Our Cruz del Sur Cruzero service bus north took us through Lima and the extensive suburbs that certainly reflected the other side of the city - poor slum areas where locals were scratching a living (and possibly many were not even managing that). It took well over an hour before we were well clear of the city, heading through the barren desert landscape and along the dramatic cliff top road. The scenery was stunning in parts and every so often we emerged from the...

It was a long haul from Ushuaia to Lima involving two flights and three take-off and landings.We were only in the air for forty minutes before our first landing at Punta Arenas but this was the most scenic part of the journey with mountains, fiords and sea beneath us. We were unaware that the flight involved this stop let alone that we had to get off and reboard the plane. But it made sense because the immigration formalities were much easier here than in Santiag...

As we gathered up our belongings, said goodbyes to our fellow companions for the last 10 days, and made our way down the gangplank, we realised that the weather in Ushuaia was nearly tropical - after the Antarctic!Before we sailed, we'd made arrangements to hire a car for our 2 remaining days in here. We'd also planned to send a parcel home with some of our wet/cold weather gear, old guide books, etc which would lighten our loads for the final few weeks travel. W...

This is a day for which we've been waiting for many months - the day we set sail for the Antarctic.After packing our bags so they could be collected and taken to the ship, we wandered up the Tante Sara in anticipation of meeting Keith and Karen, who were to have arrived that morning off the Polar Star.After about twenty minutes with no sign of them E downed his coffee and went off to check the other Tante Sara cafe and sure enough there they were.It was great to ...

Today was to be another long journey and nearly as far south as one can travel independently in the world. After our early breakfast we wandered along to the bus office where we were soon joined by hoards of locals and backpackers. Where was the bus though? At 7am a bus turns up - yes this is the 6:45 bus for Punta Arenas and the connection for Ushuaia - so everyone scrambles to get their gear stowed away and clamber onboard. No this is not the bus for Ushuaia, t...