Always the least favourite bit of the holiday is preparing to go home. We left our cabanas and our new friends, the cats about 11. After thanking the hosts we headed north towards Rancagua where we planned to spend the night.

On the TV before we left, the main story was the toxic smoke that was covering Santiago and three other regions. This is from the forest fires that have been raging all around.

So far the days in the lakes have been crystal clear, but today it had clouded over and we could no longer see Volcan Llaima.

The route today was mainly 600 kilometres up the Ruta 5. We made a short diversion to the Salto del Laja, a waterfall that the Chileans compare to Niagara. Even at the best of times there is no comparison, but with the dry weather it was reduced to a mere trickle. Still there were plenty of families there, enjoying being caught in the spray. There were lots of stalls on the way all selling wooden and leather crafts, and touting for restaurants. In fact this was the most commercial place we saw in Chile.

Back on the Ruta 5 it was a long slog back to Rancagua. Around Talca we noticed a haze hanging in the sky. This was the Humo Toxico. It gave everything a pink sheen.

At Rancagua, the hotel Mar Andino was fully booked but the receptionist kindly rang another hotel in town, the Diego de Almagro and got us a room there. It is a business hotel mainly populated by men who work at the El Teniente mine. There were a couple of veggie meals on the menu (pizza, pasta!!) which made everything very easy.

For the first time in Chile, the TV had the BBC World news channel as if to prepare us to go home.