Horse riding is for girls....

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Moved on from Bariloche after 5 days, across the border into Chile to Pucon in another part of the Lake District. We were lucky we made it over that day as the bus had to go over the extremely snowy andes. We got stuck a few times on a steep incline in the snow but the driver managed to get us over, passing by 5 or so abandoned trucks on the way that werent so lucky!

Anyway day one was spent horse riding with a local ¨Gaucho¨ who brought us up a nearby mountain with fantastic views of the town, lakes and mountains. He also brought us to a hidden waterfall cascading down thru the mountain which was class. On our return 3 hours later there was soreness on both our parts, however Ian realised it aint a sport for those with liathroidi!!
That evening we headed to the ¨Termas¨ (hot springs) which were naturally heated by the volcanic mountain. A few hours soaking in 30 degree water left us relaxed and somewhat shrivelled!
Our plans for the next 2 days to ski on the local volcano, since we were semi pros at this stage, were thwarted by the heavy rain which only let up when we were leaving! So they were spent lazing around the town, eating and drinking. The town was really nice, not too many tourists and plenty to do when the weather is in your favour!

From Pucon we moved onto Santiago the capital of Chile. Its a huge metropolis sprawled over miles as far as you can see. Expecting heavy smog that hurt your throat we were pleasantly surprised with bright blue skies and semi fresh air. We stayed in the Bella Vista area, very artsy area with plenty of pubs, restaurants and markets etc. As its just another big city there wasnt much to do except museums and walk around the city centre, which is just like any other western city with mcdonalds etc. We looked into skiing but was turning out to cost too much, very european prices!! We had a night out with Claudio our 50 year old camp hostel host who showed us the places to go, knocking on doors to gain entry being very common! So after 3 nights in ¨mucho frio¨ conditions we left for San Pedro in the Atacama desert in North Chile looking forward to some heat!

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