On Tuesday night we drove through spectacular thunderstorms to Heathrow and stayed at the Heathrow Hotel on Bath Road. It was gone ten but food was still being served. Kevin had a pumpkin and goat's cheese ravioloni and Joan had a korma with paneer. Poor Kevin's meal was surprisingly unappetising. When the waiter asked if we liked it, we said no but he didn't do anything about it. Throughout dinner lightning was flashing wildly. After breakfast we moved our car t...

After breakfast we started our long journey home. Initially this meant driving to the ferry to get us back to the mainland and then on to Puerto Montt airport. We were relieved when the car hire company said there was no damage to the car. To pass the time we ate lunch at a restaurant that seemed to have run out of pizzas, chips... we settled for a large veggie sandwich. When they had no chips, they offered us Chicken nuggets instead! Bizarrely, some people who o...

This is our last full day here in Chile. Joan woke up early to a beautiful view of the crescent moon and planet over the water. We had planned to go to Cocao to see a place called la Muelle de las almas - the pier of souls. It is part of Chiloe's mythic culture. When people die they have to pay their passage to the next world. If they don't have the money, they end up in a kind of limbo on the west coast. It's meant to be an atmospheric place with the rain and t...

Joan is still full of a cold and we didn't bring any Beechams or ibuprofen. We decided to have an easy day and drive up to the penguin reserve at Pulihuill, just over 100km and on the west of the island. Driving there was easy, when you weren't stuck behind a slow farm vehicle. At Punihuill, you drive right on to the beach. There must have been 5 or 6 firms all offering similar 45 minute trips to see the penguins. The company that is meant to be the most ceo-fri...

For the last few days Joan has been coming down with a cold. Today it hit, so Kevin read his book whilst she slept. The weather is still extraordinarily good here. Once Joan had woken up, we headed out for a drive round some of the wooden churches that Chiloe is famous for. Built by Jesuit missionaries, 16 0f them have UNESCO world heritage status. As Chiloe is large (about 200km long and 70 km long) it would be quite a challenge to do them all in one day so we ...