Chilean Lake District

So we would spend the next 5 days on the Pachamama by Bus tour. For company we had a driver, our lovely guide Mellissa and three aussies Paul, Luke and Amy. Couldnt have hoped for more pleasant company for the tour, thanks guys! Our route took us from Santiago to Pichilemu, the surf capital of Chile, where we stayed for the night. The next day we had a loooong drive to Pucon, which is the activity hub of the Chilean Lake District, and stayed for 2 nights. The last overnight stay before hopping off was in Valdivia, which is just beautiful. On the last day, we drove to Puerto Montt where our group disassembled; Paul and Luke caught a bus to Argentina, Amy boarded the Navimag ferry down south and we flew to Punta Arenas.

	Starting the trip from a handcraft village on the outskirts of Santiago
	Visiting this quite cool dam on the way, forgot the name though
	Hit Pichilemu, the surf mecca of the region
	Big bad bee!
	Visiting a museum in Santa Cruz, put together by a local shady millionaire who made his fortune dealing weapons!
	..and finally we're in Pucon, the Lake District. In the back its the Villarrica volcano, which we would climb the next day.
	At the foot of the mountain where we'd start the ascent. The total elevation covered by the hike was something like 1200 vertical meters, phew.
	Lunch at halfway
	Ready to hit the 3rd leg of the climb, the glacier. There had been a recent eruption and the snow was all covered with the volcanic ash.
	The views were rather splendid, and it was neat to climb in the snow. Best fun so far!
	Note all the black rocks that had rained down. They were 0.2-2.0 meters in diameter and would constantly start rolling down the slope.
	Last & steepest & toughest part of the climb, mostly due to the really sharp rocks.
	Finally at the crater. We didnt catch any lava though, too little pressure on the glacier for nice visual eruptions :/
	Views down from the very top
	Team Volcano resting up for the descent.
	The glacier was descended - well, on your ass :) Again, most fun so far!
	Enjoying a beer back at the trekking company. The mountain would show in the background, but the picture got overexposed :o
	The Man of the village
	Time to pack up the van again -- our 2 nice days in Pucon are over and its time to head for ..
	.. Valdivia, where we arrive just in time to visit the fish market.
	Mellissa, our hottie guide!
	Here fleabag
	Picnic (= 1.5l of wine) in a local park. Very neato place.
	In the evening it was time for a sea lion show at the docks!
	For dinner, we headed to Kunstmann brewery outside town. Both food and the beer was just perfect.
	Our minivan group, sans Amy (whos behind the camera)
	Local nightlife in some other pub downtown
	5th and last day of the minivan trip, we arrive to Puerto Montt before noon.
	The Navimag ferry that goes from Puerto Montt south to Puerto Natales. The trip would take 4 days and costs quite much, but seemingly its rather nice -- and popular among backpackers headed for Torres del Paine.
	Group shot before going our separate ways -- from left: Matti, Amy, Riikka, Paul, Luke