We
woke up early to make some sarmies for the hike and breakfast before a long day
of trekking up Villerrica Volcano. We then made our way to our tour Co
(andesma) to sort out some gear but only left for the volcano at 7:30. Fortunately
there was a bit of a drive there so we managed to catch up on some sleep.

Once
we were there most of the group decided to take the chair lift up and save
walking a little (plus it wasn’t the greatest views or terrain to walk on). After
we got to the top one of the ladies behind us from our tour group got her back
pack stuck on the lift and was hanging on to the lift as it left the platform
and started heading back down. After a little while she couldn’t hold on
anymore and fell about 10m to the gravel and rocks below. All the guides (from
all companies) ran to her with medical gear and assisted her. And within a few
minutes they got her onto a stretcher and started carrying her down. I was very
impressed with the efficiency of the help and heart goes out to her family.
This is a reminder at how quickly things can go wrong with anything no matter
how safe it seems. After she was sorted out we started trekking firstly on
gravel and rock but after an hour or so we were in the snow and ice.

We
climbed from 1300m to about 3000m at a slow steady pace with a few breaks for
snacks, water, and great views. After about 3 or 4 hours we hit the top of the
volcano where we could look inside the creator, smell the fumes and see the
smoke coming out. We were also able to see the skyline with pucon on the edge
of a lake and volcanos all around it in the distance. After some lunch we put
on most of the gear they gave us and made our way down sliding on the snow and
ice. This was probably the most enjoyable part of the climb!

At
end of snow we walked down to meet the car which gave us a lift back into town
where we sorted out our bags and made our way back to the hostel where we fell
asleep for an hour, showered and walked around looking for dinner and a much
needed beer...

After
our usual look around at all the restaurants that we can find we settled on sushi.
We ordered some beer but were told they didn't have so ordered a different one
n told it wasn't cold n then told they had no cold beer so we decided to move
along...  We went back to one of the
first places we saw and had some cheap pasta and beer.

On
the way back to the hostel we had a churro stuffed with Nutella which was very yummy.
At hostel caught up with some WiFi and wine before getting to bed about 2.