Keep on Truckin

So where did I leave off last post. Thats right Bariloche CHOCOLATE Capital of the Continent (ironic seeing as the Mayans invented the art. Imagine the world before chocolate – what is the point of living.) So after Bariloche we boarded the bus-truck for our last border crossing of the whole tour- and unfortunately the most rigorous as our driver had managed to piss off the authorities last time he crossed. But prior to the border crossing we had to drive through the stunning lake district which included a brief stop as our driver and ’TOUR LEADER” and one Australian guy still drunk from the previous night jumping of a 5-7 meter high bridge into glacial melt water BRRRRRRRRRR. Finally after making it through the border- (they managed to find two pieces of fruit which they paraded in front of us all victoriously) we headed to the Chilean town of Pucon. This was one of my favourite places as the weather was great, the town was clean and pretty and the scenery AMAZING-all volcanoes and mountains. Even cooler was the fact that the town had a special traffic light pattern that would come on if there needed an emergency evacuation due to one of the volcanoes. Whilst we were there another town in Chile had been evacuated due to a volcano eruption. The coolest thing about Pucon was the huge array of adventure sports it had on offer, ranging from Sky Diving to Hydropeed(going over rapids on a boogie board. Unfortunately we only had two days there so we could only sample a small selection of the activities on offer. On the first day, acompanied by almost all of our tour group we donned backpacks full of climping gear and boarded a bus to the villarica volcano that loomed over the town. The first part of the climb involved getting on a small ski lift that went surprisingly high and made a disconcerting amout of noise as it rattled along its way. This was Sam’s firat time on a ski lift and he was a little disturbed by the absence of safety railings at the front and was really concerned about how one goes about getting off the thing at the other end. Thankfully aided by two burly chilean men we were able to disembark without incidence. We then began our long (at least three hour)  trudge upwards to the smoke filled cone of the volcano. At first this just involved walking on loose stones and rock but as we climbed  we finally reached the snow line and got to don propper climbing gear- crampons (thats right it rhymes with tampons) and full on wind suits, helmets ice picks and gloves. Climbing in the ice was exillerating if not at times a little frightening as we were walking on glaciers with crevasses and it was very easy to slip. I kept envisioning me careering down a windswept valley a la Cliffhanger except without Sylvester Stallone to save me (or not save me as was the case in the movie). The guides led us up the volcano at a turtle’s trudge in a zig zag, which got a bit hairy at times when the slope seemed to exceed 45 degrees, but the view at the top was definitely worth every minute. From the crater the town of Pucon looked like a blip, and other volcanoes in the range could be seen. The crater itself belched sulfur, which made looking into it difficult, but it was so deep anyway that you couldn’t see the bottom, only a steep conical hole that disappeared into nowhere. Unfortunately we forgot to put our memory card into the camera so until we can plug our actual camera into the computer, you’ll just have to take our word for it that it was pretty stunning.

The next day was uneventful…. until we went WHITE WATER RAFTING on LEVEL 4 RAPIDS!!! Amelia managed to organise a rafting trip for 14 of the people on the tour for a cheaper price than Tucan’s recommended company. Apparently Pucon is one of the few places where licensed rafting companies will take novices out on level four (out of 6) rapids, elsewhere the norm is level 3. Which was probably no consolation for the raft which capsized on the second rapid. Our boat, however, worked like a well oiled machine, and managed to assist in the rescue of our friends. In fact I (Sam) was the only one in our boat to fall out. Our guide was excellent, and talked us through each rapid as we approached them (which were called intimidating names such as “hell’s gate” or “the colon mincer”) giving us the commands which we would end up forgetting in the excitement. My favourite part by far was when he took us up the side of a rock in the middle of the river, and then slid us back down the rock so that we completed the rapids backwards! he even let us swim through the lower level rapids, which was fun once you blanked out the icy cold waters. In the middle of the course was a rapid which couldn’t be commercially navigated by raft: read, we had to get out while our guides effortlessly took the rafts down the treacherous falls. Instead we got to traverse the rapid by walking around and jumping down a five meter drop into the icy water. The drop seemed to go on for ever and you could feel your stomach rising into your throat! The rafting was one of the most exhilirating experiences of our lives, needless to say our guide got a pretty decent tip. We finished the day with a trip to the natural hot springs where we soaked in the murky waters for longer than the recommended time and probably got a fatal dose of mercury because of it.

After Pucon, we were one free camp away from Santiago, and leaving our friends on the Tucan tour bus-truck behind. On our way to Chile’s capital, we stopped briefly at a waterfall/tourist trap for lunch. That evening, on easter eve, we stayed for the last time in a service station in our tent, a frankenstein’s monster created from the body of number 14 and the fly of number 4. the next morning our tour leader organised an easter egg hunt, after which we left for the smoggy city of Santiago.