Chileeeeeeeeeee!!!!

Our plans didn't work out as we thought... and the 16 days in Chile disappeared into being... 7 days!!

So from San Martin de Los Andes we took a 5 h bus ride that also didn't go as planned! Bus broke down, but got fixed, and we had to take some people back to the Chile border because they couldn't pass to "the other side"! But we managed to finally arrive in Pucon - a cozy mountain city with a beautiful clear blue water lake and an impressive volcano... one of the most active in te world with constant smoke coming out... and we discovered that.. we could climb it!!!

2846meters, most of it of pure lava rock (around 3h) and the final 3h being of pure ice... amazing.. and exhausting experience but so much worth it! You realize you are doing something crazy when your guide suddenly tells you "believe in yourself and don't look down!" and you just think "well, this is going to be fun!!!" and up we went!! 6 hours, starting at 5h in the morning... no one else climbing the volcano and at 11h we were arriving the crater... on the way up still in the dark we had a sky full of stars and you could see the red smoke coming out - the red lava being reflected in the smoke - an image I will not easily forget!! We arrived at the top, almost with our lungs jumping out of the chest, and the views were just ... breathtaking... view of Pucon, the lakes and the moutains around, and the other volcanos just beside, one of them that had just errupted the day before and the whole town had to be evacuated...

We didn't see any lava, but you could hear it!!! and feel the warm vapours and smoke coming out...

The way down took us just 1h30 and it was sooo much easier than coming up!!! they gave us some strange fabric to put around ourselves and just went sliding down the ice with a kind of brake to slow down the way!

Well worth staying in Pucon for 2 days, enjoy this experience, go to the thermal waters (very cheap and very worth it!), and enjoy the relaxed environment of the city.