After a ten hour overnight bus ride, which was exceptionally comfortable, we woke up to stunning lakes, forests, snow clad mountains & Swiss style chalets. The bus is so comfortable in fact that you are tucked in by the conductor… I quite liked it, but it is not everyone’s cup of tea! We were picked up and taken to Antilco, a farm with self catering accommodation that Mark found knowing that I love horse riding, which was very sweet. The farm is owned by a really nice German guy called Matthias and they specialize in Andes trekking, having 16 horses on the farm. The 25 minute journey from the town really highlighted just how isolated the farm is – 6 km down a dirt track, crossing a single small car wooden bridge over a gushing river, rolling hills with the snowcapped peaks in the background – scenery that is so stunning, it’s breathtaking. Arriving on the farm, I was so excited to see the little log cabin which was just for mark and I (no other bookings) with its own little kitchen and wood burner, which heated the whole place. The farm has really cute dogs who love cuddles and follow you everywhere, even on the horse treks apparently. There are also ducks, chickens, a terrace by the river, waterfalls nearby, kayaking etc, etc. You can get involved in helping with the horses, so I volunteered Mark on our first day and he did a great job of catching one of the ponies, giving it a good groom and saddling it up ready for a ride…having been shown by me how to put on a bridle, Mark took the matter into his own hands, doing a very amusing and effective job by saying ‘come on horsey, bitey, bitey.’ As Jamie (the Australian groom) and I were looking at each other in amused disbelief with the expression of ‘he did not really just say that,’ the horse opened its mouth and lent forward to grab the bit, leaving me with a very smug boyfriend. In the afternoon we cycled into Pucon to book our Villaricca Volcano trip!
Starting at 5.45am we got a taxi to the hostel to collect our equipment, which consisted of crampons, ice pick, trousers, jacket, hat, etc, etc…pretty serious stuff. BTW, we were all given the same kit, so the photos are not a his ‘n hers special edition...one of my pet hates! There were 6 people in our group – only Mark and I made it to the top. I do not think it was because the climb was exceptionally tough, rather that the others did not like the cold, or something like that. We walked up the ski slope which admittedly was a hard slog, but even from low down the views were stunning, right out over the Andes and into Argentina. The volcano is one of the most active in South America standing at around 2850m high. We started climbing at 1300m, so had a good 1450m vertical climb. Near the top, there are beautiful ice formations on the glacier, including blue ice. Once we reached the summit we were treated to a massive crater, which was impressively deep and emitting very sulphuric fumes – apparently it last erupted in 1984 and the eruption to village destruction time is 7 minutes…good to know. Coming down took 1.5 hours vs. 5 hours up – not that we are super unfit, rather you slide down chutes in the snow on your bum, using your ice pick to control your speed. It was actually one of the most fun things ever, like tobogganing without the toboggan – whoohoo! What a great day…satisfaction of completing a challenge, amazing views and sliding down a 1400m toboggan…yeeha.
We have booked a two day horse ride into the Andes with an overnight camp, which we will do tomorrow…update to follow. JG
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