AVOIDING THE PAIN IN TORRES DEL PAINE Apart from the stunning scenery, one of the main reasons why so many people willingly agree to spend four days on a ferry is because Puerto Natales, where the boat docks, is the main starting point for visits to the Torres del Paine National Park. The majority of the passengers were studying guide books on trekking in the park and poring over maps of the area. We, on the other hand, were reading our novels and knocking back ...

FERRY GOOD ADVENTURE Having survived the fish supper, we boarded the ferry (which used to be a cargo ship) which would be our home for the next four days, not entirely sure what lay ahead of us over the next 1500km. Emma, for one, was dreading it because she understood cargo ship to mean container ship and thought we'd be huddled into a corner on some massive super tanker. We came armed with seasickness pills in case of bad weather and lots of fruit in case of s...

THE FULL MONTTY We didn't get off to a good start on arrival in Puerto Montt. It was dark and the rain was hammering down as it had been for hours on the journey down here. Looking forward to a nice warm and cosy welcome from our next B&B we instead were left standing outside on the doorstep getting soaked while the woman pottered around inside playing with the stray dogs she's given a home to rather than helping us humans shivering in the cold outside. Grrr...

IF IT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE QUEEN, IT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR US Waking up to grey clouds and cold temperatures was a bit of a shock to the system, but the sight of huge lakes and lush green forests rushing past the bus window was something else after so long in the dry north. The small of town of Pucon on the banks of Lago Villarica, and dangerously close to the volcano of the same name, was the location of the next of the hotels we were reviewing. Although the weathe...

AN AVOCADO AND ESCUDO FARRAGO IN SANTIAGO After having seen nothing but desert, sand and the odd cactus for what seemed like weeks, we headed further south along to the coast of Chile to where it rains from time to time and things like trees and plants actually grow without the need for elaborate irrigation systems. We took a bus from La Serena to Santiago, the capital of Chile, and continued our habit of making avocado, tomato, ham and cheese sandwiches in publ...