The Lakes District, Chile

We left Puerto Natales and caught a short 3 hour bus to Punta Arenas, which is the furthest South we're going on this trip. There really isn't much to say about our stay there. It's a small town, which was pretty much shut up due to it being a Sunday (seriously, I swear I saw some tumbleweed). James made the comment that it's the way that things used to be in the UK before Sunday trading laws came about.

Despite the fact that there appeared to be no-one in the town, we had a spot of trouble trying to find a hostel. We ended up at Backpackers Paradise Hostel, which I have to say must have been named with tongue firmly in cheek as it was the worst hostel we've stopped at so far. Apparently the town has some kicking nightlife, but as the only night we were there was a Sunday we were destined not to see it.

The next day we caught a 2hr flight out of there and to Puerto Montt, which saved us from having to endure a 36hour bus ride. Sky Airlines is a budget airline here, and we found them to be pretty good - no queues, no additional charges for baggage, small meal on the plane and reasonably priced (although some Aussies who'd flown with them later told us that they'd had a bit of a hair-raising plane ride). On the way we managed to see some humongous ice fields way below us.

We didn't stick around in Puerto Montt, and from the brief glimpse we caught of it we were pretty glad that we'd decided to catch the local bus straight to Puerto Varas. We found a cosy hostel, and as it was so late we opted for a liquid dinner. There were some great little bars in the town, and the best one was right across from the hostel; it had decent beer, was cheap and played good music.

Alas, the day after was really grey and rainy, but we couldn't complain as it was the only bad day out of 5 weeks. Early afternoon we went for a walk along the shores of Lake Llanquihue, and already the weather had started to improve.

The following day we took the local bus to Ensenada and Petrohué to get a closer look at Volano Osorno, which can be seen from across the lake at Puerto Varas. On the way we hopped off the bus to see Saltos del Petrohué. The sweet little walk was totally crawling with local tourists and any charm was lost amongst the crowds. The tiny waterfall was very pretty though, especially because of the luminous blue of the water gushing through the gnarled black rocks. The "peace" was also punctuated by the noise of the overpriced speed boat ride which took you near to the falls. After the splendor of Iguaçu it all seemed a bit crazy that such a fuss was being made, but I suppose at least the Chileans were making the most out of this natural beauty spot.

Whilst we found the saltos to be a little underwhelming, Petrohué itself really did have the wow factor. A short walk from the bus stop took you to a black, volcanic, sandy beach and the pristine clear waters of the Todos Los Santos lake, and all of this was set against the backdrop of lush green mountains. Cutting back inland, we walked along a shady path with stunning views of the volcano.

The next morning we left for Pucón, which we'd heard mixed reviews about. People had told us that it was completely touristy, but after experiencing El Calafate we thought it wasn't half bad. We went for a casual saunter though town and spent time on the incredibly busy beach during the dazzlingly sunny afternoon. We had really wanted to book the hike up Volcán Villarica for the following morning, but were advised that the weather wouldn't be very good for this.

Instead we opted to get up early and catch the bus to the Parque National Huerquehue for a day of hiking - we just hadn't done enough in the last few weeks! We took a trail which was relatively strenuous to begin with, but once it flattened out we discovered some beautifully tranquil lakes that were so much quieter than any beauty spots we'd found in other national parks. Seven hours later and we found ourselves back on the bus to Pucón, tired but really satisfied. That night we met three Aussie guys from the Gold Coast who were due to go up the volcano with us the next morning.
At 3:45am the following morning we woke up to get ready for our 4am departure. A bumpy ride took us partway up the volcano, but we would still have around 1400m to scale over the next few hours, most of which would be in the dark. Armed with head torches and pickaxes, we were on our way.

To begin with I was feeling pretty good, although I knew I was working hard. Some others began to fall back from the main group, but I was managing to keep up. However, slowly but surely I could feel the energy drain from my legs, and I started to fall behind myself. I think that the 3 weeks of on-and-off trekking were starting to take it's toll, and I felt as if I was really starting to struggle. The wind was not helping, blowing against our bodies and making my eyes stream.

As we continued to climb the sun began to rise, and we made sure that we took plenty of stops to enable us to enjoy the view. The valley, which was filled with 2 large lakes and 3 other volcanic peaks, began to be illuminated with the first rays of the morning. It was so gorgeous that James couldn' t help but be snap happy with the camera.

We reached the bottom of the ice and stopped. The guide way up front spoke to the leader of our pack to advise that the winds were too strong to continue. We waited around just in case the conditions improved. In the meantime a couple of the Aussies donned their crampons and continued with one of the guides to attempt to get further. 20mins later they were back down to our level - once they had reached the ridge above us the winds whipped up even stronger.

It was then that we realised that it was Valentines Day, and James told me that the climb was his present to me. Who said that romance dies once you're married?!

After around 45mins the guides made the decision to turn back. Most of the group were bitterly disappointed, but I'll admit that I was a little worried about being able to complete the climb in the first place. By this point the Volcano was spewing sulphur at an incredible rate, and all of it was heading in our direction, we were even able to taste it.

So, down we climbed, at a much greater speed than we went up, as we returned via scree slopes which cushioned your weight and made it nearly impossible to fall. James was running down some of the sections, and the nutty Aussies were racing each other down.

For the rest of the day we were cream-crackered from the early morning rise. We promised ourselves a mid afternoon siesta, but that never materialised. Instead we ended up walking to the other end of the town where the boats were moored up on the lake. There we stayed, baking in the sun with the Volcano looking down on us triumphantly; we had been unable to conquer it.

That Valentines night we booked a trip to the hot springs. Bumbling down the dimly lit path, we weren't really sure what to expect. We got changed in little wooden huts, which were suspended over the hot pools and had ladders directly leading down into the water. It was a lot busier than we had anticipated, but there was a great atmosphere and we were always able to find a cosy corner to ourselves.

There were 4 pools, each with different temperatures. The last one was by far the hottest, and we could only bathe in there for 5 minutes before needing to jump out again. There we floated, watching the magnificent starry night and watching for shooting stars. We also shared a bottle of red that we had taken with us. This was incredibly relaxing and far more romantic than our 4am hike.

The day after we said goodbye to Pucón. We'd had fun there and had been pleasantly surprised about how nice the town was. Next we were to catch the bus to Chile's capital city, and my friend Johann's home town, Santiago.