As I mentioned in my last post our tour company Hielo y Aventura have a monopoly on this glacier trekking trip and they sure made you were a part of the circus. After some gimmicky chat from our tour guide on the bus he paused just before we got our first glimpse of the glacier. They actually cued up a cresendo of orchestral music to emphasize the grandeur of the glacier. This was by far one of the worst things that I have witnessed a tour company do. Our first...

After a marathon 27 hour bus I finally made it to El Calafate. It was not that bad a journey at all and the time flew by. Save for the company showing 'Saw 6' at eleven am and the tear jerky 'My sisters keeper' before 'lights out' the trip passed without incident.True to our form we rocked into El Calafate in high season with no reservation. Thankfully at this stage in my travels I am more of sure bet than a cat to land on my feet (paws). In all honesty though,...

Bariloche was another hop over the border from Chile to Argentina. Point to note : why are border officials determined to stamp over pre exisitig stamps. I have other empty visa pages. Spread it out a bit guys. As we all know volanic ash comes with its own unique problems. That pesky volcano called Puyehue is in Chile. This one in particular caused several flight cancellations as far as Brasil on the east and Austrailia to the west. Although it still spews out v...

The next morning (sun 25th) we were back on the Seven Lake Route to Valdivia. On the way down we stopped off at Conaripe and Panguipilli. On these stops we got some magnificent views of the lakes and the valleys. Life looked simple and relaxed in these parts. A bit of farming and fishing was all that occupied the locals. The weather decided to turn just as we arrived in Valdivia. That suited me just fine as we were to spend the afternoon at the a Sunday Fies...

After a whistle stop in Santiago I was back on the road again, this time with a tour group called Pachamama. Pachamama provided a tour of the Chilean lake district. As this is quite a large area. some of the national parks and other little gems within the district are quite difficult to reach by public transport. By doing this tour we would be able to see a lot more in a shorter amount of time (five days). It came in at a pretty decent price too! During th...