The 12 hour bus ride to Pucon in Chiles lake district was quite luxurious, with reclining seats and a conductor who cought us blankets, pillows and coffee and cookies for breakfast! It would´ve been a comfortable night had it not been for the baby behind us who threw up all over the seat leaving a very distinctive smell!

Arriving in Pucon we wished we´d bought our winter wardrobes, it was freezing, so we gratefully accepted the offer of a hostel nearby where we could get warm. It seemed this would only be possible if we slept in the lounge as this was the only room with any heat source, a nice log fire. every other room was like an ice box! We spent the afternoon looking around Pucon, a really nice ski resort town with chalet style buildings and cute cafes. we went down to lake Villarica where we sat on the black sand beach looking out at the Andes and the active volcan Vilarica. That night we took advantage of having the kitchen and lounge to ourselves, cooking a meal and watching a film in front of the fire.

After a restless nights sleep shivering to keep warm we dressed quickly under the covers and rushed out to find warmer accomodation. We picked hospedaje Lucia, run by the lovely Lucia, offering a room right next door to the lounge with log fire and a slice of lemon pie on arrival! It rained all day so we took the opportunity to stock up on winter woolies, both ending up with hats and very attractive knitted socks. Having become pros at finding veggie restaurants wherever we go, Leanna was spoilt for choice at dinner. after a nice meal we headed back to our cosy house where we found a repeat of last nights problem, the rooms were absolutely freezing so again we had a sleepless night.

On Sunday we decided to hire mountain bikes and have a leisurely ride to lake caburga. After an hour we were regretting what we´d let ourselves in for as we struggled up hills and on very bumpy, stony roads. At least the many stops we had gave us a chance to admire the stunning views of the Andes and Mount Villarica covered in snow. We stopped at los ojos de caburga, a waterfall and blue lagoon, where we sat warming our bones enjoying a rare bit of sun. Thinking the cycle back on the road would be easier and much quicker our hearts sank when we saw the sign ´Pucon 19kms´. we hadnt realised we´d come that far and our legs struggled to get us back for the 530pm return of our bikes. Feeling pretty wobbly we collapsed into the veggie restaurant again and then back to our hostel where we decided sharing a single bed was our only hope of keeping warm and getting any sleep. It seemed to work although our aching muscles kept us awake instead!

Not being able to stand the cold any longer we decided to scrap our plans to go further south to see more lakes, opting instead to go back to santiago where we could cross to Argentina at the wine producing region of Mendoza. We figure if they can grow grapes there it must be slightly warmer. Also it meant we could pick up Nikkis new passport and plane ticket home. We booked onto a bus that evening and spent our last day in Pucon attempting to play minigolf (we walked miles to find it was closed!) and relaxing in the town. We thought we might be stuck there forever when on our way to the bus stop the siren sounded which we had thought indicated the eruption of Volcan villarica. We were assured it was just a house fire so we hurried to the bus and got out of there!

On tuesday we arrived in Santiago again, found a hostel and spent some much needed time cleaning ourselves up. As we only have one set of warm clothes each and were too cold in pucon to undress for showers, we were emitting very interesting odours and our clothes were ready to walk off our bodies. We spent the afternoon walking the length of santiago in search of the qantas office, only to find when we got there theyd gone for a siesta. All was not lost though as we stumbled across starbucks, so we indulged in our old asian pastime of afternoon tea and cakes! With Nikkis ticket home now in her possession we walked back through the parque metropolitan and caught the telefonica up to the virgin mary statue so we could retake the photos from our last visit. After dinner in bellavista we headed back where we enjoyed a good, warm nights sleep.

On wednesday we decided we would have a chilled out day enjoying the sun in one of santiagos parks. After walking for 2 hours we finally got where we wanted to be but felt less enthusiastic about the whole thing. We did have good views of the city though and we read our books in an attempt to stay awake so we could keep a watchful eye over our bags! Yet another veggie restaurant appeared for tonights dinner, with Leanna spoilt for choice and Nikki now craving meat!

The next day we really did have a chilled out day, no walking involved as we stayed at our hostel relaxing in hammocks in the courtyard and watching a film. Tonight we´re going to the ´patio´to experience some live chilean music and are hoping tomorrow Nikkis passport will be ready so we can move onto argentina on saturday...