Week 6: Ascent

It has been a week of climbing: one mountain, one volcano and one really big hill. I left El Bolson, Argentina, the afternoon after I had arrived. It seemed that every other inhabitant was sporting dreadlocks, but apart from that there was very little to see. While there however I met a dutch girl called Eefje, who calls herself Eve while she is travelling, in a similar fashion to the way I call myself "Clara" if nobody can pronounce my name. We headed together to Bariloche, a few hours north of El Bolson, and went to a hostel together. (I have found that attaching yourself to someone with a hostel reservation is a pretty smart idea.) In the following few days we went kayaking and climbed a few large hills whilst we were hiking.

Top of a large hill

Worth it for the view
at the bottom

 The excitement of the evenings fluctuated - I was informed that one night "will be remembered forever" and another night we sat in watching 10 Things I Hate About You and eating crisps. We bought our bus tickets to Mendoza, some 20 hours north and the region where 80% of Argentina's wine production comes from. However on discovering that it was somehow, bizarelly, "Oktoberfest" (yes, in Argentina and yes, in November) we changed our plans last minute and headed to Pucon in Chile.

After my emotional separation from Jen the week before, I was slightly doubtful about going, however we joined them in the hostel for our second halloween party in as many days. We went to a local club where we really started the festivities and our amazing dancing attracted everyone. The following day we felt a little worse for wear and so decided to head to Salto el Claro, a nearby waterfall which our taxi driver, and a sign at the entrance to the trail warned us was "very dangerous." Although a little tricky, I think a more appropriate sign would have been "not really suitable for your great-grandma." This, in fact, did involve another climb to get back up from the waterfall.


The following day Jen, Maddie and Douggie started on their journey back to Buenos Aires, while Eefje and I prepared ourselves for Volcano Villaricca. It was more of a matter of stamina over speed. The total ascent of the day was over 1400 metres up to a summit of 2,860 metres, but it was more of a slow, steady and careful trudge than anything else. As we approached the summit, an unpleasant whiff of sulphur welcomed us, however it was all worth it for the view when we reached the top. There was no lavatory, as you can imagine, however this was the viewpoint from ours:

Top of a large volcano

"But how did you get down?!" I hear you cry. Did we trudge back down? Did we get a chairlift? Did we just tumble? Actually, that one is pretty close. But no, we slid down. On our bottoms. 5 hours to get up, one hour to slide down. Incredible fun until someone slow in front of you spoils your fun.

The following day, before our bus to Valparaiso, 12 hours north of Pucon, we visited the national park. If anything, I would actually say that this walk was harder. I am not sure of the total elevation, but I certainly felt more exhausted once I reached the top. We rewarded oursevles with a well-earned nature swim in one of the lakes at the top.

Midway up a medium sized mountain

It seemed so strange that we could see the volcano from the town and also on our walk - crazy to think that we had been all the way to the top! I'm enjoying being back in Chile and it seems to me that there is much more of a feeling of community here than there was in Argentina. I am still travelling with Eefje at the moment and we aredeciding whether or not to go to Santiago for a day before finally heading to Mendoza and a big dose of Vineyards.

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