Hotel Natura Patagonia Puerto Varas

... to warm my frozen ears and hands. The shop had hand made items made by the shopkeeper’s wife. They sold a lot of Mapuche (pronounced Mah-poo-chay) handcrafted items and outside the shop was a typical Mapuche statue.

We venture on down the path and cross a bridge and waiting for us at the end of the path was a rushing waterfall. The thunderous sound of the water breaking against the rocks could be heard even before we made it to the end of the ...

... get cheap souvenirs). And the supermarket in puerto varas was like being in food heaven compared to the soviet bloc stylee food shops on easter island. but after a couple of days, trudy was feeling better and we thought we'd go on a trip. Helpfully, the b&b owner spoke a little english and decided to organise the trip for us. How kind we thought. Off to see petrohue waterfalls he said. Sounds good to us we said. So on the sunday, at 12pm a little minivan turns ...

... his wife, Chascona, which means (in an endearing way) messy, tussled hair, like the way you wake up every day of your life. The living room is built to feel like a lighthouse with curved, longwood windows overlooking Santiago. Of course, ever since 1991, the ...

... are NO bad wines in Chile); got up front and personal with the local critters; and generally had a wonderful day that will not soon be forgotten. Joe, our contact in Colorado said it would probably rain at about 1500 hrs and in downtown Puerto Montt that is precisely when the rain began. Happily most of our tour was finished by the time the rain began. Cailie took us to a local grocery store to pick up some essentials (read wine here) and helped us sort ...

... so we went to one of the hot springs near the active volcano to relax and get massages. It turned out to be a great massage. The hot springs were relaxing, but a little bit warm for such a hot day. We had to head back for our big New Years celebration in our hotel. New Years Eve was hilarious. We were certainly the only Americans at the hotel and definitely the youngest, except for a few teenagers who came ...

... plan to scam his insurance company. He planned to sell the sugar in Uruguay, travel round to where we were and hit the rock which should sink the boat. Heīd then pocket the money from the insurance company and the money he got in Uruguay for the sugar. Sadly though it didnīt go to plan. He manged to hit the rock but the ship didnīt fully sink. When the insurance man got there he asked where the sugar had gone and the captain told him it ...

... with lots of construction going on. You can see the effect that tourism is having on this small town, which sometimes isn't always positive in my view. I hope they don't let the big name hotel chains spoil this quiet town in years to come. We trekked 6 hours to Lagos Torres in the national park. 70% of the trek was in the snow which was great, we were rewarded with some amazing views of Fitz Roy mountain ranges at the end before ...

... and hire bikes for the afternoon. It was great fun. We had the bikes for about four hours and rode to the next town & back. We even befriended (or should I say 'got befriended by') one of the local town dogs and she ran with us the entire trip!!!! We named her Skippy (after the famous kangaroo), coz it was like she was talking to us and leading us along ... well we had a map to follow, and we all know what great luck with had with them so far! Skippy ...

... It is one of the most isolated places in Chile (being only accessible by boat) and is the home of the last of the Kaweshkar people. The Navimag ship arrives twice a week to exchange goods and let a boat full of passagers loose around their tiny village (only 180 people). It was a really interesting place with lots of colourful wooden houses but surprisngly we only saw a couple of locals - they are obviously ...

... 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 ...