Another day, another overnight bus ride. This time we were whisked on
a bumpy ride from the sleepy town of Valparaiso to the rugged beauty
of Pucón; yes, we have finally reached the start of the much
anticipated "Lakes Region" of Chile.

We were welcomed into town with a very cold, gray rain that spit down
upon our faces. Cursing the many layers of warm clothes that lay
safely 7,000 miles to the north in Oakland, CA, we grabbed our packs
from beneath the bus and hightailed it across town to the toasty warm
sanctuary of Emalafquen Hostel.

Though we were promised breakfast "of some sort" with our bus ticket,
nothing was delivered. And so, after dropping our bags, we headed back
out into the cold, gray, rain to see what kind of breakfast and hot
coffee we could score.

The issue that plagued us in Valparaiso hadn't seemed to let up yet in
Pucón either. The holiday was still dragging on, and very little was
open. Luckily, due to the cold we weren't picky and after a little
searching we found one diner-like establishment open. It was warm, as
their fireplace raged, and they did, in fact, serve coffee... Good
enough for us.
Our scrambled eggs over white toast with coffee was fine enough, but
certainly not worthy of our $36 bill; Chile was proving hard to get
used to in terms of cost.

It quickly became apparent that the weather was not on our side today.
We were a bit at a loss of what we should do to kill some time. We
looked around and with little open, we decided to take the chance to
catch up on some blogs and tick off some long put-off boxes. Luckily
for us there were a few establishments open, one being an Internet
cafe, and so we plopped down in our seats for two solid hours of
"taking care of business".

By the time we felt good and productive, and more or less finished for
the day, we were getting pretty thirsty. You can blame pretty much
anything on a boozy afternoon, can't you? "It's SUCH a beautiful
afternoon, Let's grab some drinks!" "It's cold and miserable outside,
Let's grab some drinks!" It works for any occasion, but in our case it
was most definitely the latter.

We quickly scurried through the streets as the cold, wicked wind
nearly pushed us over and the rain blew at us from all angles. We came
across many welcoming establishments that were unfortunately closed
for the aforementioned holiday. Luckily, within a few harshly cold
minutes we came across a sign like a beacon on a stormy night at
sea... Beirgarten.

We burst through the door and gave a massive sigh of relief as we felt
the rush of heat against our faces. We sat down at the oversized
Oktoberfest-esque tables and instantly had the feeling that it would
be a while before either of us would be getting up from these seats.

We enjoyed some of the best beer we have had in quite a while over a
delicious spread of dark bread, olives, fruit, cheeses, etc. It was
just what we needed on a cold Chilean afternoon. True to our word it
was hours before we had finally paid our bill and headed out into the
cold.

By this point there really was no sense to head home and do nothing,
so instead we stopped into the nearest open wine bar and pulled up two
chairs next to the open fire. We ordered a bottle of red and sparkling
water and basked in the blazing warm air until eventually it was time
to make a run for it.

Back at the hostel, though the common room was nice and toasty, our
bedroom was a meat locker. We hopped into bed and covered ourselves
with the 5 blankets provided for us. After some quality R n' R, it was
off to dreamy-dream land for us.

The next morning it was off to the gym for me. Finally the holiday was
over and life back to normal. After a much needed workout we did our
mandatory shopping mission and headed back home. Our only goal for
today was to organize our excursion for Pucon, summiting Volcan
Villarrica. We stopped into a local tour shop and put down the cash
$60 each for a 6 hour hike up the mountain. They would be providing
all the gear we needed, including pants, jackets, gloves, helmet, ice
ax, boots, etc. etc. Not a bad deal in our opinion, but it would mean
a 5:30 am wake up call.

Once we were settled up and back at the hostel, we packed up our
things and along with an English couple we met at our hostel, we
headed out to the bus depot. A 45 minute bus ride would take us out to
the Pozones Termales, or the Hot Springs. This place was incredible.
Perched next to a roaring river, deep in the valley between two
towering mountains stood 5-6 different thermal pools of all
temperature. Soaking ourselves in the piping hot water with the cold
air on our faces was nothing less than heavenly.

We spent the following hour and a half quickly darting from pool to
pool. Our cold skin would burn a bit when entering the scorching
water, but it hurt so good! It was really a special place.

By 4pm, it was back on the bus for the ride back to Pucon. The rest of
the evening was spent warming ourselves by the fire, preparing and
eating dinner, and going for an evening stroll, before retiring early
as 5:30 am would arrive before we knew it.

Sure enough the darkness of 5:30 am came and we reluctantly plucked
ourselves from the warm comforts of our bed and got going. We put
together our lunches and snacks for the day and by 5 to 6 we were out
the door.

The process of getting the gear together, waiting on all the hikers,
and eventually the guide to show up took a good hour+. It wasn't until
after 9 when we started the long hike up the massive snowy mountain.
The first couple of hours really is an awkward walk up slippery snow
with heavy and a size and half too big, of boots. We weren't even at
the base of the volcano, where we began the actual climb, when we lost
of first soldier. On initial impression, we didn't think she stood a
chance, but looks can certainly be deceiving, however, in this case...
not so much.

The hours crept by as we continued the climb up the hill. We would
stop just about every 30 minutes or so to drink some water, take off a
layer of clothing, and snap photos or take a long gaze out to the
beauty that surrounded us. It also must be said that the day we chose
to hike that mountain, felt like it could have been just about the
best day imaginable. It was sunny, clear, perfect temperature, and
hardly any wind. We completely scored!

By half past 12, we had made it to the final ridge before the last
long push up to the summit. From there it was roughly two hours to the
top. It was hard to believe as it seemed so close, but these guys do
this every day, I'm going to have to take their word for it, and what
was certain is it was the steepest and most trecherous looking part of
the entire hike.

Sitting in the sun looking up a bit overwhelmed at the task that lay
before us, we enjoyed our packed lunches, drank plenty of water, and
rested our slowly tiring legs. After a luxurious 20 minute rest it was
back at it. The last hour and a half or so was grueling. All I wanted
to the was finish the thing, but our guide was confident in our
fitness capabilities. He passed nearly every other group on the hill,
leaving us tired and breathless after having scurryed past large
groups on new, nonbeaten snow tracks.

It was just after 2 and we made it to the top! The view was
incredible. The trip, though challenging was instantly worth it. By
the time we arrived at the summit, I took inventory of our group. It
seems during the hike we lost another 3 trekkers. We spent a good
30-45 minutes on top, taking photo after photo of everything possible.
It was just stunning! One of the most beautiful sights I had seen
during this long travel journey.

I could have probably stayed up there the rest of the afternoon, but
soon it was time to start heading down. We put back on all the layers
we had available and attached ourselves to a strange contraption that
harnessed around our legs and butt. After looking properly dorky, we
then attached the plastic sleds that would be our mode of
transportation down the hill.

Our guide walked to the edge of a steep ravine. After a few
instructions he sat down, with his ice ax next to him as his break,
set sail down the hill at blazing speeds. One after another, our group
began sledding down the hill at various speeds and with various levels
of confidence. I would by lying if I said I wasn't a touch nervous
about the whole thing. But soon it was my turn and down the hill I
sped, quite enjoying it once I got the hang of it.

What I will say, having reached the bottom, putting away our sleds and
embarking on the hour hike down to the parking lot. That sledding bit
was HARD!!! It was essentially doing a 2 hour ab work out. In order to
prevent from stopping during the sledding, I was forced to lift both
the top half of my body, as well as my legs. I was effectively doing a
two hour boat pose, for those of you yogis out there. Let me just
say... OUCH!! I was a sweaty mess by the time it was all said and
done, but boy or boy was that a good day of fitness.

After a mandatory group photo, of which almost half failed to make it
to the top, we all piled in the van and headed back into town. After
pealing off our sweaty clothes and apologetically handing them back to
the lady running the shop, we headed out to grab a couple drinks for
the house. After a much needed shower, we enjoyed our very deserved
drinks in the sun with the rest of the crew (The English couple, a
German girl, and 2 young American kids) out the back of our hostel.

By 7pm we were more than famished, and had decided to treat ourselves
to a dinner out. We split a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc over some
Mediterranean food. We exchanged stories of our day, next to the fire,
with our deliciously filling food.

We took another spin around town, before heading back to the hostel.
The American guys and German girl were sitting around playing cards
and as we certainly weren't ready for bed, we joined them for a couple
hours. We exchanged stories and musical preferances and a whole bunch
of wine. By 1am, the strenuous day and a bit too much wine, caught up
with us and it was time for bed.

The next morning we woke to more cold, gray, rainy skies. A bit
fearful of the cold outside the covers of our bed, we happily lounged
around lazily in bed that morning. With no plans and no need to be up
early, we felt we earned it. Eventually though, it was time to face
the day. We headed out to town for coffee, some additional food for
lunch, dinner, and the following day's bus trip, stopping to
investigate renting bikes to ride out to some neighboring waterfalls.

The sun was sorta-kinda peaking through by the time we were back to
the hostel. The American guys and German girl were gung-ho for biking,
but to be honest, we couldn't be bothered. We let the kids go on
without us, leaving us feeling a little old and a little lazy. As a
remedy for this, we changed into our workout gear and headed out the
door for a very ambitious run around town and alongside one of the two
lakes in town. I think the run lasted around 12 minutes before I
surrendered to the aching in my tummy. Instead we walked up and down
the calles of Pucon searching for somewhere to watch NFL on this
Sunday afternoon. We wandered down just about every likely street and
came up dry. It looks like football is not in the cards for us today.

The rest of the afternoon we enjoyed some relaxing quiet next to the
fire in our hostel. We ventured out twice for bus tickets the
following morning and a stroll through town to hit up and ATM, but not
a whole lot else. After dinner, I crawled into bed and tried to make
sense of the Emmy's coverage in Spanish and by 11, we were both out
cold.

In the morning it was up and at 'em at 7am. We ate breakfast, packed
it up and were aboard the bus promptly at 8am. Our next destination,
Puero Varas, 6 hours to the south. More mountains, volcanoes, and
lakes... Oh My!!