Ain´t no volcano high enough.... San Martin to Pucon

---

Greetings once again!
It's your favorite non spanish speaking South American traveler writing you this time, unfortunately not with a glass of vino in hand, but at the Santiago airport in the heart of Chile. My original game plan never had me here in Chile for more than a trek up the volcano, but plans are meant to be broken. Which allows me to hint at this weeks "Deep Moments with Travellin' LaLuke."
One of my recent favorite movies also contains one of my now all-time favorite lines. The movie is Kung-Fu Panda, an animation movie of a panda who learns how to master his kung fu passion through his appetite for food. You should see him manage a pair of chopsticks and kung fu maneuvers for the elusive wonton. Anyways, the wise master in the movie has this powerful mantra: "The past is history, the future is a mystery, and today is a gift, that is why it is called the present."
And so it's today, this moment which we should all focus on. The past is the past and we do not know the future, neither are real, only this moment. My plans in life, especially recently, did not have me in Chile, yet here I am. One moment at a time my friends; they will unravel exactly as they should.
3 weeks ago today I was in the Indianapolis airport full of eager anticipation and excitement. Half way through my trip I am happy to report that I am still full of eager anticipation and excitement; what will the next 3 weeks bring? Each day, each city, each adventure has surpassed the previous and it's my goal to keep that streak alive. Although, these past few days have been quite the highlight reel I must say. First though, lets pick up where we last left off.
So there I was, leaving the familarity and friends in Mendoza and heading off for San Martin de Los Andes. Again, an overnight comfortable semi-cama Argentinian bus was taking me from point A to point B. Fresh off some espanol comprehension frustrations I am handed a Bingo card to kick off the ride. Lets just add some salt to the wound eh?, why don't you kick my dog while you're here? Nah, it wasnt that bad, it's only numbers and I can handle at least that much. However, it did have me concerned that it took about 20 minutes of instruction in spanish, none of which I understood, to explain the game of Bingo.....how difficult or complicated can it be? Anyhoo, I was on the verge of shouting Bingo, just one number to go when the hombre in front of me took the 1st place prize of a nice bottle of wine. Movie time and dinner ensued and sleep time after that.
I was supposed to arrive around the 8:00am hour but awoke in the wee hours (did the little pig cry wee all the way home? weeeeeee!.......weeeeeeeeee!) of the morning to our bus at a complete standstill. Our bus was at a complete standstill for roughly 6 hours I'd say. I saw emergency vehicles pass periodically and finally when we got moving I learned why the delay. It must have been a tremendous head on collision between a semi trailer and a vehicle. I believe another car was involved but it was difficult even to recognize vehicles in the burnt, twisted metal carnage which remained. 3 people died in the accident.
The tragic delay caused Anton, who I met at the station in Neuquen, and I to miss the early bus to San Martin and catch a 6:00pm bus that evening. We didnt get into San Martin until a little bit past midnight. Nothing like being on or within a 10 meter radius of a bus for over 24 hours.... you see now where the wine comes in?
San Martin is a beautiful, picturesque little mountain town in the Lake District area north of Patagonia and east of dramatic, beautiful and unspoilt Chilean national parks. Anton and I stayed at the Sequoia Hostel which seemed to be a house turned hostel. It was nice and I'd recommend it. Our first day had us booting up for a hike which offered beautiful views of the lake and city and a hike past the local Mapauche community. This community, tucked safely away from the tourism squalor, seems preserved in time. We saw oxen pulling carts, we saw sheep, horses, alpacas, chickens and more. It was your Old MacDonald\San Martin had a farm song through and through.
We had additional company on the trip which provided entertainment throughout the day. As we began our hike, two dogs came running round the corner, nipping at one anothers heels and following ours. There are many paths to take and they would run ahead guiding us flawlessly to the vista points. We named them Gustavo and Sabrina. We lost Gus upon heading into the Mapauche village but Sabrina stuck with us as our guide and local 'disrupter of the peace'. We learned that the locals are not big fans of dogs following humanoids past the gated road and shortly after found out why. Flock of chickens in the field? Not any longer, Sabrina the Chicken Terrorizer would send them bawk-bawking into a tizzy. Herd of sheep grazing in the field? Nope, Sabrina the Track Star would send those sheep running for their lives. I've never seen so many chickens attempt to fly and sheep run so fast. While it was good laughs, I felt a little bad disturbing the local animal peace. Sabrina, however, couldn't have been happier. Oddly enough, at the exact point our canine guides joined us is where they left us. Perhaps a greater force was looking down on us that day and sent some guides for us. Sabrina took off running as if there were sheep or chickens in the area, leaving us to our day and grateful for the companionship. She didnt even ask for a tip.
The next day Anton and I rented mountain bikes and after it was all said and done invented a new sport we dubbed, "Extreme Special Mountain Biking". We first opted for a ride towards a lake which took us uphill and into crumy weather. It was cold, wet, windy and uphill. We realized it was more than we could or wanted to take on and turned back, but, hey, at least we tried. The downhill was exhillarting and we headed for the same course we did on our hike the previous day.
With the bikes we opted for the more mountain bike terrain type paths which led us down and down and was wrong and wrong. The more we went down the less of a path we had to work with. We found ourselves pushing the bikes along narrow paths and up short densely covered hills. As we tried to find a route back up we were soon carrying our bikes on the side of steep and dangerous rocky terrain. We had to double back which meant more pushing and carrying our bikes, why would we want to ride them anyways?.
Eventually we made it to the gravel road which was perfect for our fat tires. Loose rocks, puddles, fast downhills, easy uphills and scenic forest landscape blurred by our now ridable racing machines. After some exhilarating runs, one of which had my feet and body momentarily off the petals and seat, we turned around and made back for the town. Unbeknownst to me at the time, that evening marked my last night in Argentina. Anton and I were going our separate ways the next day so it was decided upon that steaks and a nicer bottle of tinto was necessary. As I think about the enormous steak wading in Rouquefort cheese and butter I begin to salivate like Wile E. Coyote does for the Road Runner, it was really....., really......, good.
A moment of silence please for the steaks and wines of Argentina..........muchas gracias.
The next morning I was back on my own and headed towards the Chilean border and the town of Pecon. Looking back and knowing what I know now I may have opted to head further south towards Bariloche (Lake Tahoe on steroids) first and then back north but hindsight is 20\20 blah blah blah. Pucon is an adventure tourism hotspot highlighted by the active Volcan Villareca which looms behind the town, its sulpher fumes easily seen from the ground. Easily seen that is if there is not crummy weather! My first day there was grey and rainy. I bunkered up at the Hostel Ecole which is a nice hostel which has its pros and cons. The walls are paper thin, you cannot cook yer own food in their kitchen, and its not the cheapest spot. However, the restaurant, all vegetarian I may add, is delicious and ambiance very cool. I spent the afternoon chillaxin and talking with an Irish girl named Che (pronounced Shay). I also met a German girl named Martina and they became my partners in crime so to speak during my time in Pucon.
The next day Martina and I walked and talked the town, it's small so it doesnt take long. It was another crummy weather day, (apparently there's a volcano somewhere, beats me) so "if you can't beat'em, join'em" and Martina and I signed up to get soaked in the river doing some white water rafting. With all the recent rain the river was fast and high and the rapids big! Glorious!
The weather report the next day had the clouds breaking and the sun shining. I had booked the Volcano trip for that day but heard that the weather report only keeps on getting better. Opting for ideal conditions Che and I pushed back the volcano trek one day. Perfect call. The following day was really, really nice with some low level cloud cover during the morning. I talked Che into going on a bike ride to Lagos Caburgua about 23km away which I read about. I think if I would have told her that I do alot of spin classes and bicycling comes easily for me she may have thought twice, but as it was, I didn't, and we took off for a ride around noon. With Che at her pace and me at mine we made our way along a gravel road through beautiful hilly countryside; the volcano always in every panoramic view. We side tripped to a gorgeous pool where 3 waterfalls cascaded into. I could not resist the urge to jump in. Now, I've swam in Lake Tahoe in early summer but this water was freshly melted ice cubes, YAHTZEE it was cold. "I was in the pool!" I took 3 short dips before we pressed on for our destination. Finally reaching Lago Caburgua we bought a beer, spread out our towels and had a nice little picnic. While it took us nearly 4 hours there, the main road has us downhill and back within an hour and a half and within 10 minutes of the rental shop closing.
We talked to a few of our friends, Martina and new dude, Alex from the US, about the volcano trek and, while they were clearly exhausted, they were clearly super pumped about their experience.
We set off ourselves the next morning to crystal clear blue skies and charged the volcano geared up with ice-axes in hand. There are many groups which take you up and all are pretty much the same. The trek up the volcano gets colder and colder and more tricky with each step. Unless the group stops that's really the only view you see too. It's snow and ice you're traversing back and forth across so each step follows the persons in front of you. As we got higher and higher the wind picks up and the footing loosens. We break for lunch and afterwards put on crampons for the final ascent. Although we did have blue bird blue skies it was a bit windy at the top. It is an active volcano and sulpher fumes always rise out. If there is no wind it's straight up and is not bad, but as it was the wind was blowing the sulpher into us. No bueno. We lingered at the top, peered down into the crater (couldn't see any lava), took some pics, took in the view, high fived and then headed back down.
We headed back down, but not the route from wence we came. The beauty with going up is the thrill of going down. Part of the package you pay for is the right gear to slide your way down. It's like putting on a diaper (I assume, heck, when was the last time I changed a diaper?) and then its all butt-sliding after that. You can gain quite a deal of speed and what was a quiet, baby step 4 hour trek to the top becomes a laughter filled snowy thrill ride on your butt down the volcano.
Arriving back at the hostel I quickly felt the wind blown, mind numbing, exhausted coma sensation. Che and I had overnight bus tickets to Santiago and we could hardly wait for the ride. It didn't take long to doze off and that was that. Che was at the very end of her South American trip and I am now halfway through.
I'll be honest, there's a small part of me that wouldn't be opposed to making another change in plans and jumping on a homeward bound plane. It's a natural thought I suppose but that thought and moment passes and I instead say a prayer. I give thanks to all my moments, both the good and the bad, and give greater thanks to those who helped make them. "The past is history, the future a mystery, but today is a gift, that is why it is called the present". Be thankful, be grateful, live your moments!

Until we get to make some moments together take care...

---

Photos

Argentina busses are comfy!
add dinner, wine, and a movie and see, it´s not that bad...most of the time.

Accident Carnage
3 people died in this early morning accident

The paths our guides took us on
Hiking outside San Martin de los Andes

Our Faithful Guides
Gus and Sabrina.

¨Now we´re farming¨...don´t ask, some english expression.
Here´s a great example of our Extreme Special Mountain Biking

At the top
Che and I at the top of the volcano.