23rd - 26th April - Pucon

Another 6 hour bus trip where we slept on and off on our way to Pucon. Another small touristy town similar to Bariloche. Lots of upscale accommodation, places to shop and eat. We wandered down to the main street and bought some supplies at the supermarket for our next couple of days here. We are staying at hostal willy where we are staying in a little house next to the main hostel with kitchen facilities, dining room, open fire and a BBQ. We had a BBQ for dinner and a few drinks. The tour operators from the volcano climb came and kitted us out with our gear for the climb. It included boots, pants, jacket, gloves, helmet, backpack, crampons and a neckwarmer/beanie and an ice pick. 24th 7am start today. We headed off for Volcano Villarrica about 10km South of Pucon. In winter this is the snow skiing mountain of Pucon. We drove above the cloud line and got out at the car park. We had a short walk to the chairlift where we had a choice to walk for an hour to the top of the chair lift or catch it for 5000 pesos. Only Jon and Greg decided to walk, the rest of us caught the rickety old double chair. As you can imagine David was freaking out as there were no chains or anything to hold you in and it decided to stop when we were above the highest point from the ground. Luckily it only stopped for a minute if that. Once back on solid ground we hiked up to the glacier where we put our crampons on and were given a demo of how to use the ice pick in case we were to slip.. It was a tough, exhausting ascent to the point of the 1983 lava flow. We took a few rest stops along the way taking in the views and many pictures. Lucky for us it was another sunny day. The further we climbed the more the cloud below evapourated leaving us with spectacular views. We took the crampons off and scaled the lava flow to the top. The smell of sulphur was quite overpowering at times but we managed to stay up there long enough to have a group hug,take more photos and have a bite to eat. The views were incredible, both of the surrounding country side but also into the crater.

It felt like we were on top of the world. Our decent was fun and difficult at times. There had been a snow fall a week ago and we were able to slide down much of the way on our bums like a slippery slide. We had to walk over the lava flow again and then put our crampons back on to get over the glacier. Once we took our crampons off again we half walked half slid down through the cinders and volcanic rock back to the car park. We arrived back at the hostal exhausted but having had one of the best days of the tour so far. We finished off the day with a little party our tour leader put on for us. 25th Another early start, this time horse riding. They asked us what our experience was and matched us up with our horses. We headed out along a dirt road where the horses were just walking while we got used to the them and they got used to us. It was a scenic ride through the country side. We were able to make the horses trot and then canter. We went through a Mapuche (local natives) village and past their farms. We stopped by a river to have a snack. I (cat) didn't quite get my foot out of the stirrup before dismounting and ended up on the ground with my foot still attached. The guide hurried over to help me out and advised me to only have my toe in the stirrup when dismounting. The trip back was along the river where we were given another opportunity to canter along the sand. Then on a winding track over rocks and up and down hills. In the afternoon we headed off to the termas los Pozones, local natural thermal pools by the river, to soak our weary bones. It was another enjoyable day. We finished off with dinner in a restaurant and then to a club called Mummas and Tappas, for a drink. 26th Last day spent updating blog and exploring Pucon.