desiree's Journals

Ok so yet again am going to have to writ efor a couple of days as I have been struggling to catch up on everything so bare with me:) hehe. Right so the next day (4th Feb) after having a very good nights sleep on the gorgeous beds at Backpackers Hostel in Pucon, Tom and woke up very early to get ready for our day of volcano climbing! Yep you read right hehe. Had to be at Aguaventura for 7am so you can imagine how early we had to be up. Oh and Aguaventura is a sports adventure organiser place run by French dudes. Anyways so we made it there at 7am and picked up all of our gear for climbing Volcan Villarica. Soon after suiting up in our waterproof gear and such we headed out in minivans to the Volcano stopping off along the way to get some food for lunch. Once we got to the Volcano we took a ski lift up about 1800m to where the snow began on the volcano. Getting there we put on our cramp ons (extemely heavy metal things with spikes underneath attached to the bottom of your boots to help trekking in snow) gloves etc.. and pulled out our ice picks (is that how you spell it?). As soon as we were all ready we headed up the Volcano! Just so you know a whole load of other people from our bus came up with us and there were loads of other groups there too. The scene on the way up to the volcano was amazing too. We were actually worried we were not going to be able to climb the volcano because it was really overcast but on our drive up we suddenly went past a point where we were above the clouds was absolutely amazing! There were literally no clouds at the top of the volcano but a very thick layer of clouds further down. So anyways, yes so we began the first leg of our climb which our guide informed us would only take 20 minutes. I thought oh yea thats fine... started off well but near the end of it I was already lagging behind. Not too bad tho as I was not the last in the group, these two girls Freya and Michelle were about 50m behind me. Freya did have problems with her calf tho which was bad. So yes after struggling up the latter part of the first leg I arrived at the first rest stop. At that point was very nervous because the whole climb was supposed to take 3 hours and there I was huffing and puffing after the first 20minutes!! argh!! The rest was good tho and I felt a lot better after it. Soon after we started on our second major leg. Yep.. struggled a lot mor during this one as it took about 45minutes! Stayed back with Freya and Michelle as I felt I could cope with their pace but as we continued up the volcano after what seemed like 20breaks hehe I was really struggling and started panicking. Began breathing waaay too quickly and had to have abig stop to calm myself down. Luckily the extra guide Lucas was really patient with us three hehe. Was just too tiring and horrible feeling that I had made little ground as my cramp ons sinked down into the snow further than where I had taken my last step. About 20 minutes behind the rest we finally made it to the top where we were able to take off our cramp ons which felt absolutely amazing hehe. It was then that I realised just how much of a strain they had put on my legs! Compared to how fast I was climbing before that it felt like I was practically sprinting up the last part to the summit of the volcano hehe. Unfortunately by the time we made it to the top the clouds were starting to come. So in a rush to try and see soem lava we ran around the top to the spot where you could see lava obviously. The fumes from the volcano were really harsh and hit the back of your throat quite suddenly and very unpleasantly. I kept coughing for a bit my handkerchief (filled with loads of skanky bogeys by then) was quite useful. Michelle, Freya and I were a bit gutted cause we had no time to eat and just enjoy our stop at the top. On top of that because the clouds had come over we didn't have a clear view of Pucon and the surrounding area which Tom and the others had. Oh well the sound of bubbling lava was very cool and we could make out a bit of orange through the clouds at one point hehe. So yes clouds at the top of a volcano aparently make the conditions very dangerous so we had to go down quite quickly. This was when our guide led us to a small trench type of thing where we had to sit down one by one and then push off and slide down the snow on the side of the volcano!! Was soo fun hehe:) Really loved it:) Had some major pile ups which were hilarious but I realised after could have been potentially very dangerous seeing as we were all holding ice picks hehe. I badly bashed into this guy Al who was infront of me as well because I decided to have a look at who was behind me hehe duh! Was great sliding down the volcano but the novelty did wear off after a while as we did it abotu 5 times and we started to get really cold. At one point I lost my pick because the part that we went down was really rough and I completely spun around! Others did too so we had to wait until our guides retrieved them hehe. I got told off for trying to continue down with my hands.. bit silly of me really as how was I meant to break?! Oh well:) Whilst we waited for our picks was hilarious cause the major chain smoker of the group actually lit up!! So funny! Talk about addicted. Right so after much sliding and struggling walking through snow to get to the next sliding section we finally made it back to the ski lifts! Was all great until we all had to start making it down the rest of the hill without the help of the lifts argh! Was fine tho. So yep made it back to Aguaventura safe and sound, very tired but very satisfied with myself for having done something so amazing:) And the French guys even provided us with drinks after which was nice:) Spent the rest of the afternoon resting then we headed off to the hot springs called Los Termas Polzones! Was not bad, not as good as we thought it would be as we had heard really godd reviews about it but not bad. Problem was the pools were either too hot, too cool or too shallow hehe. The hottest pool was the best tho and we all stayed in tehre for the most part. Kenny bought us some booze to sip on as well which was really nice. After that we headed back to Pucon and had dinner then went sleep! Right so now.. lets see on the 5th of Feb i.e. Sunday the Pachamam bus crew all left on the bus. Was kind of sad cause I was getting to know them better and it was nice having other dudes around, not that tom is bad company but obviously being with just one person all the time can still get a bit lonely. Anyways so yea they left and Tom nd I basically just slept in and then spent pretty much the whole day on the beach hehe:) The beach is on a lake so the water was really nice and not salty. Love freshwater! And the beach is amazing with views of hte volcano and loads of mountains surrounding its just amazing. But yea tanned quite a lot and if I keep going at this rate.. well dad you may have yoru little girl in China back hehe:) sorry no one else will get that.. But yep was just a chilled out day really.. had dinner then just chillaxed in the hostel. On the 6th of Feb i.e. yesterday tom and I did a lot more chilling on the beach again hehe. Was soooo hot tho! Tom and I barely spent any time in the actual sun it was too hot. After basking tehre we decided to get dinner and opted for a cheap ass deal from the chilean equivalent of a chip shop hehe and had 1/4 of a chicken with chips was really nice especialyl as we took it to the beach to eat. Booked our white water rafting soon after that more about that soon:) So now onto today.. the 7th of February finally I've caught up!! Yea was great today had a bit of lie in yet again hehe then after we were packed and ready we made our way to the Trancura office where we booked our rafting excursion after having a hearty brunch. The bus left at 2pm and didn't take too long to get to the rapids. Once we got to the place we were a bit lost because instructions were given in spanish ehhe so I had to aske the guy if he spoke english. So anyways we got all our gear together i.e. helmet, waterproof and lifejacket then we got into groups. We headed t our rafts after where our guide spoke in very fast spanish.. yep felt a bit retarded cause I only asked her after about 15 minutes of talking if she could just clarify a bit in english argh! Should have asked early! But was fine anyways not real hard instructions to follow and she spoke good english anyways. After that we finally set off on our trip down the lower part of the rapids. Was sooo fun! At one point we turned back to help these two guys who were kayaking or something down the rapids and had gotten their boat sucked in a section of the rapids where there was obviously a kind of centrifugal force at work (think thats right). Anyways so yep we went in to help and ended up nearly completely turning over! Toms side went down majorly so him and another girl actually got caught itn the current and got swept away further down but he found himself a rock to perch himself on whilst another boat picked him up. Was a bit worried for a bit tho cause I couldn't see him! He even said he couldn't surface for a bit cause he got caught under the boat!! After that having saved the boat and having taken on one of the guys who was in trouble we ended up going down the wrong side of a fork in the rapids eheh. Soo funny! It did lead back to the main part obviously but when it reached taht part there were loads of rocks on which we got stuck so we all had to kind of move to one end ot he boat to get leverage to shift the boat free hehe. Whilst we were going down taht part too this other man behind me was offering to take the oar off me as you know he's meant to eb a strong man kind of thing but the guide who was a big lady by the way was like 'No!' hehe gues I'm not bad eh? ehhe well either taht or she just thought I was butch enough to handle it argh! The rest of the rapids were great actually a lot tamer than we had expected, guess they were only class3. but yea so tom and I want to go and do a higher level in Bariloche ehhe:) should be good! Once that was done we got changed into our dry clothes etc and headed back to the hostel. Had a bit of a rest and then headed out for a bit of din dins at the same place that we had lunch ehhe. They're gonna love us there! So yep thats it for now!! hope you're enjoying reading this email if you can or leave a message would love to hear from you guys! And sorry about the lack of photos will try find a place to put some up soon!

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