Getting to far distant, middle of nowhere Easter Island is half the battle at any given time. The other half ended up being getting on to Easter Island. We have come to realise that tendering 3000 people ashore is not an easy task. The Magnifican't manages to make it Herculean and also like the first time they've managed it - every single time. It took almost five hours to make the 10 minute boat trip to the island and the people we booked the private/small gro...

We were up bright and early, had a quick dining room brekkie and then we were off to see Arica. It used to be called the City of Eternal Spring due to its year round moderate climate - but as the rest of the world seemingly heats up, the Arica dwellers have actually experienced the cold - down to 9 degrees this past winter - freezing for them. Funny story, the guide on the coach reckoned that 90% of people who live in Arica (and have never left to see anywhere ...

Friday 10 Feb 2023 - Farewell Santiago - and not a moment too soon. The air quality here has been unhealthy for the past week due to the massive wildfires 6 hours south of here. Thankfully the air conditioner in the apartment has been working hard so at least it's better indoors. Our driver turned up 'Spanish' Early - only 5 minutes. We invariably book drivers for a particular time and they arrive 15-20 minutes early then cause havoc rushing us to get down to the...

It was not the best of sleeps. After 5 weeks with 'Airbnb's most comfortable mattress' in Buenos followed by almost 3 weeks with 'comfort incarnate' on the Roald Amundsen, the Hilton's bed offering was lack lustre to say the very least. It was deja vu all over again on Monday morning. We finally got to try the Hilton breakfast, not bad. Back up to the room for more packing, we're allowed 3 x 23 kg bags each for the flight to Chile and we made the most of it. We...