Pucon / Chile - Climbing the volcano


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South America
October 1st 2014
Published: October 1st 2014
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Ever climbed a volcano? Ever walked up a volcano that is still active and rumbling? Well more to that later…..

After my last blog report from Villarrica a lot had happened. The morning after my last report I walked around the town, in the rain of course, and thought to myself that I had enough of this shit. There was nothing else to do and I must have walked the streets about a hundred times already. While it was a nice town there really wasn’t much to do. The highlight was the visit to the thermal springs which I thoroughly enjoyed. And to be honest after 3 days without a shower it was great to be clean again.

One thing that you have to realize that when you are backpacking there is not always a shower around that is hot. And in areas like I am now that means they are bloody cold. So I rather go without for a couple of days. Same goes for the cloth; there is only so much room in a backpack and one carries cloth for about a week. So you try to stretch it as much as you can wearing them. There is no such luxury than changing your cloth every day.

So after spending the time in Villarrica with not much happening I took the bus to Pucon. Pucon is closer the volcano and has heaps more tour operators and activities. When I stepped out of the bus one tour operator was waiting for tourists and since he was a nice guy and I didn't had anywhere specific to go I took up his offer to stay at his place. In addition he had a tour going around that afternoon to some waterfalls and another thermal spring.

So after dropping my stuff off at the hostel I jumped straight into a bus that took me and others to some waterfalls that were nice but nothing to write home about. After about three of them we arrived at the thermal springs which was a bit of a letdown after the ones I visited the day before. Now don’t get me wrong they were nice; but a touch too nice. The buildings and the surroundings were designed to be 5 stars and such was the clientele. All new wood buildings and the thermals were big pool. Staff was everywhere to cater to your needs and while the pricing was OK I felt out of place. The only good thing was the cold river beside the thermal pools and I took the opportunity to have a dip in it much to the horror of the people in the pool. Well that’s how you do things when you are German; hot and cold to get the heart pumping.

After we came back from the trip it was getting suited up for the volcano trip that I have booked. I was still skeptical as the weather was not the best, but one has to trust the locals. So I was issued with shoes, pants, leggings, jacket, gloves, backpack and a plastic slide ready for the morning.

After rather shitty night, with the neighbors dog barking most of the night that didn’t help me sleeping, I got up at 6 am to go the meeting place. Thankfully there was a coffee shop open to grab an instant Nescafe, the preferred coffee in Chile.

After a short ride in the bus we arrived at the starting point of the volcano climb. There were about 50 people in different groups and that was a lot; because of the bad weather the last 7 days a lot of people waited to climb the volcano.

So of we went in different groups. I was with three other people in our group and we started at 1800 meters above the sea level. The peak of the volcano was over 2800 meters above sea level and the hike supposed to take 6 hours. We had to be at the top at 2 pm so we can make the trip down in 3 hours in a safe manner during day time.

I can’t describe how hard it was for somebody that had no mountain experience. And not one in our group had any experience at all. Once we hit the snow area our feet went knee deep into the soft snow and once we got higher we hit the ice of the glaziers. And that was a complete different story to walk on. We had ice picks to help us to make our way up and after about two hours we were issued with ice shoe that had spikes to help us to get some footing.

So up we went traversing in a single file higher and higher. And the experience was amazing, starting in an area with no clouds and suddenly you were walking around misty clouds just to emerge from them and have a clear blue sky above you and clouds below you. And after a while the sun dispersed these clouds and you could see the lake and the Andes below and far away from you. It was amazing.

Now think about walking up a hill in the freezing cold but you only stop every half an hour for a 5 minute break where you drink water and have something to eat the keep the energy up, and then you go up and do it again. After a while every muscle in your body hurts, the air is getting thinner and breathing is getting harder. I coursed every cigarettes I had in the past but didn't feel as bad as others in the group. It helped that I walked the dogs every day over the last 3 years and the last 3 weeks I walked on average about 10 km every day to go to places.

After about an hour we took our jackets off just keep the body temperature down. You should have seen the steaming bodies when the cold hit the sweat drenched cloth. An amazing sight.

And up and up we went and the sight was getting better and better. Below you the lake and the Andes, above you the volcano that had the steam of the lava over its top. The breaks got longer and the silence got more prominent as we were all started to get exhausted.

And at the 2400 meter mark it happened; two people in the group said that they could not continue and as we were one team it was decided to go back. I am proud to say that, as the oldest and a smoker, I was not one of them; I wanted to see the top and for me it was mind over matter.

So we started our way back and I have to say it was much easier than the way up. We sat down on some plastic that looked like shovels and it was awesome. The only devise we had to break were our ice axes and more than once you tumbled down without control. Good fun.

Once at the bottom we ask the guide on what the percentage is of the people reaching the top and he told us at this time of the year it was about 20%. Well good to know. I still think I could have made it, but maybe that is my over inflated self believe system.

Once I was back in the hostel I am staying, that was owned by the guy who organised the tour, we had a Chilean BBQ that consisted of meat and bread. Very tasty and welcome by me.

As I am writing this I feel totally drained and tired, but happy and exhilarated at the same time. This was an experience that I will treasure for the rest of my life. The sights, the fresh cold air, the pain and just being there was something I will never forget. This is why I love traveling and seeing different places. Stepping out of one’s comfort zone is real living my friends. And pushing ones boundaries; even if you not always succeed it will still give you a new way of thinking.



Thank you for reading to the end and just do something today that you wouldn't normally do. Just be different………


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1st October 2014

No, I never climbed a volcano before - I am too "old" for my own age, to the point I never ever did such a thing like.... "camping"... in my whole life. But I know you Central Europeans enjoy adventures, much more than us.... Just to say somehow I envy you and that (thanks to you) my next vacations will have something to do with countryside Chile - and not only Santiago.... Have fun. And stay safe.
1st October 2014

Carla, Chile is amazing and you will have a great time. Change these high heels for some hiking boots and go tracking. Don't know what you do right now but if you like you can come to Patagonia with me. I hear that this is an amazing place. Let me know when you are going. Might be able to give you some tips.
2nd October 2014

At the moment it would be impossible - much work, very busy. But thanks for the invitation. Soon we will meet each other. There will be many opportunities.

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