Day 3.
Santiago:
Took a bus tour of the city seeing places like the Presidential Palace, and visited The Plaza de Armas, the Cathedral and the National History Museum, then up to the top of San Cristobal Hill (300m) for a fine view over the city.
The afternoon was at leisure so I took a walking trip around the Plaza and to the local market.
The city felt safe and there were plenty of police officers around.

Day 4.
Valpariso:
Left the hotel on a trip to Valpariso, Ville de Playa and Vina del Mar on the Pacific coast, during the Ville de Playa part we saw Sea Lions and Pelicans.
Valpariso is a large port and has a much older feel to it with narrow streets and lots of traffic. Here we had a walking trip on the uphill part of the town and later on the cog railway back down to the shopping area.

Day 5.
Santiago to Puerto Varas:
An early start today for a 1000km flight from Santiago to Puerto Montt which was founded by German settlers in1853, it is also the capital of Chile's Lake District.
On the way to the hotel we stopped at the fish market in Angelmo for lunch and some shopping, then toured Puerto Montt before arriving at the Cabanas de Lago in Puerto Varas for one night.
The town stands at the southern end of the Lake Llanquihue, the second largest lake in Chile. The main shoppng area of the town was very close and was quite a pleasant place with lovely views over the lake.

Day 6.
Puerto Varas to Peulla
Left the hotel by bus on a 75km trip into the Vincente Pewrez National Park to join the catamaran at Petrohue on what should have been a lovely sail on Lago Todos los Santos to Puella, sadly however it was raining quite heavily and just a bit cold and misty, so the views were almost non existant.
The Hotel Natura in Peulla is in a very remote situation and we took a short 4x4 trip to see a local farm with llamas, horses and other animals, although very wet it was enjoyable.

Day 7
Peulla to the border with Argentina
On leaving the hotel we immediately stopped at the Chile customs post, once again all off the bus (which we had just boarded) present our passports and on our way again.
The road we were now travelling was the main international highway to Argentina, it was however a dirt road with lots of potholes and mostly single track. It took us through the forest and on reaching the Argentian border it started snowing

Please see the page on Argentina to continue