Things we have learned on a 5 day 'W' trek in Torres Del Paine National Park, in Southern Chile. 1. Team Hiles are not natural campers 2. It is possible to walk over 100km in 5 days with a full backpack and remain married 3. When given unseasonably good weather, the treking is actually quite pleasurable (no sign of the trademark 120kph gusts of wind or rain - sorry Jey & Amy) 4. 5 days only really requires one shower, tops 4b. and no razor 5. Dan does n...

We have spent the last week and a half tucked away in a remote corner of Chile - on the island of Chiloe. We have spent a majority of the time enjoying some good old British weather on the wild west coast and are now in the 'Capital' Castro to enjoy some gastronomic delights. We arrived here from Puerto Varas where the rain started. Unfortunately this coincided with a Team Hiles decision to take a bike ride around the lake for what we were assured was a flat 20k...

So we have now ventured further south and have left the vineyards behind in favour of the beautiful Chilean Lakes District. We did briefly pop into Chile's largest wine producing region (Colchagua Valley) after Mendoza to keep the levels topped up. This coincided with our first 'hitch-hiking' experience. I'm not sure it really counts though if it's only for 3kms and the people picking you up work in the same vineyard, plus the reason to hitchhike in the first pl...

So we have now cruised down the Northern half of Chile, taking time to stop for some beachlife and are now awaiting the Senior Hiles' arrival in Santiago. We have watched as the surroundings have got gradually greener the further south we have come but we are still not exactly in lush green valleys. To date Chile hasnt shown us a rain cloud which led to some rather spectacular 90% body coverage sun burn for me. Rhian has some delightful pics which will NOT be a...

We have now made it succesfully into our 7th country (Chile) after an amazing trip over the Salt Flats (Salar de Uyuni) and Bolivian Altiplano in Southern Bolivia. It's difficult to describe the scenery going over the salt flats but stunning is part way there. We were lucky to get a good group and great driver who whilst he spoke no English was lots of fun to be around. He acted as guide, driver, cook and mechanic (coka cola seems to be good for radiators on old...