Well after 2 good, but expensive weeks, my time in Chile is almost at an end. This afternoon we depart for Argentina and South America's premier ski resort of San Carlos de Bariloche. As the crow flies its not that far away but there are no direct roads through the mountains so we have to go the long way round, and we´ve been warned there may be some waiting at Argentinian immigration. The expected journey time is 7 hours. The Argies still hate the British appar...

Hello from Chile´s adventure sport capital Pucon, in the heart of the Chilean Lake District. I went to sleep on the night bus in the suburbs of Santiago and woke up in a completely different world. It was cloudy, damp and very very green, which makes a huge change from the dry deserts of the north. The temperature is also quite chilly here and it felt a bit like being back in England. The small town itself however bears resemblance to an apline ski resort in Col...

NOVEMBER 4th: So here I am back in Santiago again one month after I was last here. This is simply a sandwich stop for me in between flights and I`m taking it easy today as I`ve already seen all of this city. This is a bit of a reflective blog on my 72nd and final day in South America. Its been a fantastic 2 and a bit months but I`m ready for a change of scene and looking forward to being back in an English speaking country in the shape of New Zealand. After 68 da...

So now I'm in Chile's capital and one of South America's largest and most significant cities, Santiago. It was just a 6 hour bus journey here, including a lunch stop at a nice service station, and we arrived 3 days ago at about 3pm. Joaquin took us on an orientation walking tour straight away and showed us the Chilean parliament building, Plaza des Armes and the large Catedral. The streets were buzzing with people and there were department stores and fast food re...

Well the 15 hour night bus from Atacama to La Serena really wasn't so bad. I'm getting quite accustomed to them now and half a sleeping pill really seems to work well and put me out fine. I was however seated next to a smelly local but once I'd seen a picture of Jesus in a crown of thorns on his phone background I was less worried about my losing my stuff! It was nice not to have to get up and get straight off the bus in the morning - the extra few hours onboard ...