We had asked for our breakfast early this morning so we could hit the road in our hire car. It was laid out ready for us although we had to miss out on the scrambled eggs, but we'd survive. Andy and Carlee arrived on time and we loaded up the car. Carlee volunteered to drive the couple of hours to Valdivia. It was still a bit cloudy and rainy when we left Pucón but gradually brightened up the nearer we went to the coast. We were making really good time un...

Breakfast was served by the wood fire in the hostel. It wasn't actually that cold, but it's really nice to have it lit. We were served fresh fruit, yoghurt, granola, eggs, bread, cheese and jam along with coffee so we were pretty full by the time we finished. We met Carlee and Andy at Patagonia Experience office as arranged at 10am to take the hire bikes out for the day. They were going to be free because we had booked the volcano climb with them, but the we...

The windows of the bus were steamed up when we woke up in the morning. We had been told that the difference between Valparaiso and Pucón was like the difference between Mediterranean and Northern Europe. What that meant in reality was that we had left the sunshine and warmth behind and needed to get used to some rain and cloudy, grey skies. It was raining in Pucón but not that much, it was more overcast with a few spots of rain, so we could manage th...

We had a lazy morning in the hostel before checking out and walking down to the metro. We were going to meet Andy and Carlee who were staying at a friend's apartment in Viña del Mar. It was only a short ride on the train, but long enough to be entertained by a trio of buskers playing traditional music. They were very good and had the attention of the entire carriage with some people even taking videos on their phones. It was a 10 minute walk up the hill ...

Today was going to be all about food and after a delicious breakfast we headed down to Plaza Sotomayor to meet Ines at Cafe Melbourne. Ines was going to be our chef for the Chilean Cooking Class. The class was just going to be for four of us and over a coffee we discussed menu options. It was a unanimous decision to go for a seafood menu consisting of pebre, ceviche, mejas with parmesan and baked filled fish. For dessert we would have chirimoya alegre. Wi...