By the time we got on the trail at 5:30 we didn't have enough daylight left to hike the four hours up to the laguna (pond) so Simón said we would just camp at the refugio. Now, I am thinking that refugio is like a lean-to or something we are going to sleep in, but it's actually this decrepit house that was clearly a handsome mansion in its hayday. So, obviously, we didn't sleep there but in a campsite nearby. On our way to the refugio, we passed through a really cool field of black, volcanic rocks.
Right near the moutain we hiked is Volcán Chillán that is dormant now, but years and years ago it errupted and we walked through its lava trail (lovingly dubbed "Mordor") and saw the immensity of it as we hiked up. The volcanic rocks look insanely cool, exactly like the Mordor depicted in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings.
<-- Mordor from above I was so excited to be camping again!
And my favorite part was that at night we all gathered around the campfire and sang songs along with the old acoustic guitar Claudio brought along. It reminded me of all the 1990s Maholchic family reunions and the experience was completed with marshmallows roasting on the fire (although graham crackers are almost impossible to find here, we didn't have s'mores).
<-- Emil, Seba and Claudio singing by the fire
The next day, we got up and hiked about two hours up to the laguna. Now, this might sound easy, but I assure you it was not. It was a steep climb to the top of the mountain and the way was paved with loose rocks, so one had to be very careful where he put his feet. It also didn't help that we climbed up at the hottest part of the day, around noon.
Just before we got to the pond, we ran into one of Seba's friends, Cristian who was supposed to meet up with us the day before but had never showed up. Apparently he had gotten his act together wayy before us and had taken a bus to Las Termas. He had slept at the pond the night before and was on his way down, assuming that our group decided not to go but quickly turned around and stayed with us that night.
Emil, Claudio and I hiked faster than the others and were the first ones to make it to the pond. As soon as we got there, we jumped in its icy waters--you cannot imagine how refreshing it was!! Half an hour later, the others joined us and we set up camp.
<-- Laguna Huemul
That night everyone was really tired, so we headed to bed much earlier than the previous night, around 10:30 PM and slept soundly (although a little uncomfortably, because if you can believe it, ground is HARD and no one had brought a foam pad). The next morning we had to "move quickly" because we had to hike back down in time to catch the bus back to Chillán.
Before we left however, we squeezed in a hike to this amazing cliff overlooking the pond. It was tricky to climb up--at one point we had to brace our backs against a rock and stick our legs out in front against another rock and shimmy ourselves up. But the view at the top was well worth it, we could see everything from up there.
<--Me, Seba, Emil, Claudio, and Jesús before hiking up the precipice
We were late heading out of camp (surprise! not.) and I was getting worried because the trail coming up was full of loose rocks and very steep, which I knew would not be fun to go down. Luckily for us, just as we were about to leave a guide came up and told us about an alternate route down through the forest that had no rocks and would get us to the town much faster. I was so relieved! The descent still wasn't a piece of cake because the ground was so dry that there was a good inch of loose dirt that would rise in clouds, blinding us and making us cough like hard-core smokers.
Everything turned out well, though. We got down in time to catch a bus back to Chillán. I have to say, I felt bad for everyone else on the bus having to ride an hour back to Chillán with eight dirty, dusty, sweaty teenagers.
