Rafting adventure in Pucon, Chile

It’s been a long time since I went to South America for the first time. It was more than three years ago and my first long distance flight over ten hours. After I had spent a week in Argentina, I arrived in Santigo di Chile, the capital of Chile, for two days. Than I took a night bus to a much smaller village in the mountains called Pucon (450miles from Santiago).
Pucon is a popular travel destination in Chile. It is located by a lake and the well-known volcano “Villarrica”. This volcano is one of the most active ones in Chile. I stayed with some friends in their house for a few days and enjoyed an incredible view over lake and mountains and an outdoor swimming pool.

It’s all about adventure tourism and nature in Pucon. The area is perfect for hiking, riding horses, fishing, canyoning, camping and rafting. My two travel companions and I decided to go on a rafting tour. We had to book the tour one or two days in advance. When the day arrived, we met the guides and some other people in the city to travel by jeeps into the woods to the river. We arrived at a camp. The guides handed over our surf suits and showed us some lockers to store our bags. We had some time to put the suits on and after that they divided us into groups of six people per boat. Every group had to carry their boat above the heads to the riverside. All of us stepped into the boats and our guide gave us a few instructions and explained some commands.

Even if I was a little bit scared about rafting over waterfalls, my anxiety completely disappeared at the moment we managed the first one. In the middle of the tour, we had to step out of the boat and hike a few miles. Some of the guides were navigating the boats on their own over a big waterfall to meet us again on the other side. To get over the waterfall we had the opportunity to jump off a cliff about 5 or 7 meters high into the water. Those who didn’t want to jump could hike down the mountain but I did it and it was my personal highlight of the trip! Even if my heart beat faster, I decided to jump and the feeling when I plunged into the water was so good that I wanted to do it a second time. But unfortunately that was not possible and we continued rafting.

So, as you can see, I overcame my fears twice during the tour and at the end I had a lot of fun. Have you overcome some of your fears too while traveling?

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10 comments

    1. Hi Courtney! Yes it is. They offer you a lot of opportunities. Besides rafting you could do horseback riding, hiking or waterspouts. If you are an adventurer, its a great place for vacations 🙂

  1. This looks like absolutely amazing fun! We have never been wwr before but would to go one. We travelled through South America for two months but unfortunately never made it to Chile. As well as visiting Patagonia, I think we will be adding Pucon onto the list of places to visit! Thanks for sharing. Love C and D x

    1. Wow, Patagonia!! I would LOVE to go to Patagonia. Its definitely on my list. I have to check out your blog. I went to Argentina but only to Buenos Aires. Have you been there? The city is very cool. Thanks for your comment!! xo

  2. First off— STOP! I am DYING to go to Chile!! It’s at the top of my list and seeing this sparked some MAJOR wanderlust!! I’ve never gone rafting and I am dying to. We’ve got some great rapids here in Colorado but this looks amazing!! Thank you so much for sharing and can’t wait to see your next post on #FlyAwayFriday!! Xo

    1. You know what!? I never had a certain plan to go to Chile, but one of my best friends is a big fan of Chile, Argentina and Peru. And when I didn’t have other plans, I decided spontaneously to travel with her. Today, I think I was incredible lucky to make this decision, because I had a lot of unforgettable experiences in Chile 🙂 Thank you so much for the opportunity to share this post on your blog! xo

  3. How good do these mountains look in the background! I wouldn’t mind staying by the pool there at all! Never done any rafting, I’d love to try though and that cliff jump!! Wooohoo! Good on you for doing it, I would be so scared, but would end up doing it with my partner pushing me off the edge lol!! My highest has been four metres so far and already then I was so scared! Thanks for sharing! #FlyAwayFriday

    1. Hi Kreete! You are totally right, the pool was one of the best places in Pucon 😉 Even if the water was a little bit cold, we enjoyed sunbathing and jumping in the water from time to time! Wow, 4 meters are also very high…! Thank you so much for your comment! I love the #FlyAwayFriday <3

  4. Gorgeous sunset photo! Ahh, rafting is so scary (I know I already said that on your Instagram, hehe) but I do enjoy seeing your photos of it! Did anyone tumble off at all?! That’s my biggest fear! Thanks so much for joining #FlyAwayFriday – hope to see you again this week! xo

    1. haha yes you did 😉 And I understand your fears, but I can assure you that nobody tumbled off!! It looks tougher than it is. Thanks for the #FlyAwayFriday and the opportunity to share my post – I’m already excited about this week!