Thursday was the day we were all looking forward to the most – dog sledding!! An early morning (for us) and a drive along the bumpy rural Chilean roads brought us to the base of Volcán Villarrica. Huh, I missed the fact that we would be mushing along a volcano!
We met up with Konrad, the guy who runs Aurora Austral Patagonia Husky, and then he took us further up the mountain (volcano). Then we walked further, then rode up even more on a snowmobile. The view from his base camp is amazing!!
Konrad is a world class racer and he had so many cool stories to tell us! It’s a fascinating world, and honestly one I’d never thought of previous to that moment.
After we met the dogs, Konrad set up the sleds and taught us the basics of sledding. There’s a brake that he said we basically ride all the time to manage speed, unless we are going uphill, in which case we might have to run alongside the sled or use one foot to assist our team. Sounds easy enough, right?
This was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. It is incredibly easy to fall off, and getting back up is super hard since the dogs want to run – they do NOT stand and wait for you to get back up. It’s like getting on a train that’s already moving, and you are standing on ice.
I had a super rough start, but eventually I did get the hang of it. So did Anna-Sophia. Luke had a hard time with asthma so he dismounted halfway through and rode the snowmobile.
This was a fascinating experience. What I did not expect was to have MASSIVE bruises from when I fell and to feel like I was hit by a truck today. My legs are not too sore, but putting on a coat or backpack is almost impossible, and I won’t be changing any lightbulbs soon since I can’t lift my arms over my shoulders at the moment.
Still, I am super glad we did that!!
Konrad also mentioned that one of his dogs had puppies 3 weeks ago. Did we want to see them? Uhm, yeah!
Vacation Days 