Occasionally bits of our holidays feel like a bad episode of Top Gear, whether it is breaking down 50 km from anywhere, getting lost on the Peruvian altiplano, not being able to buy petrol in Chile and having to go to Bolivia illegally, or not being able to buy a replacement tyre in Chile when punctured on Christmas day. Today was one of those days but on a less spectacular scale. The reason we came down to the coast was to visit a nature reserve where there are...

Packing seems to get a bigger job every time we want to move on, particularly where there are food stuffs involved. We left the keys with Jose's wife who was convinced we were leaving on Saturday and once again headed to the Ruta 5. It was a very hot day, every tractor seemed to be out on the road and San Clemente and Talca seemed so much busier. We turned off the motorway on to the Ruta de Conquistadores, heading to the coach and Constitucion. The road quickly ...