Day 10 - She said: Our last morning in Villa La Angostura was pretty low key, with some expert wine packing to ensure survival through our evening flight. It was quite the ordeal, but I managed to get it wrapped up and well cushioned.

We had a private transfer back to Puerto Montt, much like our drive the Saturday before. When our driver was a bit late, we decided to call and make sure he'd gone to the right pickup location (there had been some confusion at the drop-off).

The driver arrived about 5 minutes later, and informed us that the ash was a huge problem at the border and that we may not be able to cross. This was a challenge for a couple of reasons. First, we had a flight to catch in the evening that would get us to Santiago. More importantly, though, we had made plans to meet a friend who lives in Santiago, and we had a limited window to do that.

We got to the border, and the ash situation had gotten a tad better. We went through the whole customs and immigration experience and made it through (phew!), though my excellent wine packing job was sort of undone when the customs officers went through each of our bags. Oh well, we got it all wrapped back up again.

The drive was roughly the same going back as it had been the week before, going the opposite direction. The difference was that we stopped at a German farm to eat a buffet lunch. There was cerdo asado (wild boar on the spit), which was phenomenal. I ate my weight in that, and had lots of potatoes, which I'd been craving for some reason.

Not much to say about the travel itself, but we arrived in Santiago safe and sound (though a little late) to be greeted at our hotel by one of my friends from high school, Sebastian. He had been an exchange student from Chile when I lived in Manchester, and visited me in Toronto about 8 years ago.

It was wonderful to catch up, and to meet Sebastian's lovely girlfriend, Juana. The four of us went to a local spot, Liguria, for some food and awesome Chilean wine. We followed that with a stop at the Irish pub, where a lot of expats go. What an awesome way to cap off a trip, spending time with an old friend.

Next up, wine tour and our trip home.