Last day here. Still very hot and dry. Had a few jobs to do before heading out on the road trip but decided to do the trek up to Refugio Lopez first. This was seriously steep and we were worried on the way up about how steep the descent was going to be. We reached the refugio pretty shattered as it was tough, and the place itself was horrible despite the views. 'sending you to Lopez' will now be a threat between the two of us. Weather was on the turn up there so ...

Took a ride out to El Bolson which was a beautiful drive and because we wanted a day out of the sun. Found a picnic spot on River Foyel on the way. Went on to the craft Market and had one of the famous ice creams- it was a challenge ordering these but worth the struggle. They have more than 10 chocolate flavours alone. Stopped at a beach on Lago Gutierrez on the way back and shared una cerverza. Facts: ice cream count 1 each

Big day today...Wix braved the triple cable car ride up a 2000m elevation so as we could see views across both Argentina and Chile - breathtaking. The weather here is very hot, we think they're having a heatwave. This makes a nice change as Wix is notorious for bringing bad weather. NB: At the moment we're doing the blog on an iPod and uploading when we can but this means we're struggling to upload any photos- we'll try to get some decent ones up when we get to...

We did our first big hike today up to Refugio Frey, altitude 1759m. this was quite challenging as it was warm and a long ascent. We were welcomed at the refugio with a glass of squash and a sit down out of the wind. The location was stunning by a lake. As a few more weary people arrived we decided to sit outside on one of the wooden chairs provided- these were only about 6 inches above the ground but surprisingly comfortable. Kerry managed to fall off hers in fro...

After a false start trying to buy petrol - harder than you think, and checking a couple of things out with the car hire man at the airport we headed out on the celebrated Seven Lakes Drive, which the guidebook describes as 'magical'. First of all we had been assured that a quarter of a tank of petrol was more than enough to get us to the next town, and that the queues we had seen at petrol stations were normal. We had an anxious drive through stunning scenery whi...