Although this says Puerto Varas, its the closest place on here to where we actually were for this entry, which was Petrohue. The journey from Ancud to Petrohue took 3 buses and a ferry, taking me back to the days in Central America where you had to take multiple bus journeys to get places, I'd got quite into the habit here of jumping on a bus and ending up exactly where I wanted to be! Anyway, we arrived at Petrohue, which is on Lago Todos los Santos, supposedly the most beautiful lake in the southern lake district. And on first impression, it really didn't disappoint, with crystal clear waters, the Andes lurking omniously in the background, and snow capped Volcano Osorno sealing the deal. To get to our campsite, we had to take a boat across ... read more

A few hours after leaving Pucon, the bus arrived in Valdivia, as buses tend to do. I therefore got off, as people tend to do when their bus reaches their destination. The first thing to note about Valdivia is that it contains the most difficult to find hostel I've encountered so far. It's supposedly the most popular in town, but we managed to walk past it three times before spotting the tiny sign above the door that gives away its location. First task completed, it was time to hit the streets of Valdivia. In a touristy sense, I'd come to Valdivia because it sounded like a nice spot to spend a couple of days, with a river winding through town, a lively fish market, and slightly bizarrely, a huge German presence. The actual word for cake ... read more

After a nice week in Mendoza, I (just) caught the night bus to Santiago. Unfortunately, a 4 hour hold up at the border meant not much sleep was had, and as it turned out, I arrived with only seconds to spare before my connecting bus to Pucon left. So much for having 3 hours to kill! Anyway, as my bus motored its way towards Pucon, it was very clear that the Chile I had entered this time was very different to the Chile I left up in San Pedro. Gone was the vast expanses of desert, and in its place were lakes, forests and snow capped volcanoes. I'm fairly sure you've already guessed which I prefer. Sadly, I hadn't been clever enough to find out where the hostel I'd booked was in Pucon, so I ended ... read more

So, we got back to San Pedro, and went looking for a bus to Salta. Only problem was that there weren't any until 2 January. Not wanting to stay in San Pedro for over a week, I had decided to either try and hitchhike, or go down to La Serena with Rob and Beth. I went to bed on Boxing Day pondering this decision. About an hour later I got woken up by Mirte, who had come across 2 girls in the street that had a car going to Salta tomorrow, and needed 2 people to fill it up. After a small bit of negotiation over the price, it was all sorted, and I was going to Salta, Argentina. Steak Ahoy! Steak 1 The actual day of travel wasn't much special. We met our driver Humberto, ... read more

And so to Uyuni, the last stop in Bolivia. It's all gone a little fast for my liking, and especially now in Chile I'm missing the low low prices. Ah well. We had a day to kill in Uyuni, so we hired out a couple of shotguns and went to look for it. God I'm funny. But seriously, we wandered around town, which isn't really that special, and found ourselves a tour operator for the next day. With that mission complete, there wasn't really much else to do there. We met up again with Bryce and Molly, who we'd met in Potosi, and wandered out to see the sunset over the train graveyard, but ended up missing it. The evening was spent watching some Argentinian band in a bar, before the others went out. I'm a ... read more