Staring into the abyss

So yes! the overnight bus is perhaps the nicest and cheapest hotel room you will ever have but you are still sleeping on a bus and you arrive at your destination too early to check-in to your hotel (generally speaking)

I am in Santiago and you would never know there was a major earthquake three weeks ago. The city is big and busy but the Hotel Orly will surely get added to the list. After a very nice breakfast I went to the top od Cerro San Cristobal for a view of the city. The chairlift is out-of-service so I hire a taxi to take me up and down (my legs are shot from yesterday and I am running on fumes). I am told to go on your first clear day and the view is nice with the Andes in the background but there is still a lot of smog. Once I get back my room is ready and everything catches up and I sleep several hours.
Wednesday started very early for Tim and I as we set off to the volcano. We had been fitted with loads of gear the day before and bring water and lunches. We join another nine including and older Aussie couple (we feel good about that) and a really nice and young Swiss guy who's wife is not able to go because they just found out she is pregnant - quite the travel story!

We get to the base lodge which is actually a ski lodge and have option to take the chairlift for $5000 pesos and shave an hour off the hike. We are all reluctant but the guides encourage us and it was the smart move. We start off in volcanic rock and it is a slow but manageable trudge. The mountain is controlled by the Chilean government and it has been closed for several days due to the rain. There are several other operators so there are perhaps 100 people in total. The earthquake has definately effected business in this area. ( not our volcano but another from our base at sunrise ) -->

The top of the mountain is completely covered on snow and the weather is not nearly as nice as the forecast but the views into the valley and to the other mountains and volcanos are spectacular. At one break we put on our crampones and there is a small rockslide nearby that produces a VW bug sized boulder. Thankfully it misses all the other groups but it is a little nerve wracking!

The snow and ice are actually a bit easier to traverse and I feel a bit like a pack mule following the mule ahead of me. I am hot and sweaty on the first layer and chilled on the outer but feel good. We are up onto the glacier now and at one point standing on a virgin ridge of ice and snow with 120• drops on both sides (there is no broken trail -we break as we go) the summit is in sight and this feeling more like more mountain climbing than I ever thought I would do. We are told we are making good pace and I think it takes about four hours to the top. Everything gets a bit chaotic when the radios start blarring and the government has decided that there is increased gas output and that the mountain is closed. We are told that we are going but that it must be quick to the top and right back down. Now I am in ok shape but after three and a half hours running to to top is not happening. When we finally do make it we get hugs from our lead guide Ruben and once again told quick pictures. It is hard to imagine that you can walk right up to the edge of the crater and stare straight in. There are no ropes or barriers and I follow Ruben right to the edge. The ground is like soft chocolate and it slopes down slightly. The crater is almost perfectly round and perhaps 100 feet across. There is a steady puff of smoke but it is blowing away from us. If it blows hard enough you can see a lot of yellow and gold deposits on the walls but no lava.

It starts snowing large snow pellets when the radios go crazy again. The mountain is closed and we must go! I have to admit it is a bit unsettling to hear a bit of panic in the anxious Spanish chatter of the guides. At one point we meet another group that is still ascending and he tells our guys to "bugger off". Instead of the switch backs from the way up we are told to "walk like a robot" which means to walk straight down dropping our heels first - it is faster but killer on the knees and legs. After about an hour we stop for a break and our lunch. The skys have cleared and the sun is hot.

Everyone seems much calmer. As we are enjoying lunch a hiker goes sliding by. We were given plastic dishes with handles to sled down the mountain. I'm not quite sure why we have waited this long - except perhaps sliding off the edge of the volcano - but after lunch we take four runs to the end of the snow fields. It is fun and a bit dangerous as we use our snow picks as a break. At the end I am soaked through and we still have at least an hour walk and my good knee is killing me (there is no chair lift down). On the walk I try to convince Cedric to name his child Scott but outside of the US and the UK, Scott is not a common name - in fact the Spanish have a difficult time with the pronunciation.

Back at the office we unpack and enjoy a few beers and trade stories in full view of the volcano we just scaled. The smoke seems much whiter and thicker but we are now told that the alert was a false alarm likely because the new goverment is nervous and sensitve after the earthquake.

All-in-all a great adventure up there with skydiving. Tim and Chris are gracious enough to let me use there shower and then Tim and I have a drink at the hotel bar before I head to the bus station (Chris is not feeling well).

As much as many of you think that six weeks is a crazy adventure, I feel like a novice. Tim actually quit his job to take at least six months (he's American) the Aussies were on long service leave for three months. Cedric and his wife quit their jobs for several months depending on baby developments. And Chris works as a lawyer and was between cases - three months.

So I am sitting on the patio of the Orly - pisco sour in hand. It is comfortably warm again but it is busy with traffic and people. I am going on a wine tour tomorrow - Concha y Toro - and an interesting bike tour Saturday afternoon. (I read that wineries in the central valley lost millions of gallons of juice already in process during the earthquake. In fact some of the cellars are closed for touring because the barrels are still in disarray. Also the harvest is in trouble because most the vine supports collapsed. The Maipo valley to the coast is better. No cracks please, I am completely sensitive to the human tragedy as well)