We left Santiago early in the morning southbound to Pucon, a small town at the foot of a live volcano and bounded on two sides by a lake. The place had more stray dogs than you could throw a stick for but they were all sleepy and laid-back except for one, who made a rush at us through the night with snarling teeth and blazing eyes, luckily he was chained and was drawn to a halt a few feet short of us - Still, it scared the life out of us.

We had a great day on horseback (big Chilean mountain horses this time) and feeling like genuine gauchos complete with leather chaps we rode into the mountains. Three visible volcanos surrounded us and the terrain included steep slopes, river crossings and coarse bush. As we entered the plains of the Mapuche Indians, we watched warily for smoke signals and distressed wagon trains. The flat plains afforded space to canter and gallop, though our lack of skill and horsemanship had significant effect on our adrenalin and digestive processes.

After his "Gaucho" day Dan was ready for relaxing, perhaps sampling the wine and cuisine of the area but Heather had found the inevitable mountain to climb, which involved an hour's bus ride into the unknown, followed by a six hour hike through forests up to emerald green lakes.

The map quality was dodgy and we went astray, finally arriving at the pick-up spot literally seconds before the last bus departed back……. Heather did however get her prized views and managed to fill yet another memory card.