Today I had my first mountaineering experience climbing a Villarica volcano right outside of Pucón, Chile. It was the hardest thing for me physically so far, because it was very steep and the gear is pretty heavy and uncomfortable (mainly the boots). The altitude was not the issue since it was only 2,800 meters. We had three guides that were locals. The group was not very big, only 9 people - Israeli, Brazilian and us. Everyone was in good shape (especially the Israelies), and the guides pushed us, so much so that we were ahead of all the other groups. I was not happy with my boots as they were too big, even after the fitting session the night before. We started climbing on the lava rocks, and when we got to the glacier, we put on our crampons. As we started learning how to climb on ice, rocks starting falling down, and it was pretty frightening. Everyone yelled "roca"!!! Some of the rocks falling were pretty huge, I have no idea how one can avoid being hit, if the rock is moving fast...I really liked walking on ice (there wasn't much snow because of the season). The technical part of the climb was very interesting, and I got to use an ice axe for the first time. I got more and more tired when we were getting to the top, at one point I didn't know if I would ever make it there... Finally we got to the summit and it was pretty cool seeing the crazy large crater that was constantly boiling and steaming and the view of the other volcano and the surroundings. I really like being above clouds, it feels like flying. We had our sandwiches on the summit, and headed down. The trick was that we had to slide down the glacier in this tunnel that was created in order to get down faster, because of the rock fall. I didn't want to slide down, and thought it was optional. Apparently, it wasn't... The guides showed us what to do, and how to control the speed with the ice axe. Unfortunately for me, I had to go first, since I didn't want to do it... One of the guides was in front of me, and another on my side, both instructing me. It was pretty scary because I couldn't stop and felt that I was completely out of control when I was sliding down. I got really frustrated and scared. The guides kept pushing me to keep going, because there were tons of people behind me. After a few tries, we figured out that the best way to do it was for me to be dragged on a side by one person, holding on by an ice axe. That was actually really fun! Things went much faster after that, and on the last slide I even managed to go on my own. What an adventure... After we got off the glacier, it was a breeze to slide down on the lava rocks, took us less than 40 min to get down. I was enjoying sliding down the small rocks and sand. In the evening we treated ourselves to thermal springs known for its natural setting with rock pools. It was a nice treat after the volcano trekking.