Our guide Oscar (funny how, of 4 of our guides in Chile, 2 have been Oscar and 2 Marcel) arrived to whisk us off and up to Putre. We were accompanied by 2 young German women and a mother and daughter from Santiago. First stop was a large out of town market to stock up on supplies for the trip. We should explain that Oscar was doing a 4 day trip to Putre, Parque Nacional Lauca, Reservas Nacional Las Vicunas, Salar de Surire and returning to the coast at Iquique. H...

After a long, but relatively carefree overnight bus journey we were awoken by a breakfast box being thrust into our hands, but hardly had time to open it before pulling into the bus station at 6.30 am - we'd arrived! An easy short walk from the bus terminal we found our excellent accommodation for the next few days - Sunny Days Hostel (www.sunny-days-arica.cl) - run by Kiwi Ross and his Chilean wife Beatrix. Even at this early hour Ross made us very welcome, let ...

It was a very early start on Sunday morning, the alarm going off at 05.45 for a fifteen minute walk in the dark to the bus terminal to catch the bus back to San Pedro.After an uneventful journey, with quick and easy exit formalities at the Argentine border, we arrived on the outskirts of San Pedro where Chilean immigration and customs took place. After immigration we all had to heave our bags off the bus and queue up for customs who searched everybody's luggage ...

The bus journey with Tur Bus was very good - we had TV and were treated to evening and early morning snacks. We were really comfortable on our camas - big comfy seats that fold flat into beds - and so a very reasonable night's sleep was had by us both. We awoke in the very early morning when the bus pulled into Antofagasta (which originally was to be a stopover) but by the time it had left the city boundary and was climbing in the direction of Calama we were back...

Another excellent journey with Tur Bus and we arrived in La Serena on time at around 6pm. Our hostel, El Punto only five minutes walk from the bus station, was a colourful traditional Spanish style house with a big courtyard. After quickly settling into our room, and with few suggestions from the reception about places to eat we set off into the nearby town centre to explore for ourselves. La Serena looked a really nice with a mixture of narrow old lanes and wide...