3rd-5th Our hostel in El Bolson was really lovely and in the middle of nowhere. It was such a nice atmosphere, very much a home from home. We got the low down on what there was to do and made a POA for the three days we had planned to stay. Our arrival happened to fall on a Saturday and there was a feria artesenal on so we caught the poorly put together bus into town. The market had some lovely stuff and was all handmade, which is a treat as most markets we ...

30th-2nd Bariloche is a stunning city. It doesn't feel like a city. It sits on the edge of another gorgeous lake with ski resorts and islands all around. The buildings are built in the fancy ski chalet style and the views are fantastic, we can't even imagine how amazing it must look in the winter. We have been reminiscing about France a lot over the past few days. We wandered around the main streets and realised that Bariloche is famous for its handmade cho...

28th-29th Our next stop was only a short 5 hour bus journey to the archipelago, Chiloe Island. The book talks of wonderment, tranquillity and beauty so when we arrived it was not what we were expecting. There are some pretty (ish) towns that are now very run down. Some of the scenery is quite nice but after our amazing day yesterday it is hard to compete and Chiloe is not keeping up with the pace. I was suspicious that it wasn't that great as no other trav...

26th-28th Puerto Varas looked like a Welsh town mixed with an alpine ski resort, but unfortunately for us on our first day it definitely had the Welsh weather. The first day we decided to hire bikes and cycle around the lake. The bike ride was easy enough the only hindrance we had was avoiding a mental golden Labrador that thought he would join us for 90% of the journey. He was Forrest Gump of dogs and just kept on running! He was so friendly that when we ...

24th-25th On Robyn's recommendation we had booked a hostel in the Barrio Brasil area of Santiago. The hostel was really nice, she did well. It had such an amazing breakfast that we didn't need lunch. We hadn't planned on stopping in Santiago until right at the end of our South America journey as we fly out of here. We are running out of time and although there are probably some excellent places to see in middle Chile we have chopped it, in favour of the L...