My birthday, a volcano, and an ice pick

After the desert, I took a long bus south, out of the desert, past Santiago, and to Pucon, which feels like a haven for outdoors people.   There is nothing but outdoor stores, restaurants with fireplaces, cabin like hostels, and people offering tours.  Here is the town (and the volcano which I´ll mention soon!):

February 10 was my birthday (I am 23!), and to celebrate I climbed a snow covered volcano called Villarrica, which is one of Chile`s most active volcanoes.  Here is me with the an ice pick!

The volcano is very steep (there are people in the bottom left of the above pic), and we had to wear large spikes on our shoes for the snow and ice.  The trek up took 5 hours, and here are some pictures:

 

Here is me on the summit, next to the smokey crevice.

It took 45 minutes to get down.  After we got to the top, the guide told us to sit down, put our feet in the air, and sled down the volcano using our ice picks as the break, which is what we are doing here:

I have been in Pucon a week now.  Here are some pictures from my 3 day backpacking trip I just got back from:

  

(I went with some Chileans I met on the bus)

 my awesome tiny tent!  I got a bunch of high tech backpacking stuff for christmas (like uv water disinfectant, solar panel charger, fire starting gel), and the Chileans keep saying that I have magic.

 

 

And hidrospeeding!!  Imagine rafting, except instead of a raft, a boogey board, full body wet suit, flippers, and of course a helmet!

I am going to rest in Pucon for a couple more days and then keep heading south to the glaciers!