"I studied maps and there appeared to be a continuous track from my house in Medford (Massachusetts) to the Great Plateau of Patagonia in Argentina. There, in the town of Esquel, one ran out of railways." - Paul Theroux, The Old Patagonian Express, 1979

All I wanted to do was to travel over the Andes to Bolivia by train. But note the past tense here. The worryingly named death train from Calama to Uyuni actually met its death about five years ago when it gave up the ghost, and has never been repaired; now only goods trains travel that line. The train from Antofagasta to La Paz travels overnight, so you can't see the scenery; and the rack and pinion line from Arica to La Paz had two bridges washed away in the 2001 floods, track damage in the 2005 earthquake, and road improvements have since delayed the need to repair it. When running, this train regularly became derailed and passengers would be asked to get out and push the it back onto the tracks. I followed its route by bus as far as Putre, a small highland town at 3600m.

Having spent nearly a week at 2500m I thought it would be a good move to take advantage of my acclimatization, and head for the 4500m altiplano plateau of Lauca National Park. This area is very wild and dramatic, even through the dark rain clouds that I found there; but with a bad weather forecast for the following week, my hopes of climbing one of the 6000m volcanoes were dashed. I compromised by joining a Swiss guy and a German, and between us we hired a driver for the day to see the park. He took us to the Bolivian border and back, allowing us to get out for short walks to see the wildlife, which did at long last include a closer view of the pink flamingos that the guide books kept promising me. We called at a remote village called Parinacota, and at Chucullo took lunch and chachcoma tea, the latter being an alternative to coca leaf tea, both of which are a natural aid to altitude acclimatization, and both of which are readily available.

Back down on the coast in Arica it is hot and humid. I took a bike ride through the Azapa Valley to see some geoglyphs on the hillsides, and to visit the museum where the Chinchorro Mummies are kept. The Chinchorro people lived here between 6000 and 2000BC. They were hunter-gatherers, so had no sophisticated tools, but somehow managed to develop a technique for mummifying their dead using basket weaving and clay masks. Fascinating! The rest of my time has just been spent reading on the beach and getting one or two tasks completed before moving on.

So having travelled its full length, it is now time to leave Chile. My next destination was originally intended to be Bolivia, and I have been very close to three of its border crossings since I arrived in South America. But the rainy season continues apace there, causing heavy flooding, and with my hopes dashed of arriving there by train I will continue for the moment along the Panamericana Highway which has served me well since the beginning of this year. The defunct railways are a reminder that travelling is often a race against time, but hopefully Bolivia won't have changed too much more when I finally arrive there.