We began our trip by heading from Santiago to Vina del Mar and Vallparaiso - two of Chile´s most fashionable beach resorts. As we sped along the motorway we quickly realised two things... 1. our car is a gas guzzler, 2. the motorway tolls in Chile are rather expensive. As we didn´t want to be confined to a view of the motorway for two hours we veered off-track and headed on a well-paved road to the coast, for free. We arrived at our destination and quickly changed plan - the two coastal towns looked like the coast of Spain - very built up and not the quaint rural ideal that we had been expecting. No problem though as we hadn´t taken the bus and were now able to go where we pleased in our little jeep. So off we went. We headed further up the coast, stopping along the way to marvel at the huge Pacific breakers:
As we watched the sunset turn the horizon a dark pink we wondered where we would be sleeping that night (´no problem if we don´t find somewhere´, we thought, ´we can always sleep in the car!´) but as we are fairly civilised people we decided to search for some kind of cheap accommodation. We checked into a small B&B and crashed for the night.
The next day stocked up on our staple diet of of chocolate chip biscuits, bought a flask for hot water to make tea, and headed on our way along the coast. I was driving this time, getting used to the righthand side of the road and Al was navigating. We stopped on various cliffs along the way to take in the beautiful views.
That day we had a route planned on the map, about 100kms or so down the coast. The plan was to eat some good fish along the way for lunch and stay somewhere nice by the beach. This all worked out well except that we underestimated the time it would take us -especially as the chosen route took us through the forests, up mountains, through fields, all on dirt and stone tracks. Luckily we had hired a 4x4 as a city car would not have made it anywhere. However it took us about 2 hours to travel 25 kms on these roads and so we quickly had to change our plans.
A major incident ocurred on one of these roads. It was dusk, the sun was low in the sky, shining through our windscreen and blinding us. We were driving slowly on a dirt track through someone´s farm, waving at the locals unloading carts of produce. All of a sudden Al breaked hard... I heard a loud BANG like a balloon popping. Al stopped the car with a look of shock on his face. I looked around to see... a chicken... flapping its wings, its legs and body useless, trying to crawl to the side of the road. It was pretty horrible and we were both shocked. There was no one around and we had no choice but to drive on after the chicken passed away. It was a very sad moment for us. Al has been renamed ´The Chicken Killer´ and everytime we see a chicken now I tell him to be careful. The chicken itself was a very stupid chicken as it actually ran infront of our wheels of its own accord, maybe it had been a suicidal chicken. Many animals seem to have death wishes, we´ve narrowly missed chickens, birds who just dive at your wheels, and dogs who decide to run across the road just as you are passing. Anyway I am carefully monotiring the sides of the road now to ensure that nothing like this happens again.
The Chicken Killer and I eventually found a small town to stay in, Constitution, there isn´t a lot happening there but it is on a beautiful stretch of coast so in the morning we went to admire the views.
We made our way to an island just off the coast from a small town where there is a colony of seals. One had died and been washed up on the beach and a group of vultures were circling it, it was pretty gross.
Our journeys took us across from the coast to the Andes where we visited National Park Laguna Laja, a park with a lake and volcano which we decided to climb.
I was driving at this point in 4-wheel-drive mode across rough terrain - a proper off-road experience and it was awesome fun.
We made our way up to a small village at the foot of the volcano, it was deserted, except for some tumbleweed that was there too. We headed up the black banks of the mountain, Alex was powering ahead while I was taking a more relaxed approach. It was a difficult climb as the sides of the volcano were covered in a black ash/sand and every step forward was followed by half a step sliding back. 
Eventually we reached the beginning of the snow which continued all the way to the top of the volcano. This was an exciting moment and we celebrated by making a little snowman who we named Snowman Sam. Al is pictured here showing him the lake below:
He was quite a smokin´hot snowman and I hope he´s still there.
Our journeys also took us to another national park, Lago Conguillo. A large lake surrounded by monkey puzzle trees growing up the sides of the snowy mountains which overlooked the park.
Most impressive is the gigantic volcano which is the first ting you see as you drive into the park, surrounded by monkey puzzle trees, with a small puff of smoke rising from the crater. We were literally the only people there. We picked a trail around the lake and went on a walk, jumping across small wooden bridges and climbing over fallen tree trunks. We continued, by car, through the park to a larger part of the lake, The road through was terrible and if it had not been for our hardy 4x4 we would not have had to turn back. At times half of the road completely disappeared so we were completely tilted over trying to dodge the huge potholes, rocks and unearthed tree trunks in the way.
We eventually reached the lake and it was truly impressive to behold. The mountains rose vertically over the far side of the lake, covered in snow and low cloud. We sat on the black sand on the shore for a while and just took in the beautiful scenery.
After a while we moved on, it would be getting dark soon and we needed to find a place to stay for the night and we were still in the middle of no where. We found the right dirt track to exit the park and headed on our way, passing fields of lava rocks, black and barren terrain and very imposing.
Our next destination was a touristy but very charming little town called Pucon on the banks of Lake Villarica. We found a great youth hostel, designed in chalet style and made of wood, it was very clean and cosy with wood fires, a huge kitchen and even provided slippers to the guests to keep the carpets clean. It was really great and what was especially exciting for us was the prospect of being able to cook for ourselves again! After two months of eating in restaurants for every meal we couldn't wait to put some good old pasta on the hob.
Pucon is situated in beautiful countryside and next to another amazing volcano so we decided that we should do something active. The owner of our hostel suggested that we hire bikes and provided us with a map marking out a biking trail so off we went.
Our bike ride took us across country roads, over fields, up steep hills and finally to our destination, another lake surrounded by mountains. It was a very challenging ride and there were times when we thought about turning back, but we peddled on. 
After reaching the lake Al took the opportunity to venture into the icy waters... veeery slowly. 
He then enjoyed a cup of tea from the thermos afterwards. 
We began the slog back and were slightly concerned to see a sign that said 'Pucon, 25km'... 25km of main road I hasten to add. It was a tough slog back, two hours of gruelling peddling, cars whizzing past us, the hot sun beating down on us... I honestly wasn't sure if I would make it. However we eventually made it back safe and sound, swearing never to desert El Podoroso again. That night we rewarded our aching muscles with a trip to the local thermal baths - the hottest of the baths reached 45 degrees! Very hot but so worth it, and the next day our muscles only ached slightly. 
We were keen to get further south and having seen quite a few lakes now we decided to do the 300kms in one go to reach Puerto Montt, home of the Navimag ferry to bring us to Patagonia. A packet of chocolate biscuits later we reached the town, took a walk around the fisherman´s market
and found the ferry terminal. Unfortunately we hadn't done our research and didn't know that the weekly ferry left that day and we'd just missed the boat. We decided to book for the next Monday and spend a few extra days on the island of Chiloe. Before our island adventure we decided to see one more lake, the biggest in Chile and the third biggest in South America, Lago Llanquihue. 
Again a very beautiful lake but unfortunately the weather had turned cloudy and so we missed the mountain views we were hoping for. On the plus-side Al bought a fishing rod so that he could indulge in his new hobby however found that he needed to buy a year-long tourist fishing license for £30!! We decided to head somewhere where we could fish without a license, somewhere a little more secluded... so off we headed to the island of Chiloe.
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