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For our last few days in South America we stayed in La Casa Roja in Santiago, a really popular spot. Here we bumped into a couple of guys who we had met in Buenos Aires back in August and who were also keen to do the traditional 12 pubs of Christmas pub crawl. A plan was made for the next evening so Christmas hats were needed.

The next afternoon we went shopping. There was not a hugely Christmas atmosphere around the city but we managed to buy our Santa hats and were all set for the kick off at the hostel at 7pm. Below is the group of us that started off.

The group was mainly Irish, plus an English, a Dutch and a Chilean. About 5 made it to pub 11 before giving up and getting food instead of another drink in pub 12. In our defence, the planned final bar in the hostel was closed! Good fun was had by all and got us all in the festive spirit.

We had a relaxed couple of days in Santiago after that, including a trip to Los Dominicos markets (quite expensive), a stroll around Bella Vista (a lovely area), Plaza de Armas, a visit to the MAC (only ok) and a delicious meal in Como Agua Para Chocolate before flying on to Auckland the night of December 19th.

Leaving Argentina for the last time, we headed back over the Chilean border to Punta Arenas via Puerto Natales. Fortunately there were no problems at the border, apart from a broken bottle of Trapiche, them taking our bread and tomatoes – no lunch and an Argentinian official asking me about the serious problems in my country. The Irish economy is a hot topic in most hostel small talk conversations these days.

We checked into Backpackers Paradise for the night and organised our trip to Isla Magdalena for the morning. Paradise it was not, and we moved out the next morning after the smell of old feet in the teeny tiny dorm room got too much for us. Our room mates, nicknamed Santa Claus and his wife should have left their hiking boots outside. Unfortunately, Barefoot Backpackers up the road was not much of an improvement, however lunch in La Marmita saved our opinion of Punta Arenas. It was really delicious food, with interesting decor and a great atmosphere.

That evening we went to Isla Magdalena, an island about 2 hours off the coast. It was amazing! The whole island is taken over by penguins and they look so happy waddling around in couples. (these penguins only have one mate for life)

As we were in the area, the next day we went to Seno Otway Penguin Colony. Again the penguins were very cute but Isla Magdalena was much more impressive. And so a flight up to Santiago the next day brought us to our final stop before leaving South America.

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.

We flew down from Lima to Santiago ( a wise move as it would be 2 and a half more days by bus). Arriving at the airport around 5am, we killed some time before getting a bus to Valparaiso (1.5hours north). Having heard mixed reviews about it, I was surprised how much I liked it. It has a real arty feel about it with lots of talented graffitti artists and very pretty architecture.

I ended up staying 4 days here – checking out the nightlife on Saturday night, then a walk by the port on Sunday and going to nearby Vina del Mar for some beach time and a bit of shopping. Our hostel Casa Kreyenberg was nice, more like a guest house though and the lady who owned it was a bit overly obsessed with cats but they did have a great breakfast!

I really liked our first stop in Chile. It has a very European feel, like going back to normality. The prices reflect this aswell but I´m enjoying it all so far. It is a bit cooler here than up north but I still managed to get burnt at the beach!