Well, Kelly and I were happy to finally say farewell to Peru. We were both losing serious amounts of weight due to the terrible food and frequent bacterial problems. Although a beautiful country, Peru is definitely 3rd world and it wears on you after a month.

We arrived in Santiago were we checked into the Sheraton! My American Express Rewards points provided us with a couple of nights out of the Hostel circuit and we enjoyed it thoroughly. On our first day we took a walking tour of the city and the highlight was the Cental Mercado, which is a large fish, meat and produce market. The fish was amazing and we ate at a restaurant right in the middle of the market. A shell fish stew for me and a crab casserole for Kelly. It was the first good meal we had had in weeks. That along with a bottle of cold Chilean Chardonnay and we were in heaven!

We spent the first few days in Chile sleeping late and wandering around town. We needed to buy a couple of things and went to the local mall one afternoon. It was like we were back in the States! We ate Taco Bell in the food court and ended up going to see Harry Potter (in English) in the movie theater. It was great to be back in civilization.

Pucon is 10 hours south of Santiago via bus. We elected to take the "Salon Cama" on Monday night. This is a bus designed for overnight travel. It is a full sized bus, which normally seats about 45, with only 17 seats. Each seat lays down into a full length, flat bed. They provide socks, ear plugs, a fleece blanket and snacks and in theory you are able to sleep through the ride. Unfortunately we were in the last row - next to the baņo. The noise of people making their midnight trip and the strong smell of the chemical solution in the toilet prevented a perfect sleep, but it wasnīt too bad. We awoke at about 6am and pulled into Pucon at about 8am.

Pucon is a small town situated at the base of Volcan Villarica and on the shores of Lago Villarica. The volcanoe has not erupted since around 1960, but it is active. We attempted to climb to the top (with a guiding service), but were turned back by extremely high winds and blowing ice. Apparently on top you can look in to the crater and see bubbling lava. We met a British couple and the guy was just like Stanley, from Alaska. He was traveling on a strict budget and was a total know-it-all. Everything that they had done was the "best" way to do it and he knew everything about traveling in South America. Regardless, he was pretty entertaining and treated us to stories of their trip to the Manu jungle where he told their guide that he was a complete idiot because he didnīt know how to lead a trip and he was dressed barefoot with shorts and a sleeveless shirt during a night hike in the jungle (which is crawling w/ bugs - see the Manu Chapter).

Another day we went hiking in a National Park nearby. It was a beautiful hike to 3 lakes high in a mountain valley. While enjoying our lunch seated on the shore of one of the lakes, Kelly suddenly screamed and jumped up. When I saw the huge, hairy spider (the size of a Tarantula) that was walking toward us, I didnīt blame her. I stomped the ground to alert him to our presence and he stopped then reared up on his back legs like a horse and started toward us again faster! We jumped over him and let him have his way. We saw another one on the hike down and met a couple who said that a park ranger had told them that they were "bird eaters" and that they were very active right now because itīs their mating season.

After 3 days in Pucon it was time to continue migrating south and we headed further into the lake district via bus. The next stop was Puerto Varas. Puerto Varas is on the shore of another lake and on the opposite shore of another huge volanoe: Volcan Osorno. Puerto Varas is another adventure travel mecca with many activities to chose from...