From Lima we travelled to Santiago, the capital of Chile. Got to the place we had booked at the crack of dawn. After banging on the door for 5 minutes we were let in and shown to our room by this really odd Chilean guy wearing just a pair of boxer shorts and a pair of obviously odd socks. The room wasnt any better and Lisa was appalled by the facilities. So, after an arguement over the state of the place (the guy was mortified that we thought that this s*** hole of a place was, well, a s*** hole) we left. Having no Chilean Pesos, we walked across town. After a couple of 'no rooms at the inn' (we thought we might have to go back and grovel) we found a top little hotel who let us eat, drink and check in on the promise we would bring cash later. Spent a couple of days mooching around the city, mourning the loss of our South American travelling chums and debating whether to go to the Andean ski resorts that are only an hour from the city. Decided against it (later glad we did - worst conditions for decades) Some great parks, although Lisa wouldnt let me go into a single one of the 'coffee with legs' bars. Basically a Starbucks staffed only by women in outfits like in the Robert Palmer video - Addicted to Love - but with shorter skirts and lower tops. Flew from Santiago to Rapa Nui (Easter Island) - the naval of the world. This place is in the middle of nowhere. It is part of Chile, but 4,000km from the mainland and 2,000 from the next nearest inhabited landmass - and that is just another tiny island. As you would expect of such an isolated place - it is a bit odd. Tourists have only been coming in any significant numbers since the late 1980s when NASA extended the islands runway to enable shuttle emergency landings, and even now relatively few come. The island has one settlement only where many of the locals ride down the main street on horseback. Some of the sites are within walking distance of town, but others are miles away. Fortunately, there are some cars on the island and we rented one from a local shopkeeper for a day (no insurance - 'you just wont crash will you') to go and see the moai (the statues). The moai used to stand guard over the settlements that once existed on the island, and due to a lack of development and tourism over the years, much remains. Truly bizarre place. Incredibly interesting and, well, amazing. Plenty of photos and stories. Too much for the site, so will bore you all when we get home. Next stop, French Polynesia for a bit of R and R. S