Awasi Lodge Puerto Varas

... Puerto Montt, due to us having more baggage than any sane person should have whilst travelling, we just jumped into a taxi and asked the driver to take us to our hostel. We should have looked a little closer at our South America guide and would have realised that our accommodation was 5 minutes walk from the bus terminal. Oops! Unfortunately, the driver didn’t know where the street was and proceeded to drive aimlessly around for 20 minutes until we ...

... to wander round the islands, one was called Isla Victoria, the other I have no idea. Was very scenic and a gorgeous sunny day. Got a bit more colour on my arms. Then on the Friday an early start as was taking the 3 lake crossing to Puerto Varas in Chile. Buses and boats all day. Turned out to be accompanied on the trip by a bus full of retired american couples and so the trip was quite pricey but a very ...

... so I ended up being awoken by the taxi driver at 8:20. Apologizing profusely, I promptly fell asleep as soon as I got into the taxi and was awoken again when we reached a lovely lodge in the middle of the lush Cochomo Valley. I downed some tea, packed an overnight bag, hopped on a horse, and off I went! I was travelling with a cowboy named Horacio and 2 pack horses filled with supplies that we were bringing to his house ...

It´s been a while since we blogged, we know! But that is just testament to how busy the last three locations have been, Patagonia, Buenos Aires and Rio. We arrived at the campsite at midnight and dreaded the thought of having to pitch a tent in the dark with one small torch but thankfully the owner had set it all up for us and had even layed out our sleeping bags. Ujal´s excitement at being back in the tent made me laugh, we think were ...

I left Pucon not knowing exactly which country I would be in that afternoon which was quite exciting. I had finally decided I would make the effort to go right the way down south to Patagonia and there were a number of ways I could do this so my fate would be decided in Osorno bus station. I decided to go for a more direct bus down south so kept to Chile for the time being and, having booked my ticket for a couple of days ahead to Punta Arenas, I went to the ...

... no doubt a nice little earner! That night there was Bingo and a party in the bar to celebrate our last night. In true German style, along with Marco and Katherin, we raced upto the bar after dinner to save our seats for the Bingo (tragic, I know). Sadly none of us won anything but we were treated to some lovely Casio keyboard playing and singing by one of the crew which cheered us up immensely. We were also treated to some dancing from a guy ...

... we trekked 7 hours to the Torres which was pretty tough going, lots of snow, really slippy ice in parts and the trails were only a foot wide to huge drops into canyons at one stage, adrenalin was kicking in. The last part of the climb was about 1km and very steep and it was all worth it the top, amazing views over Torres Del Pienne and the Torres staring down at a perfect lake. The wind chill was numbing our fingers and toes on top ...

... and other volcano debri for an hour to the top. At the top there was a bit of a sulphur smell and every now and then a whooshing sound as more smoke sumped out, but no bubbling lava to be seen - still impressive though. The best part of the whole experience was the descent down the glacier, which was a tobogan run - although we did it wearin gthe special clothes provided by the tour group which was fun at the time, but provided some nice ...

... navigate through this small passage whilst the sun came up - but wow it was cold! Later in the day we went past a massive glacier which was really impressive but we have to admit that most of the day was spent indoors watching Chilean films due to the cold, wet weather. The following morning was the only stop of the trip, a village called Puerto Eden and the only inhabited place we would see on our 1000 km ...

... which is in the Vicente Perez Rosales National Park and houses Volcano Osorno. We opted for a short hike initially to check out the Saltos del Petrohue, complete with waterfalls over basalt rock and fast flowing rivers. Our timing for arrival was a little unfortunate as we arrived at the same time as a coach full of pompous, elderly Brits with very inappropriate footwear (sandals and heels on rocks?). We figured they must be ...