Alberto Agostini Puerto Natales

... south and here our luck began to run out. We had a list of things we wanted to do in Chile.<br>1. Climb a volcano<br>2. Snowboard down a volcano<br>3. Take a ship through the Patagonian fjords<br>4. Do a 4 day hike through the Torres del Paine national park (Glaciers, ice fields etc)<br><br>Our first stop was Villarica. A chilled little town in the Lake District (a bit like the lake district at home but more active volcanoes and less traffic ...

... looked tiny and the aura was very peaceful. The peaks of these mountains looked amazing and I could have stayed there for hours. After that I looked at Ryan and asked him if we could just go home now since we just saw "the main event". We didn't leave, we stayed the rest of the 5 days. The next day was another extremely long hike of 7 hours hiking with packs. Our positive energy was flowing until the rain started. We had been hiking through these ...

... of which we´d feed to the scores of street dogs lining the pavements. Although a noble gesture, you´d end up looking like the Pied Piper of Hamelin, with half the town´s street dogs following you back to the hostel. After spending another couple of lazy days around town, it was time to move on. Renee and Maite were heading up to our next destination Puerto Montt via ferry. It was a $300 luxury I couldn´t afford so I chose the more economical 31 hour bus trip...whoop dee dooo...

Puerto Natales &amp; preparations for 'W' trek<br><br>Today we took the bus to Puerto Natales in Chile. This is the place to come if you want to trek through one of the worlds most beautiful and least visited parks: Torres Del Paine National Park. There are many routes to trek in the park, the longest being &#8216;the circuit&#8217; taking 8 days. We&#8217;ve opted for the shorter version called the &#8216;W&#8217; trek which takes 5 days/4 nights. We listened to the infamous ...

... all the different wineries in the region. It sounded like a great plan, so we all decided to go. Road trip Unfortunately, all six of us couldn't fit in Efrain's car, so we stopped off at the rental shop. We ended up deciding to rent a Pathfinder that could fit all six of us, so we could drive together. It had the tiniest back bench ever, so we had to squash a little, but we loaded up the car and hit the highway. On the way, some of ...

... a great party, gave me plenty of drinks, and at the same time had me make several speeches! But the people in the group were very cool and interesting and I had a great time with them. I'll be very interested to see what comes of the group in the future. One negative effect of these goodbyes, combined with other factors (the lack of Internet and of a good space heater), is that they kept me away from ...

... de estos dos restaurantes principales. No pudimos resistir las ganas de sentarnos a comer una deliciosa paila de mariscos y un chupe de locos, acompañado de un delicioso vino blanco Carmen Rhin. La comida deliciosa, aunque el chupe no pudo superar aquel que nos comimos en San Pedro, cocinado por nuestro amigo chef, Daniel. De la Plaza fuimos al Cerro Santa Lucia y nuevamente al apto de ...

... nd he*rd me t*king serious liberties with his missus, told him *ll *bout it *nd M*d M unceremoniously kicked her out of the house. Unlucky. It w*s *lso unlucky for M*d M bec*use he h*d * perm*nent reminder of his little pixie th*t I h*d pounded while he w*sn't looking. You see M*d M re*lly did think of her *s his little pixie *nd she loved it when he c*lled her th*t. She loved it so much th*t she drew * little pixie *nd *rr*nged for her ...

... They don't want you," he said in the matter-of-fact Chilean tradition. Once again he's on his cel phone with some higher-up. "Ja Lia" I`m told in Spanish, "we are going to drop you off at a hotel ... relax!" I know the command form is just their language, but it is so frustrating when someone tells you to relax when after you have been rejected you simply smile, go with the flow and apologize for causing ...

... Back to looong bus rides over ****** roads! <br><br>The ride wasn't all that scenic, although I must say it was historically interesting. I crossed out of Tierra del Fuego on the ferry over the Magellan Straight. The straight is obviously named for the famous explorer who first sailed through the channel on his circumnavigation of the world. That is...it would have been had he not been killed near the ...