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Living The Dream
Hi everyone,
My first day in Chile left me with a very good impression. The weather is good (25 degrees), the quality of service and product is excellent and the people are extremely friendly.
The first night, I got an early night in so that I would be full of energy for the 5 hour hike up Volcan Villarrica here in Pucon. There is a one hour time difference between Chile and Argentina so, having fiddled around with the alarm clock, I went to sleep intending to arise at around 6.30am local time. I woke up at 7.30am and was out of the door running down the road to my meeting point at 7.31am! I was 15 minutes late for the hike! When I got to the meeting point it was deserted. Full of disappointment, I returned to my hostel to find other hikers having breakfast. I had set my alarm clock wrong so was actually early not late.
Having reached our starting point, myself and an English couple who I climbed with, decided to walk an extra hour instead of using the chair lift. (This decision was based on the fact that the 5 minute chair lift cost the same price as three beers back at the town!)
We met our guide at the top of the chairlift and then started the main ascent. The first three hours climbing was on volcanic rocks/gravel and then two more hours on a very steep snow covered incline. During this time we had to use crampons and an ice pick to stop ourselves from falling to our probable death! At 2,000m we stopped to eat the highest lunch ever (and take the highest piss ever!).
After just under 5 hours we reached the summit (2,847m). The crater was a lot bigger than it looks from town. As I peered inside, I could just about make out some red hot laver through the cloud of highly toxic sulpher. After taking a few pictures and enjoying the fact that we were almost 3,000m above sea level, we began the hour and a half decent.
The decent was amazing, like an adhrenaline high! We did the arse luge down the snow. This would not be classed as a black run, it was more like off-pisting down a 45 degree cliff edge! At one point I hit a bump and took off landing a few meters further down the mountain! After the snow we ran down the rock/gravel part of the mountain. It was like running on a conveyer belt as the rocks were just moving as we ran on them. The challenging 5 hour upward hike was well worth it for the hour and a half of bum sliding and mountain running!
In the evening I ate dinner in the restaurant at my hostel, drank my three beers which I had definately earned and went to bed in the hope that I would wake up for the F.A. Cup Final which started at 10am local time!
This morning I woke up and, along with another English guy, walked around the town until we came across a restaurant with a tv. We asked them to put on the football from home which they kindly did. We arrived just in time to see West Ham go 2-0 up. We ordered breakfast and watched the game unfold. Gerrard = Legend.
Tonight, I am heading to the big smoke (aka Santiago). Its a 10 hour bus ride north of Pucon. On arrival, the first priority is to locate a suitable sports bar for wednesday night!
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