Pucon, Chile

I arrived in Pucon at night and met a few people on the bus who were going to my same hostel which was nice because I hate getting into new places at night by myself. Unfortunately, it was even colder there than Bariloche and our hostel hadn't turned on the heat yet, so we spent a few hours all huddled in front of the fire.
The next day I explored a bit in town which was very nice (a lot like Calafate, really), except there's a huge volcano towering over the town. It's kind of touristy, but it's impossible not to be with such a huge attraction. I went for a long run on the beach though which was black sand and totally deserted- beautiful. In the afternoon we went to the "canopy" (a section of the woods with 17 zip lines) and we spent a few hours there doing the course going back and forth over rivers, etc. Then that evening we stocked up on some wine and took a minibus to the hot springs (open 24 hours) and had the place to ourselves for most of the time. It was very different from the Mendoza hot springs- much more natural, the pools are real and the bottoms are sand and rocks, not tiles. They have put lights around and made paths between the pools, but other than that they were pretty untouched. The only downside of going at night (aside from being really cold, which was good, actually) is that all you can see in my photos really is steam. Oh well.
The next day was pretty overcast, and as we had had a late night we took it easy and pretty much just hung out by the fire all day. I went for another great run- it was a perfect place for it. We spent the entire afternoon and evening making the biggest asado I could possibly imagine ... we had a Danish guy who had sold his restaurant to go travelling- you can imagine the menu!
The climax of the trip was the last day. I got up early and went to climb the volcano. The beginning is supposed to be a chairlift to take you up the first hour's worth of hiking, but it is low season so it wasn't running, so we just had to hike up dirt in these boots they make you wear (not at all unlike ski boots), and they were very tough to walk in (we were also in full gear for the snow). We walked the whole first hour under the chairlift (not a single step of down or even level ground, and the lift is a giant tease) and then at the top of the lift we started going through the clouds. Around the top of the cloud line we stopped to put on our crampons and add our extra layers. A few minutes later we hit the crest about halfway up (total climb of about 4.5 hours) and suddenly just got slammed with a WALL of wind. I was literally walking doubled over and would not have stayed upright I don't think without my icepick. I felt like I was one Everest, although I'm quite certain those who have climed Everest would strongly disagree.
We reached a small break point hidden behind a big rock and our guide said we would have to go down because the wind was too strong, making it not only a danger of getting blown over, but also it would blow the snow off the top, leaving only ice. After our protests, he agreed to wait a bit, and 45 minutes later we were able to keep going. It took us an exceptionally long time to climb not that far. We were above the cloud line though, so the sun was bright as can be and absolutely spectacular against the snow. You could see other volcanos peaking up above the clouds-- stunning. As we were reaching the top, we had to put cloths over out noses and mouths because the sulfer burns your throat and lungs so badly it is almost impossible to breathe without it.
Finally we crested the top at 3000 meters and the snow stopped and it was just a giant crater-looking hole. You could hear the lava gurgling and it was very menacing. The ground was too unstable to get too close, but every once in awhile the lava would spurt up and splash the sides with bright red lava that just glowed-- wow. We could only stay a few minutes because of the sulfur, so we headed down.
After climbing back down the rocky steep part, we were able to take off our crampons and put on these little canvas mats over our butts for the best part ... sliding down!! You just sit on the snow, and start going. You actually go really fast and it´s kind of scary at times because you only have your ice pick to slow you down. You stop every so often so you don't go too fast, then just keep going down down through the clouds again until the snow stops. At one point there was a giant boulder in the middle of someone´s tracks and our guide had us go down a different route because he said that area wasn´t safe as that boulder had clearly just fallen--- ummmm.
All in all and pretty worthwhile trip to Pucon!