These 4 days were pretty dull, but we figure that sometimes it is good to be bored, otherwise you can get sensory overload... if you can’t be bothered to read on, have a look at the pics instead... (and just for fun the Smiths/Morrissey fans amongst you will spot the references). Day 28 Saturday morning and we are off to catch the bus to Puerto Montt back on the mainland where will be catching a flight further south on Monday. Arrive in Puerto Montt, a very busy port, where it is raining so we “waterproof up” head to toe, and head to a sushi restaurant that has a good review in the guide. We are not disappointed and the fact that they are playing the Smiths and Morrissey makes Emily’s day. The food is fantastic (prepared ... read more

Day 16-19 After being stuck at the border for almot 2 hours we finally make it to Hostel El Poncho in Bariloche late evening. Now Bariloche is kinda like a cross between the lake district back home and switzerland but on a much larger scale, instead of hills you have mountains/volcanoes and the lakes are like mini oceans. Anyway after looking round the ample amount of chocolate and clothes shops we decided to spend the next day hiking in the national park area. So knowing we had a 8am start so we stayed in and cooked the rest of our pasta for dinner. We shared some conversation, wine and raspberries with a Dutch guy called Thomas, who bizarrely had been to Harrogate 3 times! The bus collected us at 8am and we set off towards the ... read more

Day 11-13 A 2750 metre high active one.....but before that lets rewind a few days After the cani and hot springs day, our legs felt pretty sore and so we decided to have a chilled day. Well as chilled as you can be in 30 degree heat! We hobbled round Pucon, found the most chorlton place to have lunch (very 'knit your own lentils' as Em's mum would say) and waited till 6pm to go to the beach when it had cooled to 29.5 degrees (seriously it stays hot here until 10pm at night!). We came back to the hostel and met a couple called Anna and Ed - we had some good northern banter and got drunk on our terrace together. I managed to scare Ed by declaring it was 3am when in fact it ... read more

Day 4 We arrive in the coastal port of Valparaiso a huge bay with lots of brightly coloured houses piled on top of each other accessed via a network of funiculars (or as they say in Chile ascensors). After upgrading to a room with a bathroom we headed out to explore; Spanish lesson for the day Compartido Bathroom means shared! After taking our first ascensor, which literally transported us out of the hustle and bustle of the port area to a tranquil and serene setting, we were almost caught off guard... We wandered around like tourists hypnotised by the beauty of the place and stopped to check our ‘brilliant’ photos. Suddenly a group of 3 men started to surround us, one of them saying that someone must have thrown something out of a window onto my ... read more