We ended up having a lovely break in Bariloche. Camped out for the week, ate plenty of the local chocolate and just relaxed - enjoying the peacee and quiet of the lovely little campsite which was located out of the business of the town but luckily on a pretty frequent bus route. We finally got to do a bit of rafting - first time for the both of us and boy did we have fun! Twas absoutely savage. Thankfully neither of us got thrown out of the boat but we did hop in for a swim/bob down some of the rapids and got to laugh at some of the other rafts coming down behind us.

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Our group included a mad German couple (in their 60’s!), by far the craziest in the boat! They were messing like 5 year olds. Anyway, the day ended with one splendid BBQ and plenty of vino tinto for everyone. Happy Days.

We took a short two hour bus trip down the road to El Bolson. It’s a nice wee town, we found a lovely little campsite, and it was that bit wamer than Bariloche. It also wasn’t as mobbed with flippin touists and we got back to improving our Spanish! We rented two bikes and headed out to a little bewerey in the county. Sampled some of the specialities - honey beer, rasberry beer, blackberry beer - all good fun and suprisingly tasty, except for the chilli beer - red hot and complete with a chilli pepper inside.

[caption id=”” align=”alignnone” width=”512” caption=”Rasberry beer - again click for the full album”][/caption]

We also messed up here, somebody lost the harger for the laptop (he’s yeah high, loves kitesurfing and his name is not Patricia). Hence the lack of blogging recently. Anyway we’re back in action, having visited 852 DIY stores … eh … Quiero una transformador …. tiene? Por laptop? … ok … sad face … gracias. Anyway we got something, a few too many Volts but it does the trick! Anyway, enough rambling. After Bariloche/El Bolson we hopped on a bus and off to Chile. Puerto Montt to be exact. We were getting on the Navimag Ferry here.

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It’s a four day ferry down through Patagonia. it was a bit pricey, but having done it I think its definatly worth it. The guys on board were so enthusiastic - providing lectures on flora + fauna, movies at night, bar open full time, told us if there was anything to be seen outside - Excelent hosts! We even had bingo and a party on the last night which suprisingly was great craic! We got to disembark in Puerto Eden, a small island town on the way down. I think the ferry is their main contact with the rest of the world.. We also got to see South Americas largest glacier (PIO XI), dolphins, whales, seals, albatros and petrels. Some of the staff even hopped off onto a RIB to get some icebergs for the bar.

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I thought of that old ad for Baileys where the guy climbs loadsa stairs with a bag of ice on his back - you want ice? I got ice! Anyway, we’re in Puerto Natales now, getting very close to the bottom. It’s a pretty harmless town but nie to spend a few days all the same and most importantly to celebrate Peters birthday!

Had a super meal to celebrate, really excelent but it was made super special due to this!

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The main draw to this town is the Torres del Paine National Park. We’re going to do a four day trek around it so shall update ye on that in the next few days.