Fire and Ice... very nice.

And... I´m back, after yet another long hiatus. Hey, my time is short down here. So much to see... so much to do.... so little time for blogging.

This, my friends, is Volcan Villarrica, seen at sunset. It´s an active volcano, constantly spouting smoke and burping up magma.

And this is myself and my intrepid father, in the act of climbing said volcano.

Crazy? Probably. Fun? Absolutely.

After a full day of slogging uphill, we made it to the smoking, steaming crater at the top (the caldera, for all you budding volcanologists out there). We even climbed down into the caldera, for a better view of the red-hot lava that kept spurting up.

We didn´t stay too long, though... there really were a ton of toxic fumes up there. Every so often you´d get a strong whiff of hot gases belching up from the crater... I´m pretty sure every breath of that stuff took a month or so off of my lifespan.

Going down was great, too... we donned helmets and tough waterproof pants, packed all our loose gear into our packs, and slid down the mountain on our butts. Not quite as awesome as snowboarding, but a heck of a lot better than walking.