The transport to Tierra Patagonia arrived early - so after settling our bill we were off - but only to the airport to collect someone also going to Tierra Patagonia. We waited probably 45-60 minutes , & watched 4 Chilean fighter jets take off, until Jamie arrived - she was a marketing manager for the hotel so en route we learnt a lot more about the region and the hotel than we would have done if alone with our Spanish speaking driver for the four and a half ...

Today was a travel day - Chile is the longest thinest country in the world and extends through 44 degrees of latitude most of which we will cross as we head to the far south- consequently we were up early and we left for the airport at 7am. We arrived just after 0815 said our goodbyes to Santiago and checked in. Our flight left on time at 0950 next stop Santiago with a Starbucks and Cinnabon interlude before catching our next flight at 1400 to Punta Arenas with ...

Our final day of activities required an 0445 wake up - luckily they had given us a tea tray the night before and some biscuits to keep us going until breakfast. We left at 0530 and headed north in the chill dark of a desert morning. Our aim was to get to the geysers before sunrise when it was still cold and their vents of steam and water were most visible. We arrived just before 7.00am, the temperature was -6 degrees centigrade and there was ice and salt crystals...

Today was our first full day trip by car to the Tara salt flats. We left Awasi at 0900 and headed towards the Bolivian/ Argentinian and Chilean border - as we passed the ever present Licancabur volcano we could see the landscape in Bolivia. We climbed quite quickly to over 4000m and at times I could feel the effects of altitude on my chest. As we continued we passed the worlds highest telescope - on the edge of a volcano and run in conjunction with a Japanese uni...

We were awoken by a man talking loudly on a microphone - it was either a Sunday religious sermon or briefing the runners before the start of a desert marathon - I went for the latter as it was followed by the sound of helicopters. The event was put on by Brazilians who made up most of the runners. As we got back from our morning walk at 1230 we saw some hardy souls finishing......by that time it was really hot. We had to drink a lot to stay hydrated as the Atacam...