Had a fantastic few days in Torres del Paine. Wouldn't have minded staying there longer but not to be and the good news was it wasn't as cold as it apparently had been the past week, so camping was relatively painless. It helped that Nikki and I snagged one of the shelters and could put our tent under that. We arrived at the campsite about 6.30pm the first night to some beautiful views with the wind blowing. It was Burns night (something to do with the poet) so ...

I did end up going to the movies in Santiago. Thoroughly enjoyed sitting down in the cinema with my popcorn and soda and watching 'Australia'. Could have been anywhere in the world. That night finished packing and went out for a very quick bite for dinner before trying to sleep, which really didn't happen. Too much noise from the outside road. Had a 6am departure and so we said our goodbyes to Aoife who has left the tour and started to meet the new people that h...

"We are definitely not in Kansas anymore". Santiago is completely different to anywhere else I have been in South America so far. It is modern with a clean and it appears efficient subway system, nice clean buses with electric readouts and not someone yelling out where they are going and lots and lots of modern shops. Very different to what I expected. It has been great to be back in a hotel with hot water all day and a bed.......... After arriving we ...

Had a lovely whole day at La Serena, with nothing to do but cook, go for a walk on the beach and relax, which was needed after a very late night out at the observatory. We were picked up at 8.30pm and it took just over 2hrs to get there after picking up other passengers. Moon was quite bright which is apparently bad when star gazing but we saw enough. Our guide was funny and full of enthusiasm which was needed when all I wanted to do was fall asleep. Our tour st...

We had one whole day to spend in San Pedro. After I used the internet and heard the story from some of the others how one of our party almost got arrested by the police - some mix up with exchange of money, I wondered around the dusty old town which is purely for tourists before heading back to the campsite. Ross and Ewan had headed to a big town about 90mins away in the truck to do a big grocery shop but were meant to be back so we could do lunch. We waited and ...