VOLCANOFILES

The drive towards Puyehue-Cordón Caulle began on Tuesday morning, when we set off from Villarrica. As we passed through Los Lagos – the lake region – the plume from the eruption became visible in the distance.

Puyehue-Cordón Caulle eruption column – view from the north

Late on Tuesday afternoon, we turned up in the town of Rininahue and – eventually – found the local Carabineros (police). The police officer on duty took our names and showed us some of his amazing photos from the eruption. Apparently the main park entrance was closed and the best route in was from the north; the carabineros had travelled there on horseback. He gave us instructions on how to find the house of a guide, Hector Para, whose name had been given to us by OVDAS.

With a vague understanding that we were to take lots of right turns and drive twelve kilometres, we set off and – not suprisingly – got completely lost. A shopkeeper and a few passers-by tried to help us, and the outcome was that, a couple of hours later, we were on a steep 4WD track with two very small cars and no idea whether the mysterious Hector was to be found in that direction. We sensibly decided it was time to call it a night, and camped at a flatter spot down the road.

The amount of ash that had been ground into the road (plus the fact that it was really a 4WD track) made it difficult for our cars to get any further.

There was ash everywhere – coating the road and the trees on either side. I wondered whether this could really be recent ash from the eruption, until Kayla pointed out that it could easily have been blown around by passing cars.

Upon phoning Hector’s number the next morning, and explaining to whoever had answered the phone that we couldn’t make it to his place in our cars, we found ourselves agreeing to meet him next to a fish farm in an hour’s time. In due course, a priest named Gabriel arrived in a big red pickup, and drove us up to the house. We weren’t entirely sure what was happening – Hector wasn’t there, although a few other people were; it was almost noon and probably too late to start hiking into Puyehue National Park; apparently the forecast was for rain the following day and there was so much ash around that we were concerned about lahars. Some discussion followed about the weather and the possibility of starting off early the next morning.

The next thing we knew, we were on another four wheel drive track in Gabriel’s pickup. There was a brief stop so that he could cut us some walking poles.

Padre Gabriel – handy with a machete

Then we were walking through a forest that got progressively quieter and greyer as the ash thickened, and out onto and over a series of eerie ash-covered hills. The only animal I saw or heard on the way in was a small lizard, before we entered the national park.

The National Park entrance

We could hear the booming of the volcano in the distance, getting louder as we approached. In some places, the ash layers were so thick that it felt like walking over sand dunes.

A couple of quick photos of the eruption:

Cordon-Caulle eruption

The Volcanofiles watch the erupting vent. Puyehue itself is in the background, barely visible through the ash.

Mañana the Volcanofiles head south to Puyehue-Cordón Caulle, a volcano that has been erupting for some time now and (as you may or may not remember) diverted and haulted airline traffic in the southern hemisphere last year. We do not yet know how close we will be able to get to the crater itself or what kind of measurements we will be able to take. We will speak with local contacts near the volcano when we arrive tomorrow.

Internet connection will be slim to none down there. We will continue to update via Spot Connect on Twitter and Facebook, but you can also keep an eye on the volcanic situation by monitoring the three webcams that OVDAS has monitoring Puyehue.