Spent the day today travelling to Tahiti. When we checked in the flight was already full so we could not get seats together (think Nick was secretly pleased!) We also had the most unhelpfull airline in the world (LAN) they made Ryanair look special on customer service! When we connected at Santiago the ongoing flight did not say Papeete which was a bit worrying but it soon transpired that the flight went to Easter Island. We all had to disembark go through custom...

Had a lie in today and then set about procuring some Chile souveniors and getting them sent to the UK. Previous experience of Post Offices in South America meant we expected this to take the whole of the day. We were therefore pleasantly surprised when the Chile Post Office personnel really couldn't care less what you are posting and to where. No inspection of goods, no completion of export forms, no need to show identification (great!) it was all done in 2 minut...

Left the hostel early morning to go to the bus station to find a bus to Iquique our next and final destination in Chile. Managed to get seats on the next bus leaving town for 10 pounds each (bargain!) Set off on our 6 hour journey on time on a tarmac road, so we were both feeling positive. However the tarmac soon ended and we joined a dirt track road through the desert (great fun in a 52 seater!) We had not planned on visiting Chile but found cheap flights going ...