It is 4am in the morning (why do tours always have to start so damn early!!) and the bus is rattling and shaking over unpaved and uneven roads climbing switchbacks to the very high El Taito Geysers. At 4,300 metres these are the world's highest geyser field. Most of the bus people are asleep for the two hour journey, huddled under supplied blankets. They don't know what they are missing - there out the window of the bus we are watching         ...

In the pitch black pre dawn hour of 6.00am we stumbled out of our hire car along with Brian the Canadian and Marina the Spaniard and followed a little procession of a dozen or so waving flashlights. Marina had the only light between the four of us but as we neared the grassy knoll where the other lights had stopped we glanced to the right and it was a complete "Wow" moment. Fifteen HUGE dark Moai were outlined in the faintly forming dawn first light.We sunk to th...

Getting there and away is often as dramatic as being there."It's really just three kicks of the footy between places – it’s the border crap that takes so long!" . Our three Aussie lads from the previous day’s wine tour were on the same bus. They had not been to sleep at all in true Aussie backpacker fashion and discussed their night’s antics on the bus. We had only had a few hours sleep ourselves. Scores of cars, trucks and buses were ...