So much to write about I don't even know where to start - but I guess I could start where I left of. It now seems like we've been travelling for ages even though it's only been about 2 weeks because every day we see something new and sleep in a new bed.

After Andreas managed to rent a car (Citröen C3) for us in Santiago we decided to get out of the city immediately and start our "backpacking" adventure (with Samsonite suitcases J). We drove to the coast (2 hours) to Valparaiso, which is kind of a hippie city that is quite similar to San Francisco in the sense that you walk up extremely steep roads. The views of the ocean in Valparaiso are amazing (if you manage to climb the streets that is). I had found a cozy B&B a bit away from the city central (Costa Azul) with an amazing view from our bedroom, which was managed by the nicest couple that went out of their way to make our stay as homey as possible. We only stayed one night in Valparaiso so after having walked the streets for a couple of hours and visiting the "famous" house of the artist Pablo Neruda we got back on the road.

We drove North to explore all the beaches the guide books were going on about but the fact that it is Chilean high season meant that all the beaches were packed with bright umbrellas. A bit of a disappointment especially since we didn't really have a place to sleep and everything seemed to be booked. But as things do, everything of course worked out fine. We drove by a guesthouse by the beach that had a spare room (which hadn't been renovated since the late 60ies). We went for a jog, walked to a nice overprized restaurant, but the food was good and we were right on the beach so we were happy. The next day we started going south - we wanted to reach the Lake District by the next day with some short stops on the way. First stop was a winery (you can't get enough of those) with a beautiful garden, so we just ordered a good glass of wine and wandered around in the gardens and vineyards until we were ready to proceed. Andreas kind of regretted the glass since he realized that when you have a 6 hour drive in front of you, you don't want to be tired. But a red bull and a cup of coffee at the next gas station gave us enough fuel to continue until we reached Chillán, which was a bit more than half way down to our destination Pucon.

In Chillan, we checked in at a really nice (read: conference like) hotel with a pool and enjoyed a very inexpensive dinner at the local restaurant. We hung out at the pool a couple of hours before heading out to Pucon, which went a lot quicker than expected. The GPS said 6,5 hours but after 4 hours we were there. Nice surprise.

I had booked a hostel in advance for two nights but when we arrived we immediately knew that we are just not hostel material. At least not these kinds of hostels. Thin walls, not very clean, shared bathrooms for many people - basically a party hostel. The problem was mainly that we had booked a tour to climb the Volcano Villarrica the next day and were getting picked up at 6.15AM so how happy were we when the kitchen party started around 10pm and continued until 1AM just to get picked up again at 4AM when coming home from the clubs. I literally yelled out at the window at one point: Please stop, please please stop - this was around 4.30 AM and I couldn't handle it any more. By then Andreas had been up 6 times asking them to shut up so the next morning we checked out and told the manager that we were NOT going to stay there the extra night we had booked - he understood…

Enough about that horrible hostel. As promised we got picked up to hike to Volcano very early in the morning and headed out with a big group of people. You start the hike at 1100 meters and end up at 2843 meters - if you get to the top. The problem is that when there are clouds surrounding the volcano you can't get to the top due to safety reasons. And sure enough when we arrived at the basecamp there was a big cloud at the top of the volcano but as the weather changes very suddenly in South Chile we started the tour anyway. First we got on a very old ski lift and from the top we had the most amazing view - and then the hike began. And what a hike it was. Our equipment provided by the agency entailed hiking boots, warm clothing and a freakin ice axe. WTF?! It turned out the ice axe was quite useful when climbing the volcano as we were actually hiking on ice, and it was very steep. We reached the cloud around 2000 meters but continued anyway even though we couldn't see anything anymore. We went on until 2400 meters but then the guides decided that it got to dangerous and turned the group around. Going down we got our sleds out (yes; actual but sleds) and sled down the mountain until we reached soil again and hiked back down. What a trip. The wind was blowing 50KM/hour at the top and it felt like minus 20 degrees. Of course we were quite disappointed that we couldn't get to the top and that we didn't get the award of the view after climbing for 3 hours straight but we decided that this experience was even more extreme and unforgettable. Of course the day before the sun was out and they had hiked to the top in T-shirts - go figure.

When we got back to the city and had a beer with the agency we headed out to the "beach" - not much of a beach because of the black stone sand but still there was lake water and sun so at that point this was exactly what we needed. After a nice steak and wine for dinner we went to our new, really nice hotel with a balcony view of the volcano and slept for 10 hours straight.

Sunday we had arranged a mountain bike trip. We knew that this was not a beginner's trip when the agency asked us if we had been practicing our skills recently but we thought what the hell. And lesson learned: if you tell someone that you know how to mountain bike (downhill) they expect you to know how. My previous mountain bike trips had been nothing like what we were getting ourselves into. Our bikes cost around 8000USD each (even though the trip only cost us 600DKK pr person), we had to wear motor cross helmets, knee and elbow pads. And then we were ready to go - we went by car up to the same volcano (1100metres) we had climbed the day before and started the descent from there. s*** I was scared - and I had no idea what I was doing. Andreas of course loved every minute of it and crashed after the first kilometer getting away with only a knee scratch - lucky b******. It was a miracle that I didn't crash as we were going across steps and stones and the guide was talking about single track techniques etc. Again WFT - I thought we were just going biking in nature. After a while I got the hang of it - plus the guide changed the route to an easier path - so everything worked out fine and it ended up being a blast. Apart from when we had to bike uphill for 5KM, we were both panting like crazy - but again it was worth it. We were riding on a track the guide had found himself where we had to carry our bikes over fences, crossing rivers and what not (yes, he was a very enthusiastic guide). So in conclusion it was a great and exhausting 4 hour ride. After this adventure we thought that we could use a trip to the beach again but to avoid the millions of Chilean tourists we went to a different lake and with a lot of luck found a small path that led us to a small lagoon where we could relax in the sun for a couple of hours before heading back to have dinner and back to our comfy hotel.

Today we went to the local national park - park Huerquehue about an hour drive from Pucon. We filled up with a heavy breakfast , bought ingredients to make our own sandwiches and drove to the park entrance to start a 6 hour hike up to the mountain San Sebastian which is 2200m above sea level. The hike was extremely tough and very steep - we had to climb with our hands in the dirt to get to the top but when we got there it was absolutely incredible. And the hike there was remarkable too. Getting to the top of a mountain like this is indescribable and sitting up there and eating your homemade sandwiches for lunch fills you up with happiness (even though me being scared of heights often results in a few panic attacks with great sobbing for about 5 minutes before I can continue - good that I have a husband that knows how to handle those by now). The trip back down was long and tough but we got back and arrived at our hostel for the night - a Refugio in the middle of the national park with no WiFi, a private beach and plenty of food and drinks. Right now I am sitting on the porch writing this blog entry while the "mother of the house" is cooking dinner for everyone staying here, drinking a beer while Andreas is reading Fall of the Giants. This is travelling! We are truly happy and wish everyone back home could be here to experience this with us.

This was it for now. Long and detailed as usual - get used to it J