Just like in previous years, we left Santiago behind for the end-of-the-year holiday season and went "down south". Christian's brother and his family were visiting Chile around that time, so after a weekend spent together in Santiago in mid-December, and then sending them off to Punta Arenas for some whale-watching and Torres-del-Paine-exploring, we had arranged to meet up again in the Puerto Varas area just before Christmas. We had hired a cabin for a few days, air fares (for our visitors) and bus tickets (for us) were all booked... except, this is Chile and things don't always go as planned.