On Saturday morning, I arrive in Pucon by bus. My hostel is a bit outside of the hustle and bustle, but still central and with a view of the Villarica volcano from the garden AND even from my room! There are mostly people from France here - not surprising given the name of the hostel: 'French Andes' :-D
I decide to explore the village first and book the volcano tour for the next day, because so far everyone has given me the following tips:1. Definitely do the volcano tour.2. Book it directly when the weather is good, because sometimes you can't go up in bad weather.3. Go to the hot springs the next day because it will be tough. Alright, got it! I book the extremely expensive tour, equivalent to 130 euros. But hey, it's Christmas tomorrow and the money has to flow... 12/23 Volcano Climb I wake up very early to be at the agency by 6:30. After they finally unlock the door, we can put on our gear, which I tried on the day before. Great, my shoes are wet. I get new ones. Awesome! I think I've never looked more foolish in my life with this heavy equipment, but as Mama would say, it's not a beauty contest. Probably because I looked just as foolish as a child in winter clothes and noticed it back then :-D Overall, the group consists of 9 tourists and 3 guides who make it clear from the beginning that they are too cool for this world.We drive about 45 minutes to the Villarica National Park at an altitude of about 1000 meters. There we get off and have the option to either take a lift to cover 400 meters of altitude for some extra money or walk. I decide to take the lift. It's going to be tough anyway!Wow, what a lift! No bars in front of me, feels like it's 80 years old, and there's a 20-meter drop below me. Please don't let anything go wrong here. I can already see the headline in the newspaper: 'Cable Car Crash in Chile - Germans Among the Victims' I focus on looking at the landscape and chatting with my neighbor. We arrive safely! Yay, I'm alive! When the group is complete, except for two tough Canadians who are walking, we start hiking up the volcano. We have about 1200 meters of altitude ahead of us... The view is already fantastic, but I trudge behind the guide. I can't look up often because I might trip and roll down the mountain. And so we slowly ascend the volcano at a snail's pace for what feels like an eternity. After about 1.5 hours, everything hurts, I'm hungry, and I can feel that I'm lacking carbohydrates. Finally, we take the first break and I can have a sandwich and a banana. We continue climbing. From time to time, I look up and the smoky summit doesn't seem so far away. But the other groups further up look tiny. So it must still be far. I start hating this volcano. Why did I come up with this stupid idea to climb up here?!?! Forget it, I give up, let others claim that they climbed a volcano, I don't need it!!! Next break in 25 minutes. Alright, until then and then I'll sit there and wait for the others, that's my plan now... We take the second, slightly longer break. I send out some grumpy messages via WhatsApp, but also receive great support from my family. Alright, I won't give up for now, I'll keep going. The next stage is surprisingly easy too. I make good progress and manage to change my mindset. The higher I climb, the better my mood gets. I'm already past the halfway point... Third break. Just another 30 minutes to the crater. I can do it now. Although the last stretch is really tough and steep. And then suddenly, with hardly any more incline, the smoky crater is right in front of me. I almost want to cry :-D I MADE IT!!! Euphoric and completely exhausted, I move closer and take photos... With the gas mask, we are allowed to approach the crater, where we can look inside. I feel like I'm on an intense expedition walking around with this gas mask. But the view into the crater is pretty cool. Before we descend again after about 30 minutes, I take a few more pictures of the view.
We descend by sliding on our bottoms or using a plastic tray that looks like a pan. I try it. Damn, it's fast and bumpy. I get scared at an incredibly steep section and lie flat on the ground, saying that I'm scared and don't want to continue. The coolest of the cool guides comes to me and tells me to get up. Yes! How?! I'm half stuck to the slope. Somehow, I manage to get up, the guide doesn't help me. He grumpily says that I have to walk now and snatches the gear for sliding from me with the snappy explanation that I no longer need it. As we continue downhill, he keeps making stupid comments. I lose my temper and yell at him not to treat me like a child. Finally, he's quiet. Going slightly downhill and not as steep anymore, I decide to give it another try. Once again, without the help of this guide, I secure the sliding gear to myself and join another group that is sliding. This time, it's fun. And so, I finally arrive at the bottom in one piece and satisfied.
We take off all the gear except our own and the shoes and walk the rest of the way to the car through the volcanic landscape.
When we arrive at the agency, they are waiting for us with beer and other cold drinks. I sit with the others for a while, complain to the agency about the guide, get a discount, and then go back to the hostel feeling pretty exhausted.
SO: If you've ever wanted to climb a volcano, you should do this tour, it's quite exciting up there. For me, the most important experience was to fight against my mind and succeed even though I was about to give up. I'm also really glad that I did it alone. Anyone I know would have suffered from my complaining, so I could only complain to myself :-D
The scenery is breathtaking, but the landscape in the Atacama is even more beautiful and diverse...
Well, unfortunately, the guides didn't explain anything, they just led us up and made dumb jokes among themselves.
Tomorrow, it's off to the hot springs. I'm excited!!
