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Chicos! ¿Que tal?
Sooo for the update on our adventures....we left you in Puerto Varas Chile and since then we have been super busy!
First of all we bussed it up to Pucon, Chile and turned up late evening. It was such a crazy creepy place. Overlooked by the majestic Volcan Villaricca. Every house in the town seemed to have a log fire burning so the air was full of the smell of wood smoke. I loved it! Our hostel Eco Ethnico was more like a house than a hostel and we met a couple of guys from Yorkshire (one from Hull!) and they persuaded us that we really wanted to go whitewater rafting the following day.
So to those not in the know (I had no idea until I googled it) rafting has several grades of difficulty, kids and beginners should do level II or III max. We decided to raft Rio Trancura Alto which is notoriously hard -grade IV/V and has lots of drop pools of several metres and a waterfall of 8m!
I was desperately hoping the tour company would tell us beginners couldnt raft it, well was I wrong. Anyway despite being very scared we did it and survived and actually had an awesome time doing it! I did fall out the boat once though (embarrassing!) but got rescued pretty quickly! I found out after from the lady in the hostel that the tour company we did it with has a really poor safety record and 2 people have died doing it in the last year! Glad I found that out afterwards...
That night we went to some hot springs and that was so lovely, sitting in a pool hotter than a bath, in the forest with the stars out - bliss.
No rest for the wicked, the next day we were up early doors again and kitted out with crampons and ice picks to climb the volcano! The going was pretty tough but in our group there was Brad and I and 2 Canadians. The Canadian girl dropped out pretty quickly, but Brad, Liam and I powered up this ridiculously steep slope passing several groups and we were the only group who opted out of taking the chairlift which knocks an hour off the trek. The only way I could do it without collapsing was to literally follow in the guides footsteps and not look up or down. It was so steep and icy in places you had to use the ice pick to grip to the side of the slope!
Unfortuanately 600m from the top (about 1.5hours hike away) the visibility went and the wind picked up and our guide decided it was too dangerous to continue so we were devastated but freezing (our hair had frozen) and we came down. Firstly with crampons and further down they have ice slides and you attach a nappy type thing and slide down these slides on your bum. You can pick up a surprising amount of speed going down!
While our guide was about to tell us how to brake, Liam pushed off and shot off down the volcano at high speed, nearly taking the guide with him (crazy Canadian) and Brad and I were in absolute hysterics!!
Anyway after lots of partying with a wicked crowd in the hostel we made it to Santiago on the overnight bus and headed straight through the andes to Mendoza our last stop in Argentina.
This is a really beautiful city with a park the size of the city. It also produces about 3/4 of Argentina´s wine. Yesterday us and 2 aussies went to see Mr Hugo, one of many tours where you hire a bike for the day and a map and head out to loads of wineries (bodegas) and have tasting sessions. Throughout the day we hooked up with a rowdy bunch of people and the day descended into a drunken mess, with about 40 people cycling along a busy road absolutely hammered! soo much fun! The police expect it though and follow the crowd to protect people from the traffic.
So that is our update. Also feel I need to mention that after 27 years of trying Brad has managed to grow something that resembles an actual beard. He said it is because his razor broke, but I suspect he wants to look a little more áuthentic´like Robinson Crusoe.
So tomorrow we are back in Chile and heading for Valparaiso and Vina del Mar, followed by Santiago.
Ciao for now, lots of love to all xxxx
PS mum and dad don´t forget the Michael McIntyre show next week! Give me an update afterwards and girls have a fab time with Chris and Caz xxxx
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