070104 - Climbing Volcán Villarrica

"What is coming up the mountain? Can you see this? Looks like ants!!!"

Getting up early, around 4:30am, with almost not having slept at all, I nightwalked to the kitchen, made my every-morning oatmeal, ate it without even noticing and the next instance the pick-up arrived at the hostel. We (a Brazilian guy who also stayed at the hostel) hopped in and went to pick up two Austrian girls (Gudrun and ??? [I am sooo bad with names. Sorry.]) The transfer to the starting point took about an hour. And it was impossible to sleep thanks to the many roadbumps.
The two Austrians were still daydreaming about taking the lift to the top when we started our ascent. (Well, to be fair, indeed, there is a lift which takes people who arrive at 8am a little bit closer to the top. But since we arrived so early the lift wasn't operating). It was a nice steady climb to the top and we didn't need any of the hard-core equipment we brought.

We had the volcano all to ourselves which probably was the best thing money cannot buy. (Well, it actually kinda did.) In town there are only two guides who have a permit to take people up the volcano at 5am. Everybody else can't go before 7am. This comes into picture later again.

After only 3.5hs we arrived at the top. A smell of rotten eggs penetrated our lungs, the wind was blowing hard in our faces, making it almost unbearable to wanting stay longer. We took a quick walk around the edge of the crater. Constantly smoke would be visible. Unfortunately we didn't get to see any lava, but heck, it was an incredible feeling anyway.

Soon after we started our descend. The first couple hundred meters we would be walking. And then the fun part started: sliding down on your butt! Probably not the safest nor fastest, but defintely the most-butt-wetting way. ;o) As we approached a cliff and took a peak over the edge, I suddenly saw hundreds of people coming up. The daily routine was underway. A huge human snake-line was winding up the volcano. During the high season almost 350 people climb the mountain. It could be even more, if there were just more guides around. Eye-witnessing this we realized that getting up sooo early was the best idea ever -- and I am thankful to Claudio to have me taking on this expedition. He is one of the most experienced guides in Pucon who has climbed the volcano an astonishing 1,500 times (and even more).

Happy and with wet butts we returned to Pucon town around 1pm where I had a nice siesta before finishing the day in one of the many hot-springs. The end to an eventful day.