Couchsurfing Adventures, Volcanos, and Rapids!

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We are officially on the road. After a ridiculous hectic day finishing up everything on Thursday in Santiago, we hopped on an overnight bus to Pucon to meet up with about 40 other Couchsurfers for a camping weekend outside of Pucon, the adventure capital of Chile! Rita and I decided to upgrade for the overnight bus and got Cama tickets (which means, bed). This was about as first class as I have ever seen a bus get, hope someday I can try the "premium" category.

We got some sleep overnight in our luxurious bus seats and were a bit drowsy when we arrived in Pucon on Friday morning. We ran over to an internet cafe for a minute because when we arrived we realized that no one had written down the directions on how to get to the camping spot to meet everyone. After reorienting ourselves, we headed over to Carburga Lake, to Playa Blanca, to find our fellow couchsurfers already set up and enjoying themselves at the campsite.

That afternoon after getting to know some of the people at the campsite we decided to partake in the rafting activity that had been organized. We decided to do the bajo, not the alto rafting because it was cheaper and wasn't quite as intense. We had a great time with everyone, and the rapids were pretty exciting I have to say. The water was a bit cold and we were pretty soaked by the end of it. I thought it was kind of weird too that we starting rafting at 5 pm in the afternoon, but I guess when the sun goes down at 10 pm, you can do that...The evening was filled with partying, campfires and music and lasted until the wee hours of the morning, Chilean style. We were pretty exhausted the next day because even if you had tried to sleep the night before it was pretty impossible with the noise. So we decided to take it easy, sleep a little in the morning and then head to the beach for the afternoon at the nearby lake. The view from the beach was beautiful, you can see all the surrounding mountains and such. Really nice. The sun is really intense in Chile, as I have said before, but somehow I keep forgetting that.

Saturday night was yet another party at the campsite which made it VERY hard to get up at 5 am to go hike the Volcano Villarica. We departed the campsite and headed into Pucon for our grand adventure up 2800 meters. This volcano is active, but hasn't erupted since 1984. You can see it from the town smoking all day long from its crater. For some reason it really didn't occur to me that this hike would be any different than ones I had done before, but boy was I wrong. I knew I was in trouble when they strapped on covers for our boots for snow and handed us a pair of crampons and an ice pick...We drove to the bottom of the mountain and then took a chair lift up another chunk to reach the start of the snow/glacier. They put our crampons on there and taught us how to use the ice pick properly for hiking and "catching yourself if you go sliding uncontrollably down the mountain..."

The hike started off tough and really never got easy, but I was bound and determined I was going to reach the top. We lost a few people during the climb up that decided they were done, and if I hadn't made up my mind already I would reach the top probably would have quit, considering I was the last person in the group. So I kept on trekking. After about 5-6 hours, of grueling step by step up the snow, we did it!! It was such an incredible feeling of satisfaction to reach the top! The view was absolutely incredible, but we didn't hang around long because the toxic sulfur fumes were really strong and hard to deal with. The way done was much easier and a LOT more fun! They strapped on these seats to our buts and we approached some dug out toboggan slides in the snow. After some instructions on how to sit and how to use your ice pick as a break (yeah thats right - dont put the sharp part towards you...) we were off to the races. What a ride! I haven't felt that much like a kid in years. We slide down 5 or so of these, one being super steep and crazy, I could have done that all day!

So after getting down from the mountain I was exhausted, and my body was ready to quit on me. I made it back to the campsite where I met Rita and Molly and packed up my stuff so we could head into Pucon to stay in a real bed for the night. We stayed at the Tree House hostel and took real showers!! After dinner with some other girls from our exchange program who were also in town, I crashed immediately and slept for like 12 hours...

Today, we just wandered around the town of Pucon which reminds me a lot of Breckenridge or other mountain towns. I kept looking up at the volcano, towering over the city, in amazement at what I had pushed myself to do. Its amazing when you set your mind to something what you can get out of it 😊. I bought some new hiking shoes and a tshirt, got our laundry done - clean clothes!! This afternoon we hopped a 4 hour bus down to Puerto Varas. After a bit of confusion with a hotel we booked that was apparently 45 KM outside of the city (whoops) we found a hostel with some dormitory rooms.

So here we are in Puerto Varas. We head to Chiloe tomorrow by bus for the week. I hope all is well and you aren't freezing in the snow!e

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