Vacation January 2009...Part 1

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Carlos and I were fortunate enough to take a vacation the middle of January for about 2 1/2 weeks. We went south to the Pucon area. It was a fun trip and we were able to visit places we had never seen before. We are trying to visit as much of Chile before we move back to the States. This was a adventure vacation. Some of the highlights were:

1. Being able to participate in an at risk youth camp that my friend Courtney started. It is similiar to outward bound. They are taken from the city to the country, camping, taught responsiblity, respect, team-work and daily classes of English, science art, etc. It was a wonderful experience. Carlos taught art classes and I taught English.

2. Hiking the Volcano Villarica (see pics below). Villarica is one of Chile's most active volcanos with it's last eruption in 2008. It is 9,340 feet and I was scared to death but did it....won't do it again.

3. Hiking the Parque Nacional de Huerquehue. Huerquehue has 12.500 hectares and varios hiking paths. We hiked 8 kilometers on the Tres Lagos (3 lakes) path. Another exhausting experience but well worth it.

4. Canopying through the forests of Pucon. Again, scared to death but did it....won't do it again. Why does a girl who is afraid of heights keep putting herself in these situations?

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Photos

art class
Carlos taught modern art. The kids were a bit apprehensive at first but really enjoyed it! He was a great teacher.

Parque Nacional de Huerquehue
beautiful mountains, lakes, trees. I always feel like I am back in Oregon when I visit the south of Chile.

mi amor by the lake.
what a hottie!

This is Villarica Volcano
Little did I know that in 2 more days I would be climbing up that sucker.

I'm ready!!!
I think.

what am i doing???
This is the start of the 5 hour hike up the volcano...before I started crying :)

Phew! We made it...
to the first break. 4 more hours to go.

The long trek up.
There are very narrow zig-zagging trails up the side of the mountain. About 2 ft wide . If you don't step in the footprints of the person in front, you'll most likely slip & can fall down the side of the mountain. Each person is given an ice pick to stick into the snow to stablize. This isnt' for woosies. :)

The weather starts to get bad
The clouds starting moving and the temperature dropped. The wind picked up and the sound was amplified by the helmets we had. At this point I started to panic.

The bad weather
After 4 hours of hiking, we had to stop because of the weather and were unable to reach the summit.

And the way down!
This was the best part. They strap this plastic tarp thing to yoru butt and you go down tobaggon style. FUN!

Is Mt. Everest in the future???
Carlos enjoyed the trip much more than I and was desparately disappointed when we couldn't make it to the summit.

We made it!
The first part of the decent was on your butt in the snow. At this point we had completed half and were soaked.

Phew~! I did it and didn't die
Overall a very good experience. The ascent was rough, the descent amazing and I am very proud that I can say I have climbed a volcano.

Comments

[robert Salazar]

Very cool
You look so Happy!!!!!!! I am so Happy for you! Nice mountain. What is the elevation? Is it bigger then Mt. Hood. It snowed today but did not stick! I have been hiking to get in shape for a climb up hood. I liked the ride you did down the snow, looks fun.

[wen]

WOW
nice nice... i envy you so very much... but i am goin to peru for my vacation.. and hopefully i can meet ppl!! hehe love ya--- the pics are great and the south is awesome! love ya more