Pucon - Volcano, Santiago, Val pariso, Mendoza and Salta!!

---

apologies again for delay.

Pucon was a beautiful little town with the infamous volcano Villaracia. we had no idea at the time how lucky we were to climb it, since the weather conditions have to be just right, it is an active volcano last erupted in 1985, i should remember that year.

but this was so much more than a mountain hike, we first got fully kitted out with windproof gear, ice picks, crampons, and GAS MASKS, yup even from the bottom you could see the small pillar of sulphuric smoke coming straight up out of the peak, if the wind shifted we were told the gas masks were good for 15 mins!! the last ppl to die hiking this volcano had been only 2 months previous, a combination of bad weather and poor judgement call on part of guides!!

we had good weather, cud only hope fr good guides, first part, we got a ski lift up, yup lazy but also quickest option!! then started the hike up fr about 1 hr, then we reached the glaciar, where we donned our crampons, n got out ice picks, this was fun fr bout first half hr, 2 half hrs later, just exhausting, then we reached the last section, full of loose volcanic rock, we hiked this, n reached the summit, not before i broke the screen on my camera, n in frustration and angry flung a few rocks down mt, which unfortunately wound up hitting some unprepared hikers below - oops!! we reached the top and cud actually look inside the huge live crater, and hear it burping, and hiccuping away!! around us we were surrounded by other volcanoes but best was you cud still see the black lava flow from the last eruption!!!

the way bac down we were told was more dangerous, i didn't really take this in, till someone at back of our group unsettled a few giant bolders n i didn´t know wat was coming till i heard frantic yelling in Spanish, that's wen i turned around (being at front of line) n saw said giant bolder hurtling toward me at an incredible speed, bouncing its way down, i was stuck fr full 10 secs not knowing whether to dive left or right, meanwhile evone else out of harms way kept yelling 'MOVE; MOVE' smth clicked n i dove right, just as it hurtled past my legs, scary as hell!!! but insanely exhilarating!!

made our way back down after few hours, and rewarded ourselved the next night with a trip to the geothermic hot springs, n they were well name i can tell you, beautiful n a welcome relief to my tired feet.

next day we made our way to santiago, capital of chile, well out of patagonia and all its quiet, beautiful remoteness!! said fairwell to my kumuka companions n headed first to pichilemu surfing capital to visit a recently made contact, had incredible time, where interestingly enough there'd been a tsunami warning just week before i got there!! then back to santiago n off to valpariso, wat i taut a quiet seaside village turned out to be a bustling busy port, val de mar, next town up had a lovely stretch of beach but also crazy winds n waves!!! still enjoyed it, cool town.

back to santiago last time, picked up camera with new screen, then off to mendoza next day, beautiful journey up through the Andes, but to my frustration my camera was not working, dead battery tho i'd charged it all night!! had to commit evting to memory n few sketches.

Arrived in Mendoza met up with few kumuka gang, beautiful hostel lao, very comfortable, so easy to meet up with new ppl, hang out n chill!! sunday we had a big bbq, n walked around town, tried out a local micro brewery where i found a bray lad working away there!!

next day was our wine tour, joined by an old college friend caoimhe n her boyfriend gearoid from mina in galway, small world was a leader in colaiste lurgan when i was there!!! we eventually found our bike rent place, hoped on board with our map and made the rounds, got a lovely mix of small, independent and biggery wineries, some with vineyards on the premises, and got a well rounded education in the production and manufacture of wine!! as well as some generous tasting sessions yum😉

next stop salta, long 19 hr night bus journey with 5 arnold swarzneger films in a row, with bad spanish dubbin n blaring sound not permitting anyone to sleep till well after 12. arrived in salta, lovely town, chillled out, in hostel walked around up another finicular, booked our train to san pedro de atacama for next morning!! one of the top 10 bus journeys in the world!!!

---