Monday 20 February Pucon
Nearly all the campers set off in the dark to climb the local volcano. More of that later. We made a more sedate start and shared fried eggs with Sam and Colin and Yvonne, who had been deemed unfit by the operators, much to her displeasure. I had a short walk and talk with Colin that cleared the air about crew accommodation expenses and we all wandered into town together.
J and Y went shopping while the other 3 settled down at a coffee shop with wifi. Some hours later, the shoppers returned with some bargains and some currency conversion misjudgements and J and C went for late lunch. We found a bakery that sold empanadas in 4 flavours. We ran through the moooo bakbakbaaaak routine and settled for shrimp and later mixed seafood empanadas. Very nice. By then J had the beginnings of a migraine so we headed back to camp. Pucon is a very vibrant busy place.
The first of the volcano survivors returned soon after. They had all made it up and down although one person had become detached from their ice axe on the icefield and was inexorably en route towards the precipice until a guide managed to catch them at pretty much the last moment. Who? Who do you think? Actually it was a source of astonishment to all that Peter got up there at all, such has been the ferocity of his retching and hacking coughing for the past few weeks. He obviously has some lung ailment and has persisted in smoking, although every drag reduces him to the verge of bronchial prolapse. As an ex-smoker I can’t really criticise him for his self-inflicted condition but he certainly confirmed that he is a very dogged little 65 year old terrier.
Apparently, having reached the top, they put on leather nappies and slid down on their bottoms, which took a couple of hours. They all agreed that this was spiffing fun. I’m not sure it would be allowed in Aus because of the risk of flying off, as Peter almost did.
They got to walk around the rim of the crater which was about 2 metres wide. There is a view of several other active volcanoes from the top including the one that erupted in June causing chaos with air traffic movements in Australia even. They all complained of the terrible sulphuric stench at the top, said that the sounds emanating from the crater sounded like the sea crashing into caves and a few of them were lucky enough to see a lava eruption.
Talking of terriers, there is a resident dog with the strange pastime of collecting shoes from around the campsite and depositing them, one from each pair, in his sleeping place. We have christened him Dave. J had to rescue one of my blue Crocs this morning.
The mountaineers had a very quick turnaround before jumping into a minibus to the hot springs to ease out their bruised and weary limbs. Colin had put up a washing line for us in the morning, which came into heavy use with wet ski wear.
We went back into town and chanced into the same restaurant as Gordon and Yvonne, who were working their way through a large seafood pizza. We had salmon and seafood and steak respectively. The sky had cleared and the volcano stood out boldly. Not that heavily snowed but still quite striking at 2800m– a classic Fuji shape.
So, now we know where to go .... but when? Earlier in the day there had been a siren go off .. maybe a test? I guess if there is a howling siren that doesn't let up we move ASAP.
These Falcons have been in a couple of our campsites. No fear of humans. Interesting to watch.
No comments:
Post a Comment