In Vino VeritaS

Our longest day of the trip - almost 1,500 Kms in just shy of 16 hours! Over the last two days, we have covered 25% of the entire mileage of the trip, thanks to the great highways and some excellent driving.
When we left La Serena at 5:45 am this morning, we were still in the desert, which we had been following since entering Peru over a week ago. However, as we approached Santiago, the landscape began to change, and by the time we exited Chile's largest city at 10:30 am, we were in the breadbasket of Chile.

Agriculture was flourishing around us, including lots of varieties of fruit, as well as our favourite Chilean export, wine! Vineyards stretched out around us for the next 250 Kms, making us very thirsty - alas, we would not have time to stop and taste (we are hoping for some time at the end of our trip).

About 900 Kms into our day, the landscape changed again - while there was still some agriculture, large trees appeared, and we could see that the timber industry was thriving here.

We continued on our marathon journey as lakes and mountains began to appear - we were getting close to the gateway to Patagonia, and our destination, Puerto Montt.

Finally, as it was getting dark we arrived in Puerto Montt, exhausted, but happy to know we have a day off tomorrow to wash the car, clean some clothes and catch up on some much needed rest.

We also need to check in for our ferry ride, scheduled to depart on Sunday morning.

Until tomorrow, buene suerte!