Although only a quick stopover, Valdivia was a lovely break after our hard work in the Torres del Paine. We whiled away the hours watching strange men dressed up like bus conductors singing songs and getting down to the groove in a really fat and greasy way after gaping at sea lions hanging around for fish cast out into the river by the fish mongers in the local market. The weather was glorious so we walked along by the river and ended up at a local park where we had some lunch and then were startled by a whirring sounds quite closeby - the local craze is going down a wire from the ´canopy´ up in the trees attached to the line only by a D ring. We were content to just soak up the sun whilst looking at the lilies and look at the art nouveau around us. We got chatting to an Irish lad who knew about some traditional dance competition so we headed for the ´coliseo´ and took our seats to watch the folkloric dance. It was a whirl of colour and motion with dances showing the traditional ways of life of different peoples evident in the actions like digging and caring for babies. It can´t have been a big budget affair though: they made some poor kid stand there all through the dances holding up the different flags of each dance and he was obviously ´flagging´ too.

We scooted off the next day to Pucon and on the approach I had several miserable attempts at catching the volcano on camera only to find that from just outside our room we had an excellent view without the dirty windows and motion of the bus ruining the photos! The hotel was quite expensive but absolutely gorgeous and after some of the horrors of accomodation we had had recently it was nice to spoil ourselves a bit. We were still a little under the weather from the colds we caught in Patagonia so we decided to take it easy before attempting to climb the volcano. So, we sauntered lazily down to the lakeside where we thought we might get some peace and quiet. Not a bit of it! When South Americans DO the beach they DO it big and in style. Everyone and his third cousin was there but you couldn´t blame them: the water looked gorgeous and despite being a touch on the chilly side it was quite refreshing and a welcome respite from the sun beating down on us. Ice cream sellers, hot food sellers, drinks sellers of all kinds weaved their way, with trouble, in between the throng of people and everyone just soaked up the sun and the fun. The South American people do not seem shy or inhibited in any way: people of all shapes and sizes were wearing bikinis of all shapes and sizes and all seemed quite comfortable: I felt a real prude in my swimming costume which covered at least 2% of my body.

We followed this lazy day with another in the nearby hot springs. There were advice signs at the top of the hill saying things such as to drink lots of water, keep an eye on children, etc. As we went further down the hill it advised that alcohol was not allowed in the hot springs and then at the bottom it said in effect no naughty in the hot springs. I should hope not! We did wonder at our wisdom in going on one of the hottest days we had experienced so far. The hot springs were hot and the river was freezing. Still we settled into it and got quite into the sadomasochistic jumping from hot to cold and back again. Fun was also to be had in the swim mill - part of the river went quite fast and even swimming quite hard you could only just keep on the same spot. After 3 hours we were starting to think we should perhaps take it easy! For somewhere that advised that you should drink a lot of water there was nowhere to buy any. Locals were able to fill up from a hose but I explained that our English tummies did not take well do foreign water, so we would just have to do without! Thoroughly parched and with water water everywhere but not a drop to drink, we headed bake to our hotel and cooked ourselves a very tasty but very familiar pasta dish and then got ready for an early night, for the next day, we were due to climb old smoky, the active volcano just up the road. Rising very early, we walked to the tour operators shop and donned our volcano climbing kit which consisted of waterproofs, a bag, some gators an ice pick and a helmet. We set off down the bumpy track to the base of the valcano and boarded the ski lift that would take us up part of the way. After being reminded constantly that sunglasses were an absolute necessity, Dave left his in the shop and so had to ´rent´a pair off the poor bloke operating the ski lift! At the end of our ski lifting we got our demo for how to walk on snow, and how to avoid rock falls. Basically, if you slip on the snow, just stick your ice pick into it and hold on. Otherwise you will slide all the way down to the bottom, and its a long way down! As far as dodging rock falls goes, if someone shouts out "ROCK", then you´ve got to jump out of the way, otherwise you will get hit by the rock. Easy. Much of the top part of the volcano is covered in snow and lose rocks so we set off walking at a fair pace up the seemingly endless volcano, sometimes dodging rocks, sometimes slipping on the snow. However, we made good progress and were soon approaching the top. After a solid 4 hour walk we arrived at the top, the crater of the volcano which the previous night we had watched spewing lava into the night sky was now within touching distance. The strange gurgling noise was the first thing to greet us, this quickly changed however between gurgling and booming. The booming part was soon to be realised as the part when the pressure in the opening of the volcano builds up to create a massive surge of gas from within the volcano to release at high speed, sending the lava spraying into the air and coming to land with a splat against the forever changing walls of the crater. The ´safe´distance from which we watched the lava didnt allow us to fully appreciate the intense heat that it generates but it was warm enough to make you wonder why the volcano is covered in snow! We sat and ate lunch, watching the lava do its thing and just before it was time to leave, the direction of the wind changed. The sulphor smelling gas came straight for us and as it started to bring on the coughing fits, we decided it was about time we got down the mountain. Getting down the mountain was a lot easier than getting up. We just sat back and let it happen. As the mountain was covered in snow, we donned our ´nappies´, a sheet of plastic really, that you sit on and slid down the mountain on our backsides.

Next stop Santiago...