The last few days have been great fun. I spent a day in Temuco again and finally said goodbye to Juanita. I timed my arrival at the airport in Temuco a little late and had to dismantle Toulouse in double quick time. Luckily I had befriended the policeman, Juan, at the airport and with his help I managed to check in to the flight only 20min before it left!!

In Santiago I met up with Mum, Dad and Dougal again and we went just a couple of hours south to the wine region for a spot of tasting for two days. We visited five vineyards in total - having a red and a white in each. But one was head and shoulders above the rest - Anakena, who sell to Britain. The carmenere had a wonderful smokey flavour (much like Ardbeg whiskey!).

The landscape is so totally different up here in comparison to the south. The bare hills and cacti covered hills with fertile plains between growing lots of fruit are a strark contrast to the verdent green pastures and mountains. And the temperature! Its at least 30 degrees and I´m boiled!!!

Tomorrow will be my last full day in Chile. (Sunday doesn´t count as I shall be in the airport only). I´m planning on going to the Museum of Pre-colombian art in the centre of Santiago, which is supposed to be excellent.

montgras vineyard

We had a super new year celebration in Tortel. We arrived at about 6pm just in time to see a patagonian BBQ (whole lamb cooked over an open fire) down on the beach. The skin and fleece of this luckless creature was hanging over the balcony at our residecial! We had some of the lamb for dinner and the Didier (our guide) had created a black forest gateau for pudding as a celebration of Dad's birthday! What a surprise! The parties in the village continued long past us going to bed and there was still music playing when we got up in the morning! The whole village is strung out along the shore and built into the hillside. So all the houses are on little platforms and connected by walkways - some quite high up in the air. We spent a long time wandering back to the car along these in the misty morning.

We stayed another night on Lake General Carrera before taking a couple of planes back to Puerto Montt where I am just now. Mum, Dad and Dougal have gone down to Torres del Paine for a few days but I will meet them in Santiago in the middle of next week for a wee wine tour. We´ve had some fabulous wines so far (the best a Montes Alpha merlot for those in the know) so I think we´ll be in for a bit of a treat!

patagonian bbq, tortel