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Well after our first long bus ride where I struggled with sunburn we arrived in beautiful Pucon and thought we were in heaven. It's such a picturesque town with wooden chalets everywhere, a beautiful lake with a black volcanic sand beach and the Villarrica Volcano towering over the town. In the main street there's a special traffic light whose sole purpose is to tell you if you need to get out because the volcano is about to blow! Seeing as the Volcano Llaima that went off in Chile only a few weeks beforehand was only 50km or so from Pucon we could understand why this was needed and were very happy that the light stayed on green during our stay!
We couldn't be in Pucon and not climb the volcano so we signed up for the earliest tour which meant a ridiculously early start at 3.30am but had the very big advantage of being the first people onto the volcano and also the amazing sight of seeing the sunrise over the snow from up there. My head torch came in very handy for the pitch dark climbing at the start too!
Hard is not the word for the walk up the volcano, it was absolutely exhausting and I for one had pains in places I never knew existed while we were climbing up in all our gear. And a lot of gear there was too - waterproofs, special trekking boots, helmets, crampons and an ice axe. Our guides were fabulous, they climb the volcano 6 times a week so they were positively racing up, definitely mountain goats.
The ascent took about 5 hours and the views from the top were absolutely amazing, both looking over the Chilean lake district and seeing all the volcanoes in the distance (including a very blackened Llaima from its recent eruption) and also the crater of the volcano itself. Villarrica is still active but it hasn't erupted since the 1980s but it still bellows huge amounts of fumes and the smell of sulphur from the crater is really strong.
So after a walk of 5 hours the best way down was to strap on a nappy (yes you read that right a fabric nappy) and slide down in the snow on your backside with only an ice axe to slow yourself down. So much fun and only a hour to descend! Gareth got so out of control and ended up flying out of the slides a few times with a big smile on his face.
Relaxing in the lake in Pucon and floating in the water while looking up at the volcano was both good for the aches and pains the next day and also a very satisfying feeling to have conquered Villarrica!
A must do for anyone planning a trip to South America!!!!
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