Yes this is the last blog entry from Chile. The final leg of our journey through Chile involved a great deal of sand, high altitudes and good roads for a change.

Before leaving Arica we collected the new window winder from the UK and Peter had no trouble fitting it so we are back in one piece again. I even managed to convince the carrier TNT that they were trying to charge us twice for carriage from Santiago to Arica and saved us £50. Peter was well pleased.

We visited another museum near Arica with a good collection of Chinchorro mummies. They are a bit gruesome to look at but it is interesting that they could do such a process 2000 years before the Egyptians.

We said goodbye to our lovely comfy hotel with hot water, WIFI and large screen TV with English channel showing programs such as Monroe and Scott and Bailey and headed for the border with Bolivia.

The pass out of Chile was up through the desert (with tall candelabra cacti) and a National Park (Parque Nacional Lauca). The park has a beautiful snow-capped volcano at its center (Volcan Parinacota), which is the highest in Chile at around 6300 meters. The pass itself is around 4400 meters and as we had come from sea level we decided to camp wild for one night at around 3000 meters so as not to shock our systems too much. After the lovely warm sun of the coast it was a bit chilly at this altitude so out came the fleeces again.The lakes in the park lie in a black lava field and are surrounded by fine dust and cinder cones. A weird lunar type landscape.

On the way we stopped at a small town called Putre for fuel. It was hand pumped into a large plastic Vital water bottle from a drum in the rear yard of a restaurant and then poured into Gerty via a funnel. Petrol station- What's that!

So what is our impression of Chile? We really liked Chile despite having Gerty broken into. Travelling in Chile has not been particularly arduous as they are a well-developed country with good facilities, communication and infra-structure.

As with Argentina we have experienced an incredible range of weather conditions ranging from freezing and very windy in the far south through wet and cold in the Lake District, warm and sunny in the Central valley and finally hot desert in the north.

Overall the roads have been of a reasonable to good condition, except along some parts of the Carretera Austral and through some of the passes between Chile and Argentina, where steep winding mountain tracks with scary hairpin bends, have worried us at times. The driving in Chile is good compared with Argentina, with drivers overall being more tolerant and patient but indicators are still used infrequently and hazard flashers are popular. Stop at a junction and they will almost always wave you through, or even as a pedestrian at a crossing, they will stop for you! Taxi drivers aside, they are probably better drivers than in the UK.

We have seen amazing scenery and met some lovely friendly Chileans, always willing to help with information and directions. We really enjoyed Easter Island and the Navimag ferry trip from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales. In fact we have enjoyed most areas of the country, even the northern desert has been interesting (not sure I would want to live there though).

Sorry to have to admit it but as you have gathered from our blog we have visited a few large modern shopping malls, supermarkets and cinema complexes in the cities (the small towns and villages are still basic). We loved the shopping malls as it enabled us to escape the dust, rubbish and heat for a bit as they are

- clean

· air conditioned and cool

· dog free

· unlike most pavements, you can walk without falling down a hole, tripping over a piece of metal cut off at ankle height, tripping over a sleeping dog, or stepping in dog poo

· they all play 80’s English pop, Queen, Elton John etc great!

Now this might make us sound a bit sad, but it is a quick cure for homesickness and quite relaxing after the hurly burly of normal street life. Peter would have to be dragged kicking and screaming to a shopping center at home, but here he doesn’t mind as it quite a relaxing experience.