The plan had always been to go from Santiago to Mendoza, cross into Argentina and bike around the vineyards tasting wine. My long contemplative walks led me question if this plan of winning was worth skipping over the temptingly close mountains and glaciers of Patagonia. At the terminal ticket counter i bought the ticket south, heart set on seeing a glacier. First an overnight bus to Pucon, the last place i would stay in Chile. I woke smiling to lush forests, mountians, a massive lake and the famous volcano. In the evening I took a kayak out into the lake till i found a small beach and filled a journal page in the black sand. Packing up to paddle back only when the sun began to set into the mountains glistening gold in the chops of the water.
Before arriving i was decided not to summit the volcano, yet the next morning i strapped into crampons and with an ice pick in hand began to to summit the smoking mountain. Unlike the snow storming, altitude challenging climb, and leg shaking steep decent of Huayna Potosi, volcano Villarrica treated us with beach weather, and the decent was sledding on plastic saucers, tobogganing! Back at the hostel a small group of us dipped into the lake for a quick swim. And we all sat together in the sunny front lawn toasting the adventure with beers.
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