Greetings from Hanga Roa in Easter Island (Rapa Nui). Somewhere out in the South Pacific - 2,500 miles from Chile - 2,000 miles from Tahiti and 1200 miles from Pitcairn - the nearest inhabited island. The statues & the culture here have always fascinated me as it all seemed so mysterious. As it transpires there's not that much mystery to it - but the story of the island and its people is a sad one - which i wasn't expecting. I won't relay the whole story but ...

I got an early flight from Santiago (06.45 in case you think i've forgotten what early is) to Calama - which is in the Atacama desert. From Calama airport it is a 90 minute drive through the desert to San Pedro de Atacama. The drive from Calama is pretty boring - it has to be said and it wasn't until i started exploring the area around San Pedro de Atacama that i started to appreciate the spectacular scenery (needless to say the drive back was amazing & i was...

Greetings from sunny Santiago - bright blue sky, bright sunshine about 30 degrees - very nice! The centre of Santiago seems quite nice - bustling without being hectic - several pedestrianised streets make wandering around easy..... - although - beware! - there is a chain of department stores in Chile called Ripley. They have 39 stores in total in Chile and 17 in Santiago - so wandering through the central streets for the first time can be a bit alarming as you k...

Greetings from Puerto Varas - about 25km from Puerto Montt on the shores of Lake Llanquihue (which means "deep water") (wonder how they worked that out?). My hotel is the Bellavista and for once the billing lives up to the name - it is on the lake front & from my room - (complete with balcony) i can see the volcano Osorno in the distance. Osorno does a passable imitation of Mount Fuji - with the cone covered in snow. Calbuco - an extinct volcano - c...

Greetings from Punta Arenas and apologies for the radio silence. I have been in the Torres del Paine national park for the last 4 or 5 days - that's a bit vague, i know, but kind of losing track of time here..... I need to finish/correct the Calafate entry - plus, of course, write this one..... Well - the bus journey from El Calafate was pretty straightforward - just long & boring. Oh, and tedious. It was dull, too..... - my itinerary details said it would ...