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A local bus took us from Bundi to Kota – broke down on the way. We waited in the midday heat for about twenty minutes until a replacement bus came when I had to nearly throw myself on while it moved off. Our general class train got us to Sawai Modhpur (renamed the Uyuni of India) just about an hour and a half later than expected.

We had come to Ranthambore to see some real life tigers out in the wild in the national park. However, three safaris later we saw none. Our friends arrived that night when we were leaving. They went on a safari the next morning and watched a tiger hunting for thirty minutes, with the photos to prove it. Oh well..at least we tried…or something.

Pucon is a small town (pop about 20,000) 12 hours south of Santiago. It is a real holiday spot for both Chileans and foreigners with lots of tour operators offering trips to do all types of outdoor activities.

I arrived on my own in the morning, having left the girls to go to Mendoza (blog report to follow once again!) and went to the Tree House Hostel where I had booked a bed. Trying not to wake the sleepers in my room, I went off for breakfast and booked to go zipwiring that afternoon.

Zipwiring or Canopy is a series of platforms set up in the forest that have thick connecting cables from one to another. You are given a harness and helmet so you can attach yourself to the cables and then swing across from tree to tree. Even though it was raining, it was great fun once you got the hang of it.

The main attraction in Pucon is to climb the active volcano  “Vulcan Villarica”. It`s last major eruption was in 1984, the major danger being the resulting avalanches and melting of the snow due to lava rather than the eruption itself. I booked to go the next morning but due to bad weather, it was called off so I spent the day in the Huerquehue National Park with two Swedes I had met at the hostel. We did a 14km circuit of the lakes, again the rain was heavy but it was still enjoyable.

The next morning Maurisio, my guide, collected me at 7.30am to do the volcano hike. He had brought heavy hiking boots for me to wear along with the rest of the equipment, which included crampons, an ice pick, water proof pants and jacket, two pairs of gloves and a fleecy balaclava.

First we got the ski lift up some of the mountain, this cutting off about an hours walk. There, we put on our crampons and water proof gear before starting to walk. Our group was small with only three, in comparison to the other groups of 15 to 20, the large majority being Israelis.

The climb was hard enough, particularly wearing the heavy boots and crampons. As we got higher, I became increasingly aware of how easy it would be to slip and tumble down the side of the mountain. Even during our breaks, I was uneasy as we were never on horizontal ground, always at least 25 degrees slanted upwards.

Ofcourse, when we got to the top about 4 hours later, it was worth it. The views below looking down on top of the clouds were great and on the other side you could see into the smoking volcano crater. Here we stopped for lunch and a well earned rest.

On our descent, half way down, we took out our plastic sliding trays (to use the technical term) and used our ice picks to push us down. This was great fun once I realised how to do it properly and we made it safely back to the bottom by about 4pm.

From San Gil, all nine of us got a bus to Santa Marta up on the north coast and then on to Taganga, a small fishing village nearby. After we checked into La Case de Felipe we all walked down for breakfast and realised quickly how hot it is here! The day was spent at the beach and later a great meal at the hostel – a French chef works in the restaurant there so it was delicious steak all round!

The next day we went back to Santa Marta, with plans to go to Tyrona National Park the next morning. Now, we weren’t quite prepared for it. First of all it was lashing rain all morning so were totally soaked getting on the bus. Then, not thinking clearly, half of us were wearing flip flops, having been told we would be able to avoid the trek in and get horses. But, by the time we got to the bus (had to walk, actually wade through streets full of water) it was too late for the horses so we had to walk! We started walking in the flip flops, not the most sensible, then had to ditch them when the mud got too much – we’re talking mid calf level and I’m sure there was horse poo mixed in with it! So, when we eventually got to our campsite, it was quite a relief as it was nearly dark aswell but it was worth it! A delicious meal of sweet bread (most bread has sugar in it here, not the most appetising) and tuna that we had brought for lunch along with fried bananna chips – you get lots of them here, actually quite tasty!

The beaches are beautiful there, really postcard perfect. We slept in hammocks for two nights – all nine of us in a row! Not as romantic as you would think when you get woken up by a donkey in the middle of the night! But it was really cool, falling asleep listening to the water (the first night) or buckets of rain (the second night).