Wed 4th - Fri 13th Dec (Weeks 10-11)

Wed 4th - Caught the 9am bus down to Punta Arenas, arriving at 11:45. Furthest South we will go on this trip, but literally just to get to the airport and fly out ! Flew the short 2 hour hop up to Puerto Montt, arriving at 4pm. Then caught a shuttle bus to the bus station, followed by a little micro bus to Puerto Varas, 20 mins away, finally arriving around 6:30pm - long day of travelling! We're staying in a lovely little hostel called Margouya 2 Patagonia, which is one of the old colonial German houses on a historic trail you can do around town. Unfortunately it was pouring with rain in the evening so we just stayed in and planned our next 3 days here.

Thurs 5th - Leisurely morning with breakfast out at 10am ! Shocking behaviour ! Then did the historic walking tour around town seeing all the lovely wooden colonial houses dating back to early 1900's. Its a lovely town on a large lake, with a snow-capped volcano in the background. Its much warmer here than Puerto Natales, and enjoyed the sun in a tshirt. The area also reminds us of England - with green fields, cows, Spring flowers etc. Looked in some of the outdoor sports shops, and finally found some new sandals (in the sale !) so I can throw out my broken and smelly ones ! Had a lovely dinner out (Trip Advisor No.1 again - we're making a habit of this ! ), and walked back with the sun setting behind the volcano.

Fri 6th - Caught a little micro bus for 1.5hrs to Saltos del Petrohue and the bus was a little crowded, so had to stand for about 30mins of the journey. The waterfalls were much bigger and more impressive than we were expecting - huge torrents of water pouring down channels in the volcanic rock. The colour was also exquisite - brilliant blue and crystal clear - almost like it was being lit up from below, and again with the backdrop of the snowy volcano. Caught another micro to Petrohue and decided against our previous idea to hire canoes, as it was choppy and windy. So did a 2hr walk a little way up the volcano, but the whole walk was 26km, so just walked far enough to get nice views of the lake and mountains and then headed home at 5pm.

Sat 7th - Another leisurely morning with breakfast out at 10am ! Could get used to these sorts of mornings. Caught a bus to the little town of Frutillar up around the lake, and spent a relaxing few hours wandering around, enjoying the sun and the scenery of the lake, volcano backdrop, and lovely German houses. Shared a hot chocolate and 2 slices of cake (kuchen).

Sun 8th - Caught the 9:20am JAC bus from Puerto Varas to Pucon, arriving at 2pm. Similar sort of town to Puerto Varas - on a lake, with a snowcapped volcano as a backdrop. Same sort of scenery all the way up to Pucon as well - English country fields and meadows with cows grazing, trees, and spring flowers all around. Sorted out our itinerary for the next 3 days, wandered around town and enjoyed an afternoon cake and hot chocolate !

Mon 9th - Early start to catch the only bus of the morning to the Huerquehue National Park at 8:30am. Started the Los lagos trek at 9:45, and climbed steadily up to 1350m for 2 hours and my achilles (which had been slightly hurting in the last few days), was really playing up by the end. Weren't entirely sure of the trail, so looked at the 3 main lakes - Chico, El Toro, and stopped to have lunch overlooking the beautiful crystal clear, turquoise Lake Verde. Then we continued uphill to see another 2 lakes, and then realised they were part of another trail not included in the 5 hr / 14km walk we thought we were doing, and were suddenly pushed for time ! Walked super fast all the way back to the bus and just arrived when it showed up at 5pm. Pretty much 6.5hrs of solid walking, and were shattered at the end - not the nice relaxing walk we wanted before our big day tomorrow ! But lovely views of the lakes and huge araucaria (monkey puzzle) trees.

Tues 10th - The day I'd been looking forward to for a while, plus also dreading - the Volcano Villarrica climb ! Got up at 5:30 for the 6:30 start - got kitted out with rucksacks, crampons, waterproof hiking boots, pick-axe, coat, trousers, gaiters and sledge ! Drove up to the start of the hike and Brandon and I chose the easy option of taking the ski lift for the first 400m climb as it was a nasty gravel track, not attractive and would have hurt my aching achilles even more ! Started the 1000m uphill trek at 8:40am, and the guide went at a surprisingly slow and steady pace. Had 2 quick photo stops, and 2 slightly longer food stops, and made it to the crater edge at 12pm. Incredible views from the 2800m - down to Pucon, lakes, other volcanos - even Osorno down in Puerto Varas ! Walked around the crater edge and looked in, but no lava to be seen unfortunately, just the occasional rumble, and sulphur gases billowing out ! Stayed up there until 1:30, then the fun part - sliding down the channels in the snow on our little plastic sledges all the way to the bottom ! Brilliant fun and were down in super quick time ! Used our pickaxes as brakes, but not overly effective and came bombing down some sections and got air over some of the larger bumps !
Shared a beer or 3 with the group when we got back to Pucon, then Brandon and I walked into town and had the biggest icecream we've ever seen and enjoyed the boiling hot, sunny weather.
Went to Los Pozones hot springs at 8pm to soothe our tired limbs, and spent most of the 2 hours hopping in and out of the ridiculously hot pool- absolutely scalding water and could only stand it for a few minutes. The other 4 pools were only luke warm, so not really hot enough to stay in in the cooler evening air. My body remained super hot all the way home, and even in bed at 12:30am !

Wed 11th - Overcast morning and had to check out of the hostel at 10:30am, so spent a relaxing few hours catching up on things. The sun came out in the afternoon, so wandered around Pucon having a final icecream, and enjoying the beach and views of the volcano. Had an amazing burger for dinner at Latitude 39, then caught the overnight TurBus to Santiago at 8:45pm. Not too bad a bus, quite good seats, but didn't seem to recline as much as Cruz del Sur in Peru.

Thurs 12th - Arrived into Santiago at 7am, and caught the metro to our hostel. Left our bags there, then wandered off to Plaza de Armas for the free 10am walking tour. Covered quite a lot of ground - seeing the main square, cathedral, post office, Government buildings, etc, finishing at 1:45. We were both flagging a bit from quite a disturbed sleep on the night bus, so had a much needed lunch at Taco Bell - Brandons first and he loved it ! Then caught the funicular up San Cristobal Hill for great views over the city and surrounding mountains. Walked back to the hostel via the Mercado Central and old train station (Estacion Mapocho), finally arriving at 6pm. Very long day with a tonne of walking and my poor feet looked a bit worse for wear after the last few weeks !

Fri 13th - Had to make 2 calls to British Airways back in the UK this morning to try and sort out a problem with our online round-the-world ticket, but as yet they still haven't managed to sort it ! Useless. Caught the metro to Santa Lucia Hill and wandered around there for a while, changed some Pesos for US $ for Tahiti, and then headed off to catch the airport bus at 2pm from the hostel for our 5:40pm flight to Easter Island. I can't believe how quickly 2.5months in S.America has gone. At times we've struggled a bit with the language, but overall we have loved it here, and seen some fantastic things, and are already making notes of things we missed and want to do next time !!