OK, here's the half of the post on our weekend in Pucon.
This past weekend was our first organized excursion outside of Vina/Valpo. On Thursday night, all of us ISA-ers got on two buses (with so many of us, those from the Chorrillos neighborhood of Vina took a public bus) and headed off on a 12-hour ride south. Virtually all of our activities over the weekend were optional and had price tags, but they were all pre-organized through a travel company. On my agenda (and that of the majority): hiking a 10,000 ft. active volcano, rafting, and zip-lining through the forest. The volcano was originally scheduled for Saturday, but on the bus we learned that the weather forecast would push it up to Friday. So, when we arrived Friday morning, we had to hurriedly change clothes and throw on climbing gear (we even got pick-axes!). Then, on about 1-2 hours of sleep, no food and no water, and with plenty of excitement, we boarded the tour company bus to the volcano’s base. We took a ski lift up to about 5,500 feet and started hiking through the volcanic rock. Things were going well for about 30-45 minutes when, all of sudden, I started to feel sick to my stomach. I stopped and started to hike more slowly, hoping it would go away. Unfortunately, it didn’t. I ended up throwing up on the volcano and sitting with one of the guides waiting for my stomach to calm down. It finally did after about an hour, but the guide informed me that there was no longer enough time to make it to the top and get back down before nightfall. Disappointed, I sat on the side of the volcano with the guide waiting to see if anyone else would need assistance. We waited about 2 hours, I ate a sandwich and drank some water, and then we hiked back down and bummed a ride in another tour company’s van. Walking down was actually kind of fun, when we hit the part where the ground was covered in 6-8 inches of what was basically gravel. We would put our feet down with each step and slide a couple of inches. Once I got a rhythm going, it was kind of like cross-country skiing, or what I imagine cross-country skiing to be like. On the downside, that gravel, and my boots, must have been responsible for the nasty popped blisters I found when I took off my right boot. All in all, the day kind of sucked, but I stayed in good spirits knowing that the next day would be far better.
Saturday didn’t disappoint. When they made us put on wetsuits and helmets for rafting, I knew it would be more intense than I’d been told to expect. We grouped up and I really got lucky with my group. Seeing how ready we were for some intense stuff, the most fun-loving guide, Jaime came over to our raft. He turned out to be awesome. As soon as we were in the raft he told us, “This might be my last time taking out gringos for a couple of years, so we can do all of the crazy stuff, but you guys have to paddle hard.” At each rapid, we stayed behind while everyone else went, so that we could take the most dangerous route. We took detours to jump out of the raft, to climb rocks and get a “water massage,” and to hit the biggest rock in the whole river (which threw half of us into the water). Jaime told us that he loves working in Chile because the safety regulations are lax (Mom, don’t read that), but that he only likes it when he takes out gringos because Chileans and European tourists don’t like doing the fun stuff. Anyway, the craziest part came when we got to a Class VI waterfall. Apparently, there’s a rule against taking novices over waterfalls that big (it was about 15 ft.), so we had to portage. That didn’t stop Jaime, though. While most of the guides went around the waterfall, Jaime went down by himself (twice!). The coolest part was that the only way back into the water was to jump off a 5-meter cliff.
We returned to our cabins (which we more like full-blown houses), but mine was locked so I couldn’t change or, unfortunately, get my camera before we headed off to zip-line.
