Well I did get the right bus & arrived in Valpairiso about 1.5 hours after leaving Santiago. Declined the group tour offered on arrival & grabbed the free map, heading off on foot, slightly trepidatious of  my safety due to Lonely Planets 'Dangers & Annoyances' sections warning of muggings & petty theft! As usual everyone was staring at me ... Just the norm now, and can sort of understand why when i played ''spot the blonde' and only saw 1 othe...

Wow! Absolutely spectacular scenery, but due to the Navimag arriving late we only had 2 days & 2 nights in the park to enjoy the Torres Del Paine National Park (Towers of Blue). Incredibly some people on our bus still managed to complete almost the full W trek in that time when it is usually done in 3 days minimum but with others taking it leisurely over 5-6 days. The first night we all took the 6pm ferry to the Paine Grande camp ground, armed with heavy Ku...

We boarded the Navimag ferry in the afternoon and all where very impressed with what it had to offer!  It carries cargo and passengers from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales through the Chillean Fiords. We heard we were in a 22 bed dorm which gave us visions of us sleeping in bunk beds near the cargo of cows and horses, but were very impressed to find our dorms were very comfy and sectioned off into fours, with very comfortable mattresses and bedding and even pri...

We camped at Fruitillar for a night prior to driving to Puerto Montt to get the ferry. Fruitillar was small but quaint with heavy German influence due the number of immigrants in the town. Cute buildings and strudels sold at coffee shops, but nothing more exciting then that .... That is one draw back with camping and food being made by the group as you don't get to try the local cuisine!  The other issue is not having as much time to look around as every day ...

Arrived in Pucon & got straight off bus, put up tent, then hopped onto a mini bus into town to book our activities. About half of us booked in for climbing Volcano Villarica the following day, so after being fitted out in waterproof jacket, pants, gloves, helmet, hiking boots, we raced off to the supermarket to get food for breakfast & lunch as that was not included and we had a 6.45am pick up.  Now shopping in a foreign country is never easy especiall...