Cold Agua Calientes

Today is Christmas, and we´re resting in Pucon, Chile, after completing another 4 day hike. Pucon is famous for its Volcano, which we gave a miss....here´s why.

A few days ago, we went to Los Trancas/Thermas de Chillan, which at this time of year is only a dead quiet ski resort with no snow left on the hill, and therefore almost no-one around. We went on an amazing hike there, walking and hitching our way 8 km up to the ski hill and associated hot spring resort, and then hiking over a low ridge with a hissing steam vent on its shoulder and heading into and up a valley to summit a 2000 metre climb over a ridge and perch on the shoulder of Volcan Chillan.
What a view from our lunch ridge! We were looking into an ancient caldera, the ski hill was perched only on a shoulder of the Volcano. Now we were looking into its center, some unknown size and mostly still filled with snow. Far across the bowl a vent spewed steam from bare rocks and a nearby cliff tumbled a waterfall into a sharp internal valley. Far below us was a patch of green, surrounded by snow and rock, the Agua Calientes for which we were headed.
Ahead of us, a group of 3 hikers were following the actual trail which lead steeply over the rock and snow patches, over the ridge some distance below us, and then rapidly dropped to the hotspring creeks. Since we had already forgone the ¨road more travelled¨by boot packing up to this ridge, we decided to hike around the bowl to the mystery vent before descending to the hotsprings.
What a fabulous experience. The scale of these mountains is so huge and so devoid of features that it seems impossible to judge either distance or size. It was only after cutting hundreds of steps in a long snow traverse, descending impossibly steep snow gullies, crossing numerous patches of volcanic scree, that we finally arrived at the vent. Only then, could we put the volcanic summit, hours above us, our rimside lunch spot, hours up and across from us and the hotsprings, just under one steeply descending hour still below us, into proper perspective. We were actually in a caldera that was a few kms across!
Making it down to the thermals we pitched our tent just off the edge of the snow, next to two thermal creeks that emerged from under the rocks and snow. 150 metres down the patch of green, the three hikers had set up camp. They asked Cheryl what we had seen on our circuitous journey....on the one hand we had seen nothing....on the other hand...everything.
It took no time to set up our camp and we were eating, drinking tea, and basking in a small pool next to the tent, watching clouds roll and spill over the peaks and ridges and marvelling at our unusual circumstances.

Day 2 we woke to cloudy skies, soaked in the creek, and went back to bed, only to rise and eat and pack up during the lunch hour. By 1:30 pm we´d finally begun the steep return directly up to the exit ridge. Cold blasts of wind mixed with rain threatened to literally blow us off the trail, but we managed to top out, and make a rapid descent on steep snow back to a more windless, if rainier elevation. One more low ridge and we were back at the resort and walking back down the 8 km to our hostal in las trancas.

Contrast that with Pucon, crammed with hostals, restaurants that serve Peruvian, Mexican, Chilean, Arabian, Vegetarian, or almost any other ian. Day hikes are offered to the boiling caldera of Villarica, kayaking, rafting, hotsprings tours by day or night, horseback riding, or what else. The volcano tour was only available in groups of identically clad tourists(so that each tour group could tell which gringos were theirs) hiking in bunches with ridiculously early start times. Instead we went for a beautiful 4 day hike to park Querhueque....I could tell you all about it....the monkey puzzle trees, the giant spiders, wild pigs and rainy rainy arroyos, but this picture says it best. Feliz Navidad.....oops....can´t upload pictures tonight, but I´ll post the post anyway, and add the pictures at the next computer.

Volcan Descabazado

At Talca we resupplied for our Volcano trip. Perhaps the funniest thing that has happened to us is that we had to go to a hardware store and buy a Chillean 240 volt wall plug and a length of household electrical wire so that i could build an adapter for our Canadian suited camera battery charger. The ferrateria was small crowded and had counter service only, but the older cabellero who helped us was patient amused and kind. Not only was our spanish poor but we also had to wrestle with terms and concepts which were way outside the box of conversational spanish! When we had accomplished our mission, Cheryl told the guy that we were the only two people in canada who actually spoke spanish....He congratulated us and wryly added that our spanish was also an idiomatica especialis!

This photo is of Volcan Descabazado which you reach by climbing up a forest for 1000 metres, dropping over a cliff for 1000 metres, walking down a river valley, up a lava blasted river valley, crossing both rivers 4 times, in icy fast moving water which was sometimes over our waist, and arriving at a small oasis which is fed by some hot streams which emerge from the side of the volcano. All of this is done at a temperature above 25 degrees, and only two of the 5 days includes any amount of shade. The rest is almost completely exposed to the sun, except when you huddle behind a rock or head out in the early mornings. Making it sound grim would be a lie though, as it was exceptionally beautiful. The second photo shows our temporary camp at the hotsprings, which fortunately were only tepid, as it would be a waste to have a hotspring on a hot day. It was great to have the tent fly to erect some shade, as the meadow would have been unbearable without some relief from the intensity of the sun. Having said that, spending too much time in the shade could also bring on a chill in the steady breeze/wind.

The hot springs were only at about 1800 metres and the summit of the Volcan is at 3900 metres so we rested and ate on this day, during the hottest part of the day, before heading up the slopes of the Volcano for our evening. We had hoped to camp high on the side to cut some time out of the next day, but, despite the lack of vegetation, navigation is not easy. Gullies start and stop randomly, carved and left by ancient erosional epochs, the lack of vegetation hides the scale of things and it is difficult to estimate distance and height, and we ended up on the wrong ridge for a while, requiring some serious descents and ascents on ash scree, which is somewhat akin to climbing a mountain of marbles! Here are two shots from our camp on the mountainside, with the summit above us.

At 6 the next morning, we made for the summit but our hearts were better than our legs and we could only manage to have an exceptional experience climbing to about 11,000 feet before we took some photos and headed back down to our camp and eventually the hotsprings for the night. Next morning, we managed to walk almost all the way out and include an exceptional ridgewalk on the edge of a massive lavafield, visit a beautiful cascade, and cross the rivers again, this time so cold that we were left absolutely STINGING WITH PAIN for quite a while after the hardest7deepest ones.

Rode into Talca with a busload of american mormon missionary students, caught the bus to Chillan, and realized that we had lost, in Talca, our warmest clothing bag...with some of our most expensive items(down vest, skirt, and the OR stuff sack itself). Although we tried unsuccessfully to track it down, it is now a lost cause. Spent the night in Chillan, and are now lounging in the mountains near Thermas de Chillan at the Hostel de las trancas. Tomorrow, we{ll go to the ski area and hike over the ridge to the Agua Calientes high on the flanks(2000 metres) of Volcan Chillan! But for now....time to read a book.

Beach Walking

We spent three days walking down the playa and bluffs south of Pichilemu. On our first day, we walked out past Puenta los Lobos, where a surf competition was being held. We caused a scene of our own, with our packs brimming with gear. People were taking pictures of us as we walked through the small crowd on the rocks. The day ended at a laguna, which led us up to a highway. It had been recommended to us to hitch hike to Becalemu in order to avoid a tricky section of coast, but chile is full of small cars jammed full of family, so the few cars that passed us were unable to transport us. After climbing an endless hill we spent the night in a horse pasture with a band of beautiful semi wild horses, who were understandably freaked at our presence. Next morning after a few more km on the road we got a ride to Becalemu and began the next phase of this hike to Iloco. It was a beautiful combination of rocky outcrops, beaches and mostly low tide, which brought out the chichiyoyo harvesters, picking seaweed which ultimately makes it{s way to the salad bowl. After spending an amazing afternoon and evening camping on a remote beach, we walked the rest of the way to Iloca. At Iloca we spent the night in a lovely beachside cabana in a tiny non-touristy village before catching the morning bus to the interior at Curico, caught the one hour train to Talca, grocery shopped for hiking, caught the bus to Vilches Alto and began our hiking trip in the Andes.

PiCHILEmu

We've been in CHile for a week now, and not one picture! What a nice week of settling in though. 2hrs a day of spanish classes followed by some serious relaxing. The surf and sand are endless, but the temperatures are very chilly, despite the sun. The wind has been relentless up untill today. Spanish Classes have left us little better at conversing, but miles ahead in comprehension as we have begun to understand the verbs, and their relationships to people. We can build a sentence but it takes so long that we are not very usefull in conversation. NO matter...we're progressing. Two days of kite surfing lessons got me onto a kiteboard launch but not yet zipping around the lagoon.
Then the wind died and it's all over.. no worries. I can hardly wait to get home to the ocean rodeo 8 that sits in our shed at home and head out to Bowron. Just need to spend more money on a board.
Tomorrow, we start walking down the playa, and spending a few days on a camping shakedown before heading inland to the mountains of the andes.
gotta go.