Blogs from Villarrica Volcano, Araucanía, Chile, South America - page 4

We left the house...After 5 days of sitting, waiting, and running the hostel between the 4 of us, it stopped raining. "What?" I hear you cry did you do until then. The answer to this question is nothing. I got a hair cut randomly one evening when we went out to the supermarket at about 9 pm (local time of course). I pointed to a picture and off we went. Sat me down and explained the programme that he´d been watching - a doco on the terrorists in Peru. Cannae wait! Having witnessed 2 robberies and rioting in Santiago, we kind of thought that would be the worst of it. Anyways, Mr Hairdresser promptly picked up something from the selection of scissors available on the counter in front of me. A shaving blade like they´d ... read more

Airplanes...You can´t beat them. We had the worst air hostess man ever, but did get some nice Chilean vino and watched some films that I´d wanted to see for a while. Then I broke the computer thing and had to entertain myself with my own thoughts. During the flight we magically crossed the international date line so arrived in Santiago, earlier than we´d left NZ. This confused us signing the documents to let us into the country. I was also totally unprepared in the mind to speak the spanish again. It threw me. I got stopped at customs for trying to get a suspicious looking item into the country. I claimed as convincingly as I could that I did not in fact have any fruit in my bag...but I couldn´t exactly remember. Turns out I ... read more

So after taking a day or so to recover from the trek from hell, I decided to stick with Emily and Ben and head towards Pucon, Chile, with the thought to walk up a bloody big volcano. Many of you will be aware at this stage I was pretty much a cripple due to a hip that had been completely hammered after the last hike and that I had been told by the doctor that rest for 4 days was what was required. I did take into account the doctors advice and did rest for a coupla days but decided to do that in a car heading towards this volcano via the Seven Lakes in Argentina. As usual not being one to want to miss out on anything. So car packed and everything sorted, as ... read more

Pucon is the adventure capital of Chile and it didn´t disappoint. Pucon is a little like a ski town (and in fact becomes a big ski destination from June onwards) with numerous tour agencies, cafes, restaurants and bars for entertainment. The first of our activities was to climb Volcan Villarrica. Again, perfect weather meant that we could do this the day after we arrived in town. At 7am we got kitted out with our jackets, waterproof trousers, gaiters, walking boots and crampons!! Our group was 7 strong, and with two bonita mexican chicas joining us Rich thought this was going to be a good day... The start of the climb was fairly good going. As you´d expect the terrain was pretty rocky, dusty and steep. About a quarter of the way up we reached the ... read more

Climbing Volcano Villarrica South America » Chile » Pucon » Volcan Villarrica By zlatomiraMarch 19th 2007Gisela came with me and Nadine to Pucon after our fun kayaking in San Martin de Los Andes. By the time we reached our hostel I was accompanied by 4 girls: Nadine, Gisela and Audrey. ... Yep, not really travelling alone, am I?! even though Talal remained in Bariloche for a few extra days to spend time with his "friend" from Buenos Aires. ... read more