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...

We have made it to country 8 and are currently in Mendoza, Argentina and thoroughly enjoying the eating and drinking delights on offer. The Senior Hiles' spent a wonderful 6 days with 'Hiles Tours' (later renamed 'Hiles Adventures' after some close calls...) and we loved every minute. It was odd but wonderful to meet them at the airport and we spent our time exploring Santiago followed by a trip to Vina del Mar and Valparaiso on the coast before returning to...

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...