7 de Noviembre

In the morning, the man that owned the campsite filled half of it with water! He said we were allowed to play in the water so we did, and got very muddy. After we had had a shower to get rid of the mud, we had lunch then went into town. When we came back we played in the mud again, had another shower, went to have dinner, then got on a night bus that had Iron Man 3 on telly. So Jack was happy. As the film was finishing, we went to sleep.

8th November

BY JACK

We woke up on the bus and it was still dark, we jumped off the bus and I was very sleepy. We walked for 2 hours with all of our stuff, when we arrived at Bahia Inglesa we put the tent up and went to get some breakfast. A dog followed us around and the the dog waited for us at every shop. When we got back to the campsite Daddy tried to shut the gate to stop the dog getting in but the dog dug under the fence. It was very funny and I was pleased. We named the dog Fido. After that we played at a big sandy park and then we went for a swim in the swimming pool, it was freezing. When we were back at the tent Daddy was having a chat with the owner and he said we could stay in one of the cool Triangle houses. I really liked the shape. We moved in and Josie and I ran back and forwards for our stuff. Then we made dinner and went to bed in our bunk beds,

9th November

BY JACK

We went for a walk all the way back to Caldera and Fido came with us! But we had just got to the main road and a man stopped to give us a lift. Fido barked and barked because he wanted to come too. The man who gave us a lift drove all around Caldera giving us a tour.

When we got to the Supermarket it was like a proper supermarket! There was Hienz ketchup. When we had finished our shopping we hitch-hiked home , it only took a minute for someone to stop for us.

10 de Noviembre

We went for a walk today around the bay and up a hill. It was about 10 miles in total. On the way we saw pelicans, seagulls and other birds swooping down into the water to catch fish. They would fly up into the air, circle once or twice, then zoom down diving into the sea to catch fish over and over again. On the way back we saw Fido and Skinny Jim playing on the beach.

When we were having our chilli (a meal) with chillies (the spicy vegetable) while it was chilly (cold) in Chile (the country) that evening.... Knock knock.....who's there I thought? It was the man who gave us a lift into town yesterday and he had brought his children Scarlet and Antonio to meet us. Strangely, for a Chilean, Antonio had very light hair and green eyes.

11 de Noviembre

We went for another walk today to a rocky beach with some really big waves.

12-14 de Noviembre

We played on the beach for the next couple of days having a really nice, lazy time.

15 de Noviembre

In the afternoon we hitched to Caldera where we caught the night bus to Santiago, the capital of Chile.

16 de Noviembre

Arrived in Santiago and got the Metro, which was hot and crowded, and went into the city. We went to a fancy hotel where we met Grandma and Grandpa! We were just in time to eat all their breakfast. We had bread, eggs, ham, cheese, fruit, yoghurt, cereal, blueberry cakes, strange pies, more fruit, tea, orange juice, strawberry juice. We ate so much we felt a bit sick!

The rest of the day was spent going to the park and eating more.

17 de Noviembre

Woke up early to get the plane to Easter Island. My Dad really loved the plane and its toilets. I watched back to back films for 5 hours. When we arrived a man gave us a flower necklace each and drove us to where we were staying. After that we looked around at some heads (a.k.a. Moai).

By a Moai we met some English men who were going to set off a water powered rocket. They were filming with Professor Brian Cox it will be on BBC 2 in January 2015. It went a bit wrong for them - the rocket landed in the sea so a man swam into the rough, wavy sea to get it back.

18-20 de Noviembre

On Easter Island, we saw loads of heads; tunneled through old lava tubes; played on the beach; saw more Moais; watched turtles sticking their heads out of the water to breathe; and climbed up the side of an old volcano! The volcano, Rano Kau, housed the village Orongo. The village was made when they stopped making heads and worshipped the Bird Man instead. (To choose a bird man the strongest men in the village would swim to a rocky island and stay there for days or weeks until a special bird laid an egg, then they would shout back to the village that they had got one. The first man with an egg was the winner and would be the bird man. When he got back to the village he wasn't allowed to cut his toe nails for a year!) On the way up we made friends with some more dogs and chose one each. I named mine Classic Dog, Jack called his Negrita, Mum named her's Poopie, and Dad's was Turbo Net!

My favourite part of Easter Island was the quarry where the heads were made. Here there was a massive one, only half made. I reckon he was the biggest of them all.

21 de Noviembre

Today, our last day on Easter Island, we went to a museum. We learnt a lot about the island and its history. Did you know that Easter Island has only existed for 3,000,000 years, that's even younger than the dinosaur footprints!

On the way we met some super cute little puppies, so were happy to see them again on the way back. Afterwards we met Grandma and Grandpa and went to the airport to go back to Santiago. Unfortunately the plane arrived at 4 o'clock in the morning.

22 de Noviembre

When we arrived at Santiago, we we straight to the hotel and to sleep, only to wake up again at 7 am, have another massive breakfast and get on a bus. We stayed on this bus until the bus stopped in Villarica* at 7 pm. From there we wondered around town until we found a cabaña** .

* Pronounced Bee-ya-ree-ka: often a v is said as a b in Spanish.

** A Cabaña is the Spanish name for a Cabin or a small house.

23 de Noviembre

Villarica is a town on the shore of Lago Villarica (a lake called Villarica) and at the bottom of a volcano that also happens to be called Villarica. It is also is near a town called Pucon which, sadly, is not called Villarica.

We went to find Grandma and Grandpa, changed to another cabaña near their hotel, then went to explore Pucon. I preferred Villarica. In Pucon we had hot chocolate, went to the supermarket, hired a car then drove back to Villarica. After all that I still prefer Villarica.

24 de Noviembre

We drove around visiting water falls and lakes, with the grown ups chatting about how like Europe it was.

25 de Noviembre

This morning we (Mum, Grandpa, Jack and I) flew in a little yellow 4 seater aeroplane (although to fit the driver in, Jack and I shared a seat) over Volcano Villarica, an active volcano. As we neared the volcano it got a bit bumpy. Grandpa said something to us, so Mum agreed, although it was so noisy nobody could hear what he said (maybe Mum had agreed to give us to the pilot!). When we were over the volcano, we peered into the crater and saw a big pit of smoke, with a rim of snow. The plane tilted from side to side so we could see, it also made it feel like we would fall into the hole! My favourite part of the plane ride was the looking into the volcano crater.

In the afternoon we went to a beach by a lake and played in the sand.

Grandma Fantastic Jack and Josie and yes you did eat a lot of breakfast. I liked the Maui that had a funny nose best. Have just said goodbye to you all. Have a great time for the rest of your trip. I hope Daddy's cold gets better soon. See you in Manchester in the 18th December. Love Grandma. Xxxxx

Nov 27, 2013

Gra Easter Island sounds amazing as does the plane ride. Weren't you scared???

Nov 27, 2013

jo birds 18 th December!! Nearly here! Really glad you seem to have had a fab time but looking forward to you coming home. Our house doesn't sseem quite right without jack 's visits! A coffee would be nice too hey Anya! X

Nov 27, 2013

Helen Lynch So glad you are still having such an amazing time!! Loving reading your fab blogs Josie - you should definitely be a travel writer in the future and then get other people to pay for your trips!! Your bits make great reading too Jack! Enjoy the next few weeks everyone!

Nov 27, 2013

Grace and Otis wow! your soooooooo lucky !!!what happened to fido after you left him? I'd love to be on the beach like you insead of doing lessons .were you expecting to see Grandma and Grandpa? you are both writing an amazing blog josie and jack and it all sounds really fun. what's it like inside a volcano crater? have an amazing time ! can't wait to see you again xxx

Nov 27, 2013

Tammy Wow, more amazing adventures. I especially like the sound of the plane flight and your breakfast with grandma and grandpa! I liked your very witty eating chilli in chile bit. Looking forward to seeing you VERY soon! Xxxxxx

Nov 27, 2013

Brendan Chillin' out sounds fun!

Nov 28, 2013

Wendy Agree with all the above! looks like you might have to get a dog when you get back - hopefully you won't let your mum choose the name if you do (think she must be missing work). Hope you left some food in the hotel for everyone else to have breakfast! Sounds fantastic as ever. See you soon - back on 18th ehhh, make the most of your final weeks - maybe treat your Dad to some new pants!

Nov 29, 2013

tom grundman brill! see you soon!

Dec 1, 2013

Grandpa We had a great time with you all and were sorry to leave you in Puerto Varas. You are now following our route. We went from Punta Arenas to Torres del Paine where you now are, I think. On the way we passed near the Argentinian border and saw a sign to a town called '28 Noviembre', and guess what day that was - yes, it WAS 28 November! We've finished our stormy voyage to Cape Horn (where it was too stormy to land) and no, we weren't seasick! Grandma didn't like getting in and out of the zodiac boats and didn't like having to wear big welly boots, but we made lots of new friends. Looking forward to seeing you in 2 weeks. Lots of love.

Dec 5, 2013