Yesterday a group of us from the hostel jumped on a train to meet up Jesus who was to be our tour guide for our day of rock climbing. After a 45min train journey we jumped in a taxi for the final 20min drive to the hills. By the time we jammed 5 of us in and the driver the poor Toyota Echo could barely move.

As I was the biggest I was in the front which sounds great but the Echo had some fairly obvious signs of a recent smash (no front bar and severe panel damage) and not to mention there were massive cracks in the windscreen where the previous front seat passenger had headbutted the glass. Needless to say I buckled up straight away.

After a hellish 20min taxi ride we arrived at a farm where we paid 500 pesos (bit over $1 aud) to enter the property. We hiked for about 45min until the track opened up and we arrived at a nice spot next to a river, with a massive rock face offering a range of routes of various grades to climb. There was already a group of school kids there, about year 7, with all the girls wanting to have their photos taken with the Gringos (white guys).

We climbed for about 4 hours until we were presented with a great view of the Andes around sunset. It is amazing that we were standing there in shorts and a t shirt and just above us were the snow capped peaks of the Andes.

After a hard day of hiking and climbing we returned to the hostel for a few drinks and an early night.

Today is my last day in Chile and it will be sad to leave. Early tomorrow morning I leave for La Paz, Bolivia where I will start my first trek.

Hope you are all doing well.

p.s. if you would like to follow my tour through Bolivia, Peru and the Amazon, it is called 'Inca Heartland and Amazon' at www.gapadventures.com (I am doing it in reverse from La Paz to Lima)