the pucón experience

well you've seen all the pictures by now so i decided to add some words to the trip. it was really, really great. it was so wonderful to be able to breathe the clean, green, fresh-smelling air. it's fall here in chile and it's like you can't taste or smell the seasons in santiago, you'd have to go to a place like pucón for that. and i'm so glad we did. it was a lot of money to spend to go so far (10 hrs. south) without knowing exactly what we'd do there. but i really had no reason to worry. pucón is kind of like an adventure tourist's dream where all you have to do is get there and the rest will work itself out. there are over 100 companies to take you rafting, volcano adventuring, horse back riding, hiking, mountain biking, fishing or whatever else the mountains and lakes might tempt you to do. we booked both rafting and the volcano climb with one company.

we were there for two full days and on the first day we went rafting. it was amazing. now, i had never been rafting before but everyone who had previously experienced it said this had been by far the best for them. it was also my first experience jumping off a cliff into the water. growing up, i had known tons of people to do this but i always avoided it, i thought it wasn't my thing and i generally don't like to be underwater anyway. well i did it and it was so cold and i had so much water in my ears when i got out. we were all told to march like soldiers past the raging class 6 rapids only get to get back in the water and continue a bit further down. well on the way i lost my earring and miraculously scott found it against a backdrop of a ton of rocks next to the fierce rapids. i took up a ton of time trying to find the earring which left me little time to try to get the water out of my ears. later that night, i felt the water so far inside my ear. i had a raging neck and headache with no remedy in site. when scott asked the hostel owner if they had any alcohol, she instead suggested we use the adventure company's insurance and go to the private hospital (the 1 hospital) in pucón. she assured us it would be quick and cost-beneficial to the company we used (their insurance would cover it and i wouldn't have to cancel on the company for the next morning's trip up the volcano). she made some calls, i talked to the guy, she talked to the guy.

me on the phone with the guy: and i jumped off the cliff because they told me to and everyone was doing it.

after i got off the phone with him the hostel owner told me the guy told her he thought i was probably "telling a story" and i got hurt some other way since my complaint came several hours after the trip was over!! i believe he told her it was a lie (mentira!)...
that's what you get for paying the cheapest group rate to do adventure activities (and my health insurance explicitly doesn't cover adventures like these)... so, scott and lindsay so kindly went to a pharmacy while i laid inebriated with pain. they were able to find alcohol and we dumped it in my ear to try and get the damn stuff out. it worked!!

the next morning i woke up at 5:30am ready to go!! the 6 hour trip to the summit was painful at times but was completely worth it. the pictures should illustrate everything i won't write here. the day was perfect, we were with a terrific group and for an incredible price we got to use crazy technical equipment and do combo mountaineering/hiking/ice-pick sliding as well as see volcanic ash, glacier chunks, toxic volcano smoke, crazy cracks in the glacier... it was awesome. when i got to the top, i thought i might die, i was so thirsty and hungry and the water supply was limited (scott had already run out). i started slicing an apple with scott's super sharp knife, thinking i shouldn't be doing this. it was like i didn't have enough blood in my brain to think straight. and it slipped! went right through the apple, through my hand to the bone. i knew it was bad as soon as it happened. it didn't bleed right away and i just grabbed it and looked up, then the blood started to come. i was able to have one of the guides rig up something to stop the bleeding at least until i got down. it didn't really stop it though...

by the time we got down the mountain a bit to the non-technical part, my reputation had preceeded me and i was the only one in the group not allowed by the guides to take my helmet off until we got safely to the bottom.

we're going to cajon del maipo this weekend so i'll let you know what craziness i will have unearthed then. stay tuned...