One of the best parts of travelling is the interaction with other travellers, meeting so many different people with different experiences from all over the world! Aside from the countries we have been in, we have met people from Canada, Sweden, Iceland, Germany, Australia, Denmark, Portugal, Holland, Spain, France, Switzerland, Poland, Belgium, Norway, New Zealand and plenty of Americans and Israelis (who seem to travel in groups of no less that 20 after having finished their military service).
The other great thing about meeting all of these people is their advice and tips for places to go or stay- that's why we popped into Uruguay, and in the same way, Elle and I found ourselves in Pucon, Chile. We had been told about the active volcano there called Villaricca, with a floating glacier, meaning it is possible to slide down parts of it on ice slides! Needless to say, we had to investigate.
Getting up at 5am was bad enough, but nothing compared to the treacherous steep path, with a constant fear of falling- and that was even before we had to start using crampons and ice picks on the glacier. Apparently two people had died just the week before on the hike- not something you want to hear when you are half-way up and not completely confident about completing the other half. After about 4 or 5 hours of the hike, we reached the top and felt absolutely EUPHORIC! The panoramic views were insane- stunning scenery all around (the only negative being toxic sulphur fumes issuing from the huge crater, made it hard to enjoy lunch!) The way down is always worse than the way up, having reached the goal of the summit, the pain starts to increase and exhaustion sets in....
At least there were ice slides then! There were only three of them, due to high temperatures etc, but even so, we slid about a kilometre down the side of the volcano. It was obviously great fun; we were instructed not to go too fast by using our ice picks as brakes- many people accidentally impaling themselves on them at the sudden stops- and we used protective mats which clipped round our legs to slide down on (although one of our group somehow managed to completely shred his, clearly wasn't using his ice pick enough!) Eventually made it to the base, coated in dust, breathing dust, swallowing dust- lots kicked up on the steep descent downwards, in parts you slip and slide down the slope with great plumes billowing behind- not the best fun if you are at the back fo the group. Elle was almost spritely when we got back to the hostel, although I don't think either of us managed to walk without pain for a good week afterwards. My boots clearly didn't fit well because the excruciating pain in my feet turned out to be my big toenails detaching from the nail bed- the left one coming off completely a few days later- one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen! It was a comfort to meet another woman a few days later who said the same had happened to her too. Even after all the pain, it was definitely worth it- how many people can say they climbed an active volcano and slid down it too?
The next few days were spent further north, in Valparaiso, a quirky bohemian port town with plenty of street art and winding streets with steep steps (slow progress on the battered legs!) We spent the day trying to take increasingly arty photos- my favourite building was one painted in the style of Mondrian- and the next day at Vina del Mar, a short bus ride away, relaxing on the beach and soaking up the sun rays (an acitivity we thought we had long since lost back in Brazil- so so nice to be back on sand!) Then it was time to move onwards, back into Argentina to Mendoza and meet Bee flying back from Canada....
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