel due to the lack of daylight coming in because of the overgrown garden. We were surprised to find it was warmer outside than it was inside La Nuez Hostel! Breakfast is fairly minimal but there is no point in complaining about that, we haven't had a decent breakfast for a while. We are most certainly in active volcano territory with evacuation signs around the town and inside the hostel. There is even a traffic light type warning system outside the tourist office, the good news is the green light is illuminated at present. However Volcano Villarrica is starting to puff smoke, thermal pools have increased by 2 degrees C due to a magma shift and on clear days the volcano is being observed 3 times a day from the air not the standard one aerial visit. In both Puerto Varas and Pucon an air raid siren sounded each day at midday - why? Both places have active volcanoes nearby so we assumed it's just a daily test of the volcano evacuation warning sounder to see if it still works. Our last day in Pucon it also went off at 8pm and again at 2am. At 2am we did wonder if it was for real or not, why would they sound it at that time otherwise? The worrying thing is at night there are no staff at the hostel, so would someone make sure we knew to evacuate? With improved weather conditions we caught a bus out to El Cani reserve for a hike up to Mirador Melidekin. It's a long haul uphill all the way. Very little in the way of views on the way up because of the dense woodland around the trail. From the summit you have a 360 Degree view taking in 5 volcanoes but not today. When we boarded the bus in the morning we could see Villarrica volcano clearly and with a lot of fresh snow. When we reached todays viewpoint a blanket of cloud had descended obscuring all the volcano summits - b*****. A long trudge back down making sure we caught the 5 o'clock bus (and not the next one at 7.30). Donna rustled up a roast chicken dinner in the deserted La Nuez Hostel. If you run the tap long enough eventually you get hot water, but not before you've run a few gallons of cold through the system! The following day I went for an adventure up Villarrica volcano (see separate blog). Donna plodded round Pucon. She insists on talking to all the dogs wandering the streets, which results in them trailing behind us. Today one followed Donna for an hour and a half, licking her hands and legs as she window shopped around Pucon. She went into a u shaped craft market. The dog didn't follow her in, at last she thought he's gone only to find the dog walking towards her on the other side of the 'u'! Another great meal from Donna - sausage, egg and chips. So good in fact we had the same again the next night. Trying to get a break from cheese or ham sandwiches for lunch we examined the pates on sale in the supermarket. Not knowing what any of them were I resorted to animal noises to an assistant to identify what each one was. This is not the first time I have done this, previously back in Punta Arenas a young female shop assistant was in fits of laughter at my moos, oinks and clucks. Here in South America it seems that if you own a wall you have to resign yourself to the inevitable of it being adorned with graffiti or street art - it is everywhere. Pucon is a major holiday destination for Chileans living in Santiago, which means heaps of souvenirs including matching Mate sets (haven't seen these for sale since Menodoza in Argentina). Our last day here we hired kayaks and had a paddle on the lake. The price started at 8000 Chilean Pesos for 2 kayaks for an hour but we got them for 6000 (£7.06) - bargain. The guy didn't put up much of a fight on price - he had lots of kayaks, rowing boats and pedalloes but not one customer. Once people saw us on the water they decided that was a good idea and business improved for him so I'm sure he didn't mind losing a few thousand Pesos off us. Great views of Villarrica volcano and the surrounding hills whilst we were bobbing around on the lake. The weather is changing again, it's forecast for 3 days of rain but we are out of here tomorrow.