And the camping begins...

I made it to Santiago, Chile and spent 3 days there. I took in a Daft punk/DJ shadow concert, which was crazy fun because the stadium was packed with people...you just had to jump and dance when everyone else did! I met up with the tour group here...turns out there are 30 people on the tour and the group seems really nice and everyone is around the same age...ish. There is a picture of the bus we travel on! It really is NOT as comfortable as it may look. The guide and our driver are great fun. I am going to be practicing my culinary skills as we all have t0 cook meals for the group...should be interesting.
We spent two days in Pucon, Chile which is a little ski resort town. We tried to climb the active volcanoe (the one covered in snow in the picture..yes it is smoking!). We had on so many layers and lots of gear, including crampons and an icepick! We hiked about 2 hours, which was very difficult because the winds were so strong...everytime you would take a step, the wind pushed you back a little. Unfortunately, someone from another group had a 70 foot fall because the winds were that strong, and was very badly injured, so all the groups decided to head down. Good choice. Sadly, we did not make it to the top, where apparently you can see flowing lava!!!! The second day in Puconn I went Hydrospeeding, where you grab a boogie board and head down the white water rapids. You try to hang on for your life while you get bashed into the rocks, other people and the rapids. Great fun!!!
We are now in Bariloche, Argentina which is another resort town in the lake district. Amazingly beautiful place, right on a crystal clear lake. Spent the morning on bikes with my tent buddy...who happens to be an Irish OT...how perfect???? And spent the afternoon walking around town and tasting the famous chocolates....mmmm.
Oh yeah...the tenting...not so much fun, especially in the below zero night temperatures....but an adventure!!!