Volcan Villarrica
Pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/twaize/sets/72157603879919093/
My watch roused me form my lovely sleep around 3 o'clock, and when I had gotten up I realised that there were no matches left with which to lite the stove. So at 4 o'clock I was picked up with nothing in my stomach, but fortunately I had 3 bananas, 4 apples and a good deal of chocolate. We arrived at the beginning of the trail at around 5 in the morning, and this was where I for the first time, met another traveler who spoke a Scandinavian language. Yong is Chinese but has lived in Sweden for 15 years, and speaks fluent Swedish; needless to say we spoke the entire day, it was a very interesting conversation as Yong works for Sony Ericsson. However at around 5 0'clock we started walking towards the top of Volcan Villarrica, in pitch black darkness. Around 7.30 the sun dawned, and the sheer massiveness of this 2847 meter high volcano started to form in my head, but my first concern was the amazing views, how could I ever describe them? We had been in pitch black darkness (the guides and some of us had headlamps) for 2,5 hours when suddenly the world just opened underneath us, in that wonderful red colour that only the sun can create.
But the walk up was very long and very hard, around 8.30 we made it to the snow on the mountain, where we put on our cramps and started climbing up the snow, which was even steeper, felt harder but was much slower (not really a consolation). But now in clearer daylight, we could see much further and the sun really began to play with its rays, even though I have been to Torres Del Paine, this was my favourite view of South America so far, it was just so much more powerful.
At 11.10 we finally made it to the top, and immediately started coughing due to the sulphuric acid coming from the lava, but we found a nice little spot where the wind made sure we only got fresh air. After about 30 minutes on the top we want back down, and this was where the real fun began. The trip up had been very scenic, beautiful and hard; whereas the trip down was plain old fun. We sat down on our buttocks and slided all the way down the snow, it was fast and fun.
Back in town I took a shower and ate dinner with Yong before I boarded a night bus to Santiago, with the goal of reaching ValparaÃso the following day.