Christmas and Volcan Lanin

Christmas

Two Fridays ago I arrived back in Santiago for Christmas weekend and checked into Ventana Sur. I promise not to describe each place I stay in such great detail, but Ventana Sur is unique and deserving of such.

Ventana Sur is a typical residential two-story, four-bedroom house with a pool out back. The owner and primary resident, Ivan, converted the bedrooms into traveler dorms where he hosts roughly 15 of us on any given day. He runs the entire place himself, with the occasional help of a volunteer or two. The backyard walls are filled with written tributes to Ivan, and a few guests have even drawn Ivan himself on the walls, some in more detail than others:

Then there’s this guy:

I got the story from Ivan: “the missing guy” as he was called, dropped his bags at 2pm one day, left, and didn’t turn up again until 3 days later to pay, drink a coffee, gather his things and leave. Another story from Ivan was that of his longest tenured guest, a German who worked as a computer hacker (whatever that means) from the living room. He checked in and then didn’t leave for an entire year.

For Christmas, Ivan cooked a giant barbecue for his guests (the “shared Christmas festive” as he called it). Below are some photos of the shared Christmas festive, which devolved into a backyard house party complete with music and dancing until the sun rose (literally).

The day after Christmas I departed Santiago on the 10 hour overnight bus to Pucon. It was the last I’ll see of a major city until late February.

Volcan Lanin

Known as the “Adventure Capital” of Chile, Pucon has the vibe of a European resort town and is actually a ski destination in the Chilean winter. The Villarrica Volcano sits just outside of town, and reaching its summit is an infamous objective of tourists and backpackers alike. Here’s a photo of the volcano taken from the lake, Pucon’s other key landmark:

Volcanic activity levels are currently quite high, and while I’m not sure what exactly that means, I do know that it means the guides are stopping climbers 1,500 vertical feet from the true summit. Those of you who know me well can probably guess that I’d want no part of climbing something I can’t summit, so I devised a new objective: Volcan Lanin. Located on the border of Chile and Argentina, Lanin is a significantly more challenging ascent (the equivalent of climbing Villarica 3x), but currently has volcanic activity levels that permit a summit attempt. I found a local guide and invited my German friend Chris, who is also on a year-long trip, to come along. I had met Chris at a bus station earlier in the week and I thought that he might be up for something like this. My suspicions were correct.

At 1:00am, Chris and I left our hostel and strolled across town in the dark to meet our guide for the climb. The day that ensued is probably deserving of its own blog post, and I may write one once I’ve had time to fully process the experience. The summary version: we climbed for 17 consecutive hours, 11 hours up and 6 back down, through atrocious trail conditions. Physically and mentally, it was the most I have ever suffered. We reached the summit though, which I am immensely proud of. Here’s a video my guide took from the summit:

I cried more than once on the descent as any reasonable person probably would have, from a combination of exhaustion (we had slept zero hours) and pain (I fell about six times from stepping on loose rocks). I am now covered in bruises and can barely walk, but have no regrets. Here are some more photos:

I am now resting in Pucon. For New Years, my hostel has a party planned in their in-house bar, which has great character and is super cozy. I’ll come out of rest mode for the party, celebrate, and then continue South. Thanks for following along!