After a couple of days in Pucón, Chile, I am going to Santiago on an overnight bus later on today.
The night before yesterday was a little short as we had to get up at 3.30am in order to get an early start with our guide Claudio, who also happens to be the owner of the hostel some of us were staying at. It had taken me quite a while to get used to the idea of a tour, but you are simply not allowed to climb volcano Villarica on you own... Those of you knowing me better will be aware that I am actually heavily allergic to "guided tours" and "tourist excursions" organized by agencies. The good side to the organized tour, however, was that we got all the necessary equipment (including ice axe, crampons, gloves, helmet, gaiters, over-trousers, jacket, backpack, even mountaineering boots if needed), so I did not have to rent any of these things. And the transport was sorted out, too, of course.
So we got onto the minibus at 4am, reaching the ski center on the slopes of Villarica at about 5am, from where we started walking. In the next hour I almost fell asleep again, trudging through volcanic scree and rubble. To our surprise it was almost warm at about 1900m! Given the time of day (read night) almost a miracle. Almost now wind made for ideal condictions. Soon, we would start walking on snow, first without, later with the crampons. The pre-sunrise light and later the early morning light created marvelous vistas of the partly cloud covered landscape far below. With only a few short breaks, we reached the crater rim at 2847m after only four hours ascending. A really easy stroll, as far as I am concerned.
The sulfurous fumes from the crater made breathing quite difficult at times, but the view of the splashing lava was certainly compensating for that. Also the vistas of the surrounding volcanic and non-volcanic peaks are spectacular. The walk down across the glacier and snow fields was sped up by long and fast slides in snow tunnels. Very good fun indeed! When we descended we came across about two hundred(!!!) people plodding through the snow. All from the regular groups departing at about 8am from Pucón. Volcano mass tourism. At this stage I was really glad to be on the "early bird" tour, also avoiding the burning sun for the longest part of the walk.
