Yet another early start as our hostel was inexplicably not on the list of 4/5 star hotel pick ups offered by the cruise company. Ahem. So 6:30am saw us shivering in the cold outside the still closed office, soon joined by lots of French people. The itinerary is pretty longwinded. After a half hour journey by private bus to their nearby port we boarded the first boat of the day to cross Lago Nahuel Huapí. The crossing took around an hour and a half. This was fol...

The next morning we got up early to catch the bus down to San Carlos de Bariloche, or simply Bariloche as it is generally referred to. It is known as the gateway to Patagonia and is a major holiday destination for Argentinians and foreigners alike - in particular Brazilians hence its nickname Brasiloche. It is Argentina's top ski resort. Due to the time we had spent in Pucón and San Martin we scheduled only one night in Bariloche, much to the good humoured chag...

After being kindly woken by the dogs again, first stop was the kayak shop to check the lay of the land. Weather wise it was looking good, the problem now was a lack of petrol in the guy's truck - and also in the local petrol stations... With the kayaking not scheduled until the afternoon anyway we tried to follow a footpath along the lakeside to a viewpoint. It sounded straightforward enough, however there were no signposts at all and a vast array of small paths...

The bus from Pucón to San Martin de los Andes took around 4 hours including a rural border crossing back into Argentina. To be honest Chile and Argentina are blending into one. San Martin is in Patagonia, Argentina, and the area follows the Pucón model of lakes and forested mountains. No volcanos here though. The town itself is also extremely pretty, also essentially a ski resort with an array of summer activities to boot. There is clearly more money here, wit...

November 20 : Nick and Fabrice versus the volcano. Reference for Marie ;) The day started rudely at 5:30am to get up and be kitted out for the arduous 4 hour climb. The kit included a pick axe and crampons. Time to get serious. We boarded the bus and set off for the Villarrica Volcano. This is one of Chile's most active volcanos, you can often see lava in the crater. We had seen smoke coming out of the top the day before. Check out Wikipedia for full stats. Bac...