Summing up Rio de Janeiro in a travel blog is a near impossible task, that stretches far beyond my skill, time and patience. The uploading of pictures (when I eventually get round to it), will hopefully provide a helpful insight into the ´beautiful city´. In short, Rio is a city of contradictions. Geographicaly sublime and unique, a constant dialogue between land and ocean. The famous beach districts of Ipanema, Copacabana and Leblon (the best known of ...

We arrived landed in Rio at midnight (having had to connect in Sao Paulo). We had exchanged the coast of the pacific for the coast of the atlantic. The stunning hills of Valparaiso and the beaches of Vina, for unmistakable landmarks of the Sugarloaf, Christ the Redeemer and Copacabana. The twinkling lights of Valparaiso seemed not so distant as we drove from the airport to our hostel in Ipanema. Within a few minutes of leaving the airport we had picked out the fa...

We left Santiago around midday. Caught our bus from the main terminal, and two hours later had exchanged Santiago, for the working port of Valparaiso. The setting of Valparaiso is somewhat unique. An amphithearte of hills packed tightly with brightly couloured houses overlooks the bay below, busy with cargo ships. The centre of the city known as ´puerto´ is an unremarkable, Chilean city, with a few interesting squares and markets, but little else of not...

As we neared Santiago, the sun began to sink behind the Andes, whom as we approached the city, seem to rise above us gradually as if modestly trying to hide their grandeur. Whilst picturesquely seated in a hole in the middle of the Andes range, is one of Santiago´s major draws, it is also its curse. The pollution produced from the city is unable to escape above the mountains and so it hangs, creating a haze obscuring and veiling the giants that tower above. ...

The drive to Pucon would wind through the lake district passing a vast number of lakes, and waterfalls. The views from road over these lakes and beyond would be stunning! I am sure it would have been, were it not for the torrential rain that pelted the windows and reduced visibility to a meer stones throw! The drive which should have been 5 hours, took about 8 as we crawled at a frustrating pace through the rain! We arrived at the campsite in Pucon, which had ov...