Pucon, Chile

Today I think the toll of travelling is hitting me. I really liked Bariloche and left earlier than I should have. My bus ride to Pucon I thought was 7 hours, but it turned out to be 11. I got to the hostel and there was no one there for half an hour to check me in. Then when the guy came he said tomorrow is going to be the only nice day all week and Its going to rain the rest of the week, and it's too late to reserve anything for tomorrow. I'm hungry, dirty, tired and cranky and the wifi doesnt work. I went to a restaurant around the corner and the whole menu is in Spanish and I can't make out any of the words for some reason. I think Chilean spanish is different from Argentinian Spanish. There's one weird Swiss boy in my hostel that kept trying to talk to me but I was too cranky to maintain a conversation. I'm also in a mixed dorm, top bunk. Only girl among 5 obnoxious Belgian boys, who took all the lockers and will probably steal my money in my sleep And the  I hate top bunks by the way! I want to change hostels but don't even know where to start looking. Oh and I ordered roasted potatoes which just came to my table and look like fried knishes with hot sauce. The currency is in hundreds, $1 USD = $496 Chilean dollars. So I don't have the slightest clue what I'm paying for anything without using the currency convertor on my iPhone which I'm too scared to take out! As I sit here eating my knishes I just realized it's fried bread. Ew. And it took my 2 of them to figure that out. I really wish I'd stayed in Bariloche with all my nice friends and waited til they were ready to come here!

Day 2 Pucon, April 19
Ok, calm again. They were able to get me in the group for the volcano this morning. I woke up at 6 and 2 people in my hostel were also going, so they shared their breakfast with me since I had none and showed me where to go. Once I slept off my hissyfit from last night, I felt much better and was ready to tackle Volcano Villarica. When I got there it was just as the sun rose, which always makes things even better, especially when the sky is every shade of pink and yellow you cab imagine over a backdrop of volcanoes.

The hike up started off okay. They gave me snow pants and hiking boots and a jacket to wear, since as always I was highly prepared. The clothes were all 8 sizes too big since I was a last minute add on the to tour, but I was glad to have them since it was freezing on the volcano and the wind hitting you on the way up could have easier blown me off the damn thing. After the first hour of sidestepping my way up over the snow, the ground turns to ice so we put on our clampons and hiked (slowly. Very slowly.) the last 3 hours on a glacier with the clampons and ice pick as my only defense against the volcano! Now I love to hike, and I ran through Tierra del Fuego, Fitz Roy and the accidental wrong way up Cerro Otto no problem. But this volcano was a monster, and absolutely the hardest thing I've ever done. It puts all 100 miles of the NY Century, even the Bronx part, to shame. Once we got to the top we got to look in over the top of the volcano. The sulfur stung like hell and I couldn't see or breathe but I loved it. And the view!

We were so high over the clouds, surrounded by whiteness everywhere you couldn't tell where the clouds ended and the snowy mountain began. After eating lunch, which involved people pitying me for not having one and giving me random cookies and pieces of banana and mate tea, it was time to go down. Down is supposed to be easier than up because you slide your way down the mountain. Which conceptually sounds fun unless you're a wuss like me, who couldn't figure out how to stop and slid right into the guy in front of me. That did it and I refused to slide anymore, so the guide Leonardo my lifesaver somehow dragged me the whole 2.5 hours down. It was physically and mentally exhausting and I loved every decide of it!
Back at the hostel the obnoxious Belgian boys checked out so I can sleep in peace tonight. The hostel owner said the next few days will indeed be awful weather but if I do water activities it won't matter. And the best part is I can do one that starts at 2 so I can sleep in tomorrow. Hooray!

Pucon day 3
It ended up being a beautiful day so I went to the national park for the day. I thought it was going to be a nice leisurely stroll but it turned out to be a 4.5 hour hike up through muddy hills. I might never have a day to just relax after all! I ran into 2 of the guys from Holland that were on my volcano tour, so I hiked with them. The park was really nice, beautiful bamboo and jungle trees everywhere surrounding lakes and waterfalls. When I got back there was a new girl at the hostel that I really liked, and then all my friends from Bariloche came and are staying at the hostel which I'm SO happy about!
We are all heading to Santiago together on Saturday too! It was our hostel owners birthday so we went and picked up vodka and celebrated at the hostel. I accidentally left my bag of vodka at the grocery store, but was able to successfully go back in the morning and tell them in my still awful spanish and got it back for tonight! We all drank and played multi-language scattegories ( travel scatts was a great idea to bring along on the trip!) and it was so much fun.

Day 4, the whole hostel took a trip 2 hours away to thermal springs called thermos geometricas. It was about 17 different hot springs  in all different shapes connected together. The weather was freezing and monsooning, but in the water it was ok and there was a little shelter at the front with a fireplace to warm up and get coffee and soup at the end.
The springs were so necessary to relax in after all this hiking. My whole body is suffering still from the volcano, my arms are so sore from carrying the ice pick around for 6 hours. While we were at the fireplace, a mouse from the roof fell into the fire and committed suicide. I hate mice and watched the little guy char himself in the flames. It was a great day despite the weather. Tonight were going to make mexi guacamole and tacos and play more and drink at the hostel. I love Pucon and don't want to leave here! I'm glad I have 2 more days!