Pucón: Day 2

On Saturday, we woke up at 6 a.m. to go on an all day excursion to hike Volcan Villarrica (a huge snowy, icy volcano). This was the real deal. We were given a neon yellow outfit to wear, 2 pairs of gloves, huge boots, ice spikes for the boots, a trekking backpack, and an ice pick. I felt like I was straight out of a Discovery Channel show. After being decked out in the cool outfits, we started the estimated 7 hr hike up the volcano. Intense is the only word that appropriately describes the ascent. I know I’m probably not in the best shape right now (walking 120 steps up to my apartment building multiple times a day is my main workout) but this was seriously the most I have ever pushed myself physically. It was so physically draining. Not only did you have to tread through snow with boots and spikes, but the incline was so steep and the elevation made it hard to breath. Two people from my group turned around after getting 1/5 of the way. Two other girls and I lasted until the ¼ point. Yea, it sounds really lame that we only got a quarter of the way, but when it got to the point that we couldn’t breathe, we decided it was probably best to go back. Only one guy that was with me actually made it all the way up to the summit.

Us in our neon outfits.

Armed with my ice pick.

Adrienne, me and Laurel - the three that got 1/4 of the way.

Saturday night, everyone was pretty much exhausted from conquering volcanoes, so we rented “El Orfanato,” a Spanish horror film from the same producer as Pan’s Labyrinth, and watched it at our hostel. It was in Spanish with Spanish subtitles and surprisingly easy to understand. I loved it! It wasn’t too scary but there were a few creepy parts and a graphic scene of an old lady getting hit by a bus that scarred me for life.