We sadly left Pucón and its volcano behind and caught the three and a half hour bus to Osorno. There is nothing special about Osorno apart from it was the cheapest place we found to rent a car from. We were really excited about having a car, for a week, to explore the Chilean Lake District. So excited that Katy named our VW Gol, Gonzales. (We thought we were going to get a Golf but ended up with a Gol but it was a great car.) I was a bit lacking in confidence as I hadn't driven in over 8 months and I was going to have to drive on the wrong side of the road but by the second day I felt better.

We were on the road by 12:30 and we headed west to the coast. This was a lovely drive between yellow fields, green trees and wooden farm houses and then when we reached the ocean the blueness of the water and the whiteness of the foam was a real wow moment. We sought out a place to stay first and got the last room in the only option in the Lonely Planet. The price was a little more expensive than we wanted to pay but it was fantastically perched just above the sandy bay so we took it. With that sorted we headed north along the coast to explore the many bays. As we drove, the towns got smaller and then were only replaced by small farm houses. We passed through some Mapuche villages but these were very quiet and we didn't see anyone. Many of the houses on the coast were very colourful, which really added to the beauty of the place. The paved road ran out very quickly so it got pretty bumpy on the gravel surface. We eventually got to the end of the gravel road and a sign that told us that only 4x4 cars could continue. So we started to walk to see the last bay, which turned out to be well worth it - although we only saw it from a distance as it was a long way down and we didn't fancy the return climb.

We then explored the two bays to the south of our place and again had to use a very steep gravel road but the reward was a beautiful sandy beach with some beautiful houses perched on the wooded hill. The car was very dusty by this point - something that would continue as we found plenty more gravel roads during our week.

By the side of the gravel roads we had seen what looked to be massive dog houses. On closer inspection they seemed to have benches inside so we guess they might be bus stops but they looked funny.

That evening our hostel cooked us delicious smoked fish (in an old oil drum), which we enjoyed with beer and wine and with the company of a French couple who had recently moved to Chile for work. We went to bed with the sound of the sea in a place we would have never reached without our car.

Simon