Chile

Apologies for our tardiness with this entry. We crossed between Argentina and Chile a few times and ended up just having too much fun in Argentina to think about blogs etc.
Anyways, Chile was definitely the most expensive, equally most spectacular and certainly the longest/skinniest country we've visited. We entered in style, bringing with us the first snow to the Atacama desert in 50 years. After getting ourselves and the van back in order we struck south down the Pan American again.
We had to be really choosy with the photos,  there's so many that didn't make it in. Maybe back home over a few drinks if you want to see the lot...

Sully hiding from the snow in San Pedro. After descending out of Bolivia we gave ourselves and the car a little break from the outdoors. 

The Atacama. The desert is huge and rich in copper and minerals. The 120kmh speed limits and great roads are a blessing in the barren landscape.

We've jumped about 2000km here to Valparaiso, a vibrant city with a slightly Melbourne feel. It's incredibly colourful and packed with street art and populated seemingly solely by young hipsters and aging artists.

Looking across the port you can see how colourful the city is.

A little further south in Pucon. This is Volcan Villarica. It's active and you can snowboard on it, cool huh!

Laura snowboarding. We had a ripper first day but the weather soured after that. Laura still picked up a heap though... can't wait for next season.

This is Cucao near the national park on the island of Chiloe. The island is really rural and rugged. The people are largely indigenous and live quite traditionally. The climate can be brutal, we experienced our first proper rainstorm for the trip in Ancud further north. Really remote feeling area to travel, especially on the Pacific side. We also met a couple of aussies here who travelled with us for the next week or so. Now they own sully (the van) funnily enough.

Sunrise from our campsite.

This is just built on a local farmer's property. You have to visit him to ask for the key and then hike for miles through gorgeous (tthoughmuddy) fields full of cattle to arrive. The views were amazing the whole way.

Dawn over Volcan Chaiten. This is the ferry port from Chiloe but the town is only just beginning to be inhabited again after an eruption in 2008 (maybe 2009, can't remember). Here we started our adventure down the carretera austral.

Driving to "the Fu", as us and the other Aussies dubbed it. None of us could pronounce the ridiculous name or remember it. For us this is where the real Patagonia seemed to start.

Hanging glaciers, waterfalls,  coloured lakes, crystal clear rivers, yep you're in Patagonia. This is in the Queulat national park. 

Trying to get out of Coyhaique. After 3 attempts and a week stuck there we finally managed to get to Cerro Castillo. Later we bought snow chains... which we never needed again.

Puerto tranquilo on the shore of lago General Carrera. We spent several days staying around the lake, it was a really beautiful time; so remote and tranquil, just surrounded by views like this.

La Capilla, centrepoint of the marble caves on the lake. The rock and caves are smooth marble and swirl with colour. The crystal clear water really adds to the impact as well. The local boat driver had no qualms driving right into the caves.

Last stop on the lake (and for this section of Chile) at Terra Luna lodge. Really nice spot to camp, maybe even our favorite in Chile.

After a couple of weeks in Argentina we returned to Chile to do the w trek and see the Torres del Paine national park. The customs official took the feather off our aerial which had come all the way from California! I think he was having a bad day. This is the towers at the top of the first leg of the w.

We camped up at the towers camp for the first night. It was super cold and only a handful of hikers camped here as snow was still on much of the site. We had incredible weather for the hike and the trails were really quiet. It was a great time to go as all the rivers are full and the peaks are still snow capped on all the ranges.

The view from the top. This is the Mirador above the Valle de los Frances.

On the trail. The entire hike is really beautiful, not just the miradors and famous sights.

A shy Puma. He was really close at first but went to hide behind the tree while we fumbled with the camera.

Back in Puerto Natales. This was a significant point as it was the end of our southward journey. After crossing back to Argentina we turned north for the first time this year.

Now here we are in Buenos Aires with so many stories from our time in Argentina. We'll have to get cracking on the next post to get it done before we leave the continent.