Sulfur is my kryptonite ….

Get me, all tired & exhausted from climbing the 2nd most active volcano in South America :D

Ok, so I arrive in Pucon & literally do nothing for the first day apart from chill out after the awful awful 10 hours night bus. I decided to be good (since I have no money left) & get a semi cami seat (part reclining), probably the worst decision I could make & ended up squashed next to some old Chilean dude whose bum kept touching my bum :(

Anyway, Pucon is a really beautiful town, very similar to what I would expect parts of Canada to be like. It has wooden houses, old iron fire burners & a very warm & homely feel to it, a lot of people say it reminds them of Queenstown or a cool little ski resort :)

So I settle in for the night & this Hostel has these cool beds kind of suspended in the air, hanging from ropes, duvets (YES!) & the most comfy pillow I have ever felt ahhhh.The next day I'm booked to get up at 6am for a 9 hour day, 5 hour climb up & 2 hour slide/climb down, at Volcano Villerrica (google it, amazing!).

It was quite possibly the hardest activity that I have ever ever done, most people got the chair lift part way (about a quarter of the way or something) but me and a small group decided to man up, and if we were going to do it we were going to do it properly ;) Well, it was TOUGH, the first bit that the rest of the group chair lifted meant we done an extra 1 hours climbing up steep steep volcano and then had another 4 hours of steep steep climbing plus with snow! Also, it made me laugh that everyone recommended getting the chair lift first as 15% of people who don't, don't even make it to the top, well once one of the male guides said to me 'You're women, It's hard doing that extra hour, I would highly recommend getting the chair lift', well that made up my mind :)

The ONLY part I would say I felt like giving up was once we neared the top, god damn the sulfur coming from the live volcano KILLED my eyes & throat, I felt like jacking it all in, sticking my fingers up at the crater & sliding back down while poking the stupid volcano with my pickaxe. Sulfur is now my new number 1 hate in life *waves fist manically at the fumes*

Once at the top , after taking in the breathtaking view, we then slid down the snow on our bums down these kinda tunnels in the snow, and then also went part way on a plastic board to go faster. It was scary as hell being on the edge, one false move & you could go over, but it was superb! I also got told off alot for talking, mucking about etc, was a bit like school again, but all good fun. At the endI thought I may have accidently broken both my ankles due to the sheer pain, but alas it was just a few stray stone in my boots *embarrassed*, I also slipped a few times but loved shoving my pickaxe into the ice & smashing all the ice apart like I was really really 'ard, POW! Also loved wearing the snow grips & pretending I was actually climbing Mount Everest & could get frostbite at any given moment*ahem*

All in all something I would highly recommend, it's certainly the best thing I have done on this trip so far, with the most amazing view & the most amazing satisfaction at the end, especially from completing the whole trek & not using the chair lift like some people(you know who you are ;) ) xx