Pucón Fun

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Christina´s host dad gave Jess A, Christina and I a ride to the bus station. Hayley showed up at the last minute. I was worried she overslept and that we would leave without her! We had to take a bus to Temuco and then to Pucón. The ride to Temuco was about 4 hours. We got dropped off near the bus terminal and walked to it. We bought tickets for a bus to Pucón for 2.300 pesos. We didn´t have to wait too long before our bus left. It was a lot smaller and definitely not as nice of a bus as our first one. The ride to Pucón was about 2 hours.
We arrived in Pucón and I discovered that I didn´t have the directions to the hostel. oops! We randomly ran into a guy from St. Cloud who was working in Pucón. He went on the program in 2007 and moved to Chile after that. He looked up the hostel for us and we tried to find it. We wandered around the town for awhile but we finally found it. It was nice. They had customized a room for us with 4 sets of bunk beds since there were 8 of us. We had reserved two rooms of 4 but I guess all of us in one room couldn´t be that bad.
We got settled into our room. We set up the volcano hike with through our hostel. We went to the tour place to get our equipment ready. The gave us boots, pants, jackets, helmets and backpacks plus climbing equipment like an ice pick. After we got our equipment we were really hungry. We ate at a bar/restaurant called Club 77. I got the offer which was a burger and fries. It was delicious. After we ate, I went with Hayley, who hadn´t eaten, to get a completo. After she was done eating we wandered over to the artesania and did a little shopping. We went back to the hostel when we figured out that I had the room key and everyone else had gone back to the hostel and needed to get in. Later we went to the store to buy food. We went back to the hostel and we all took turns showering and got ready for the next morning.
We were supposed to be at the tour place at 7 am. I got up at 545am to get ready and eat breakfast. We made eggs for everyone and we made sandwiches to take up on the mountain with us. We left our hostel at 7am or a little after. We had just started walking when a van pulled up to get us. We went to the hiking place and got dressed to climb. They told us that it was pretty cloudy and they didn´t know if we would be able to climb. We wanted to climb so we headed up to the ski resort.
When we got to the ski place they called someone on a walkie talkie that was up on the volcano. They said that it was cloudy but once you got above the clouds it was just fine. We decided to go for it. They told us that the ski lift wasn´t running so we would have to climb and extra hour and a half but we REALLY wanted to climb so we said, "lets do it!" It seemed like when we started to get ready to go then everyone else that was standing around waiting decided to go for it also.
We started walking. When we made it to the ski lift, they decided to run it. We had to pay 5.000 pesos to use it (about $10). It was a complete rip off but who really wants to climb more than they have to! Getting on the lift was scary. There was no safety bar to hold you on and you have to put your big hiking pack (ice pick attached) in front of you and hope you don´t drop anything. I rode on the lift with Christina. We made it safely. I felt kind of bad for the people who had already started walking when the chairlift wasn´t running and were now halfway up.
After we got off the lift we waited for everyone to get off the lift. The guide gave us instructions on how to climb and how to use our ice pick. Once he was done, we were on our way to the top of Volcano Villarica. We climbed and climbed and climbed. We stopped every so often when there was flat ground to take a rest. On the first stop, Evin and Lucas both dropped their water bottles down the volcano. This is really dangerous because they just take off across the snow like a rocket. If anyone were to get hit by one it wouldn´t feel very good! We kept climbing up up up.
About half way up there is a little shelter. I was happy to reach it. The top seemed so close but it´s an illusion. We were all getting very tired towards the top. Jess A had turned back about halfway up. She fell behind right away and a guide stayed with her but she was having a hard time breathing. I realized later that I had to key to our room. She would probably be able to get into our hostel but our actual room was locked up tight. oops! Climbing was really tough. We had to climb in zig zags because it is steep and the snow is hard and slippery. We were running out of energy as we got closer to the peak. We stopped to rest for a moment and then made one final push for the top. We were finally there after about 5 hours of climbing!!!
How long you can stay at the top depends on how bad the sulfur fumes are. There is constant smoke coming out of the volcano but the wind blows it around a lot. It was windy at the top but it didn´t seem too bad. We spent probably half an hour at the top. I was semi disappointed that you couldn´t see any lava in the volcano but it was still awesome! You can´t walk too close to the edges because it could collapse it. Every once in a while the wind would blow the smoke away and you could see further down into the volcano. On a clear day you can see down to the towns of Villarica and Pucón. Apparently there are also 4 lakes and lots of cool things to see but the day we climbed it was really cloudy. It was still cool because we were literally above the clouds. It was a very surreal feeling.
Going down the volcano was almost the coolest part. You literally put on your snowpants and all your clothes including a butt protector thing and then you slide down on your butt. no joke. There are tracks already made and you just slide down. You hang on to your ice pick and use it to control your speed. It was kind of scary at first but once you get over the initial shock it is really fun! At one point we all sat hooked together with our legs and went down like a train. You go over bumps that shoot you up like a jump. It was really an experience. I must say, going down was a heck of a lot easier than going up! You come to a point where you can´t slide anymore because the snow is too deep and wet because it gets warmer as you go down the volcano. Sledding will just never be the same for me!
We walked the rest of the way down. Descending the volcano probably took us an hour and a half. We waited for our ride to get there and take us back to Pucón. We had to go to the tour place and drop off all our equipment. We were soaked and very dirty. Our guides asked us to stay and have a drink with them so we sat around and talked with them for a while. They had several dogs, including these big fluffy puppies. One of the puppies stole Christina´s socks. We headed back to the hostel to clean up and to let Jess into our room!
Jess had sat outside for awhile until finally someone let her in. She was just waiting in the lobby area, chatting with some people from Canada that were staying at our hostel. We showered and Evin made spaghetti. It was delicious and we were all pretty exhausted from climbing. We chatted with the other people staying in our hostel. Later we all went out together. It was a lot of fun. After we came back to the hostel and chatted some more. We had to be ready to go do canopy at 11 in the morning.
I got up around 9:45 and ate breakfast and got ready to go. we walked to Trancura (the tour agency) and we took a van from there to the canopy place. We got outfitted with helmets and all sorts of harnesses. They took us in a van to the top of the canopy course. They give you some quick instructions and send you down a short little practice line. After that it´s off you go onto a big long one. It was kind of scary at first and I went alone down the big one. After you get used to it and start enjoying the scenery around you it is pretty fun. We went on several different lines and it took probably half an hour. It was fun but it wasn´t quite what I expected. Christina struggled a bit. She got her glove stuck in her slide thing once and she just couldn´t quite figure out how to slow down and stop. I don´t know if it was worth the money we paid but it was still fun.
The transported us back to Pucón. We were all pretty tired and hungry. We got completos and then went back to our hostel. Most of us took naps and then later I went to the beach. It was a beautiful sunny day. We laid out and eventually went in the water of Lake Villarrica. It was pretty cold but not too bad once you got used to it. Christina, Lindsay, Hayley and I rented a paddle boat and went out on the lake for half an hour. It was pretty fun! After that we headed back to the hostel. I showered and made some soup for dinner. Some others went out for supper but I had already bought soup to make. At about 10pm Brad, Evin and I headed over to the casino across the street. It wasn´t too special but it was still fun. I didn´t win but neither did anyone else. I lost 8.000 pesos (about $16). My limit was 10.000 pesos so I thought that wasn´t too bad. It was entertaining anyways. Christina and Lucas joined us later. We didn´t stay too long because we were mostly out of money and we were tired. We went back to the hostel, chatted for a bit and then went to bed.
Monday morning was our last day in Pucon. We got up and packed our stuff up. We were going white water rafting at 11 but then leaving after that. Christina´s friend Cristian was supposed to go with us but he never showed up. We took a van to the rafting place from the agency. We got wet suits, life jackets, water shoes, helmets, and wind breakers to put under our lifejackets because the water is really cold. It took awhile for everyone to get outfitted and it was so hot with all the clothes on! Finally we were ready. Our guide gave us some instructions and then we carried our raft down to the water.
It was a bit scary at first but we did just fine. We seemed to paddle well and the guide did a good job directing us. It wasn´t too intense but there were a few rapids that got us all wet and really pushed the raft around. Lindsay almost fell out once but we pulled her back in before she fell out. At one point, they make you get out of the raft and walk for a little ways and then you get back in because the one rapid is too dangerous for rafts. Only super experienced kayakers can go through it because it´s like a washing machine and it´s hard to get out of. We came up along side another raft and their guide reached in our raft, grabbed Hayley by the life jacket and pulled her in the water. It was so funny!
We kept yelling to a raft full of Chilean girls but they were really hard to understand. We got to relax a little bit while we were rafting. It was a good beginning course I thought. The rapids were only class 2 and 3, maybe a 4 so nothing too scary. We rafted for probably 45 minutes. I was sad to be done because it was really fun but it was definitely worth the money this time. It only cost 10.000 pesos (about $20). We were transported back to Pucón and we went to get completos again. After that we went back to our hostel to get our things. We spent some time changing our clothes and getting all ready. We finally left and walked to the bus station. We caught a bus right away at 4pm. It was a really nice, big, comfy coach bus. It was a million times nicer than the one we came on. It cost 2.200 pesos. We arrived in Temuco around 6. We walked to the bus station there and bought tickets back to Concepcion.
Our bus didn´t leave until 7:30 so we went across the street to a little restaurant. I wanted to order a sandwich but the waitress said it would take to long. I just had a drink instead. After we were done there I went to a little store next door and bought some snacks. I also bought a ham and cheese sandwich at the bus station before we boarded. The bus ride back to Concepcion was pretty boring. I listened to my i-pod most of the way. We arrived in Concepcion around 11:30 p.m. We bought our bus tickets to San Fernando for Wednesday and then Christina´s host dad gave me a ride home.
I woke up on Tuesday around 9 or 10. I was surprised that my host family was still home and sleeping. I got up and ate breakfast. I forgot that right before I left for Pucón, my computer charger quit working. Lucky for me my host family has HP laptops and their chargers work on my computer. I spent the morning on the computer booking stuff for our next trip and just being a bum. I went for a run around 12:30. After that I came home and took a shower and then we ate lunch. Later I asked my host parents to do some laundry since I was leaving for Pichilemu the next morning. No joke, they didn´t know how to use the washing machine. The Nana does all the laundry and they got a new machine a month or two ago so they had to get out the instructions to do my laundry. We thought we had it going but we forgot to turn the water on but finally we got it done. I had to put my clothes in a spinner thing after that to spin the water out of them. Then I hung them up outside but they wouldn´t be dry in time so we put them in the dryer.
After that I talked to my parents on skype for about an hour and have been writing this blog. Tomorrow I´m off to Pichilemu to go surfing. Then hopefully to Isla Negra on Friday to see the third and final house of Pablo Neruda and then going to Santiago for the night. It should be a lot of fun. I can´t believe it´s almost time to go home! CHAO and See you soon!

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Photos

Photo 2
There are election signs propped up on every pole on every street

Photo 6
Ready to climb

Photo 7
Ice pick duel

Photo 8
Volcano Villarrica sign

Photo 10
on the chair lift

Photo 12
our guide giving us instructions

Photo 15
here we go!

Photo 16
shadow

Photo 17
tiny people

Photo 20
Probably how I should have worn my jacket