It was Thursday evening when I left the Atacama desert for La Serena. The 15 hour overnight bus took me south down the west coast of Chile to the city known for its beautiful beaches. I'd arranged to meet up with Ria again after she decided to come back out to South America. It had been 3 weeks since she left for home after we had an awesome time together in Brazil and Argentina, so I was looking forward to catching up with her again. For the next 6 weeks we'll...

I took the early bus on Tuesday morning and gladly left a drizzly Salta for the Atacama desert in northern Chile. As with previous journeys through Argentina and Chile some of the landscapes we drove through were absolutely staggering.. the seven coloured mountain of Purmamarca (pink, green, grey, purple, orange, brown, white) being the most notable on route out of Salta. Getting my first glimpse of the salt flats in the desert and the surrounding snow-capped v...

Early Sunday afternoon, Theo and I made the short bus journey west from Santiago to the coastal town of Valparaiso. We got talking to a decent 'ish' lad called Will from Sydney, Australia, who was taking the same route and decided to tag along with us to see if there was any space at the hostel we were staying at. The Sunday markets made for a chaotic drive into the bus station, but the first thing you notice about Valparaiso is how steep and colourful it is. Pr...

After barely a wink of sleep, a 6.00am start on the bus and a sketchy boarding crossing, we left Argentina for Chile and arrived to a dull, rainy Pucón. Now Pucón is a popular destination for travellers due to its hot springs, rafting, kayaking, canyoning, rock climbing, sky diving etc, but the main reason being that it's home to the most active volcano in South America, Villarrica. And as part of a day tour it's possible to trek up the side of the volcano to...