Ana_Volcan Villarica, Pucon

Valentines Day and we were hiking up the volcano. How romantic! We woke around 6am to get ready for the hike. We arrived at the agency 10 minutes before 7am. They told us to be there at that time. Of course they were a little late.
We got our gear which consisted of snow shoes, gloves, bookbags, pants for sliding, a windbreaker and helmet. We were ready. It only took 30 minutes to get to the park.
We had to get on a chair lift to get to starting point of the hike. I´m glad we did. It looked very steep. The ground was soft, meaning for every step we'd slide back few steps.

We had three guides. The group was around 22 people. The guides introduced themselves and said OK let´s go. I soon realized it was going to be challenging adventure. The hike was pretty much all snow. I was so scared, my legs were shaking and my heart was beating 100 mph. We barely started the trail and I told Tim "I don´t know if I can do this.¨" I felt like crying. I managed to take a deep breath and get the courage I needed to keep going. I told to go in front me. It was better for me to see his footsteps. We had an ice axe to helps us climb and in case we slit we can´t stop ourselves. SCARY! The total hike up was about 4 hours. We only took two breaks. We had a fast group. I wouldn't´t speak. Tim kept asking "Are you OK!" I kept telling him not to ask. It would make me more nervous. One of the guides stayed behind me pretty much the whole time. Mauricio, very nice man. He´d to converse with me distract me. He was my cheerleader. Few times I missed my steps and slid a little bit. Not too bad. I always had Tim in front and the guide behind me. I took my time up. Towards the end I was slowing down. The last leg of the hike was rocks which was nice. No snow. My legs were shaking and it took tons of effort to lift my man boots(snow shows).

Finally we made it. I just wanted to sit down and catch my breath. Tim was so excited to be at the top. He was so cute and politely ask "Vida, do you mind if go see the volcano." Of course I didn´t´t mind. It was one of his dream to see an active volcano. After few minutes of rest. I went over the spot to see the volcano. WOW. Amazing. Breathtaking to see nature spit fire from the earth. We were able to see the volcano spit some lava. It was so cool and scary. My heart was pumping. Didn't´t want to get too close to the edge. We saw some of the top layer of rocks collapse into the volcano. One of the guides said OK let´s go. He was afraid it could splash some more lava soon. I was scared then. If the guide was running, I better run soon. I think he was being cautious. After we stayed nearby to eat something. I wasn´t hungry. I barely ate a cookie. I was too excited and scared at the same time. Talk about adrenaline. After being on the top for 40 minutes it was time to slide down the snow. The first slide wasn´t that bad. It was more fun than I thought. They told us how to use the ice axe to break. FUN. I felt like a kid. The second to last slide was the scariest. It was really steep. We pretty much had to break from the top to the bottom. I almost flipped. But I didn't´t. One of the guides was nearby for rescue.

There were a total of 4 slides. Nice. I´m so glad. Walking down would of been pretty scary.

Glad to have made it in one piece. By far it was the most adventurous thing I´ve ever done. Even more than sky diving. Sky diving was scary but the fear was over after 5 minutes. Here was about 4 hours of fear and adrenaline rush. I´m glad I did it. INCREDIBLE! But don´t think I want to do it again. I´m done hiking volcanoes. I can say it was my first and last time. =) I don´t regret it.

Now we´re just relaxing. We´ll stay here until Saturday and then head back to Argentina to the north in Salta. Another long bus ride. FUN. =)
Ana