Thursday 5th November

Days 1 & 2 (The Outward journey and our arrival in Santiago)

This trip started very well, not costing us a penny as we willingly and eagerly brandished our freedom passes at all the ticket barriers from Bexleyheath to Heathrow.
Terminal 5, what a dream, as far as I’m concerned they can keep adding extra runways if things move as smoothly as this, after all, it’s only affecting people to the west of London and a little noise discomfort is a small price to pay for my ease of travel. Automatic check in and printing of boarding passes, easier baggage drop all completed swiftly and without even the hint of a queue, what a difference.
So, from Heathrow to Madrid by Iberia which took just over 2 hours, a 3 hours wait and then onto what appears to be a brand new aircraft, no less than a Dreamliner at that and LAN carried us comfortably for the next 12 and a bit hours finally crossing the Andes

before delivering us safe and sound to Santiago, a city of 7 million people from Chile’s total population of 17.5 million.
First settled by the Spanish back in 1541 Santiago is now a bustling modern city. After booking in at our hotel, the Tulip Inn on the Avenue Providencia and refreshing ourselves, we took a bus/walking tour of the city.
The view from San Cristobel Hill was astonishing, a city so prone to earthquakes should not be able to support such modern tall buildings, the tallest rising to 94 floors, but it does and does so very well. Surrounded, as it is by high mountains, the city lays occupying a large area of relatively flat land and the urban sprawl appears to spread for miles.
We also paid a walking visit, if a little fleeting, to the Cathedral, the stock exchange and the Presidential Palace, a place with a lot of history surrounding previous presidents Pinochet and Allende and their terms of office.

Back to the hotel for a rest, we’re still trying to catch up on lost time, then out for a meal. The restaurant was excellent, Maggie drank Vaina and I had a mango sour – delicious aperitifs both. Salmon and salad sufficient for a banquet.

Good night, we are certainly travel weary and thus ready for bed.

…………….and as if to prove my point, there was a strong earth tremor (magnitude 6) in the night at around 3 a.m. And certainly enough to shake our room and thus wake us up, how exciting! Are we nervous? Definitely not after all we are located on an integral part of the Pacific rim of fire.

Day 3

Today we took the optional excursion to Valparaiso and we’re glad we did! After a one and a half hour coach trip which took us through 2 mountain ranges by tunnels and then between these mountains, across 2 wine growing valleys, we arrived in the coastal city of Vina del Mar, an upmarket beach resort with both modern and older buildings, some of which were unfortunately destroyed in the recent Tsunami. Following a quick walking tour we moved on to the other side of the river and Valparaiso. This port was first settled by the Spanish in 1537 and from then on grew in size to become the most important port in Chile. Unfortunately since the opening of the Panama Canal, it’s size and importance has seriously diminished, however, it still supports the Chilean Navy as well as Chilean imports and exports.

We really liked this city, it was colourful, vibrant and extremely interesting, every corner we turned brought us face to face with street art and buildings, the like of which we had never previously seen. Walls, houses, shops, steps, you name it and it was covered in illustrations, patterns, images, both real and imaginative. There were craft stalls and restaurants scattered all over the place, so something to see all the time. We ate lunch in a first floor restaurant accessed via a corridor and 2 flights of stairs and it was excellent! Following lunch we continued our walking tour until finally reaching the top of one of the numerous funicular railways which run up and down the 3 hills upon which Valparaiso is built.

We took a trip down to meet our coach back to Santiago. What a great day, I’d say rather Banksyesque in more ways than one! We finished the day by walking to Bellavista for our evening meal at a restaurant in Patio Bellavista, pizza and a very large, very alcoholic drink. This area was bustling with shops, restaurants and street traders so we spent some time soaking up the atmosphere which felt calm and relaxed. We made it back to the hotel and straight to bed, those drinks were strong!!

Day 4

Today we travelled North to the region known as Antofagasta and to the Atacama desert.

……….and I quote:

✈️ LAN Airlines – You are going to get 2 snacks, and you can choose from 4 in total. You can Choose a SWEET PASTRY, SWEET SNACK (Cereal bar) SALTY PASTRY and a SALTY SNACK (Peanuts and Almonds).

Novel at first but soon becomes tedious, however, you can amass quite a collection after the 4th or 5th flight!

The flight from Santiago to Calama, the region’s capital, took us across miles and miles of barren rocky desert which provides Chile with its number one export – copper, this however will soon be replaced with lithium when electric cars and lithium battery technology is sufficiently improved and the world requires vast amounts of this raw material. We then travelled by coach to the oasis of San Pedro de Atacama, a bit of a one horse town by our standards and a place where it only rains 3 or 4 days of the year, although when it does it can be quite dramatic causing floods and destruction.

Here is where we met our local guide, Hector (without an H). We then drove into the
Valle de la Lune past an old salt mine and to a feature of 3 standing blocks of rock called the 3 Marys. From here we strolled back along the road taking photos of the strange formations, rocky pillars, layered cliffs and high smooth sand dunes in what was referred to as ‘the amphitheatre’ all these shapes created over the years by wind and water erosion.

This area is covered in salt crust and sulphur and appears as different colours depending upon the time of day and light conditions. Finally we visited ‘Death Valley’ or ‘Red Valley,’ you decide, as both words in Spanish are very similar, this valley so called because this area both does not support life and/or the rock here is particularly red and therefore reminiscent of Mars. At 7.30p.m. we moved on to a viewing point (Cari’s Broken) high up on the edge of a cliff. Unfortunately the expected and eagerly anticipated sunset was not as spectacular as it could have been, in fact, the formations made by the imposing Andes range positioned directly behind us reflected the setting sun more magically so these were given rather more of our attention.

It was at this point in the proceedings that wine and snacks were brought out by the driver and our guide so the group drank and snacked as the sun completely disappeared below the horizon and only the few clouds in the sky were left to reflect the red of the long sunken sun.

Back to the greenery of San Pedro and our hotel the Iorana Tolache which would serve as our base for the next 3 nights. A free evening meal and finally to bed.
In the night yet another earth tremor!

Day 5

The intense heat and thin, dusty, dry air at an altitude of 11,000ft are not the most desirable of conditions when expected to trek/scramble for 3hr. (8km) following a river at the bottom of a gorge to your eventual destination, The Hot Springs of Puritama, however, those who decided to do it, all managed well, of course, that included us. With 2 local guides, Carlos and Hector we were set a slow and steady pace over the barren rocks of the sides of the gorge and through the quite lush vegetation that followed the course of the river, along the way we saw remarkably few birds and Maggie spotted a lizard, otherwise any other available animals must have been hiding from the heat of the day.

Eventually we arrived at the hot springs of which there were many plunge pools and waterfalls each getting slightly cooler as the river made its way downhill. They were warm, not hot, but nevertheless were a joy to swim and play in.

A packed lunch sufficed followed by a slow walk uphill along a road back to the coach, all the time feeling the affects of altitude upon our sea level based bodies.
We returned to San Pedro and those who wanted it were given a lift down to the centre of the village for an opportunity to look around. It was hot 34 degrees C, the museum was unfortunately closed for renovation, the church was shut and the shops were generally much of a muchness, a typical tourist centre! We had a coke and 2 milk puddings each, yes I know what you’re thinking! Eventually we walked the 15mins slowly back to our hotel to take a well earned break from the heat.

Day 6

An early morning today, we left San Pedro at 5.30a.m., and travelled on an extremely rough and dusty road whilst constantly amazed by the clear night sky and abundant stars that formed the backdrop for the Andes silhouetted in the blackness. Our journey lasted approximately one and a half hours (93km) was in the dark and our destination was the El Tatio Geysers high up (4,320m) in the amazing Atacama.

It was -7 degrees C upon our arrival and the oxygen content of the air was well below what our bodies were used to but what awaited us meant that we were certainly not perturbed by this. The numerous fumaroles could be seen well before we arrived at the actual site with water from each super heated beyond the 85 degrees C required at this height to make it boil. A quite dangerous place to be because of the areas of thin crust with scolding water beneath and the gases emitted from each fumarole be it large or small.
The sun rose and took the chill out of the air as we walked around close by the fumaroles, some constantly boiling whilst others spewed their water out at more regular intervals. We were, as you would expect, amazed by the site whilst all the time being aware of the potential harm that each vent could cause us.
Breakfast was a surprising affair, a table was set up with all manner of food and hot drink, scrambled egg was cooked by our driver and any crumbs left at the end were soon scooped up by the birds that busied themselves around each group of tourists.

Breakfast eaten and equipment stowed we made our way by coach to the village of Macuchu (inhabitants a family of 5) who made a living selling Llama kebabs and goat or cow cheese empanadas to the tourists. On the way we saw Vicuna by the side of the road and Llamas closeby to the village.

We paused at a number of lakes on our way back and were shown, Giant Coots, Puna or Andean ducks, Sandpipers and Flamingoes of which there are 3 varieties – Andean, Chilean & James. Following a relaxing afternoon back at the hotel, we were again picked up by the coach for our trip to the Salt Flats (3rd largest in the world). On our way we stopped for a number of photo opportunities of the surrounding landscape, including, of course, the ever present and very imposing Andes followed by a short while in the village of Toconao where we walked among a variety of fruit trees, apricot, fig, pomegranate etc. and visited an old church which was very interesting because of the way cactus wood had been used in the construction of the roof and spiral staircase leading to the cactus wood pulpit.

Upon arriving at the salt flats and following a short introduction, we watched a variety of birds (Andean Flamingo, Sandpiper, Andean Avocet, Pune Plover) feeding and going about their business. 

At around 7.30p.m. the sun set and this time it did not disappoint due in no small part to the variety and shape of the cloud formations, this was further enhanced when the flamingoes flew across the umber, red and orange coloured sky back to their resting places for the night.

A snack of various dips, crackers, nuts etc. finished off our excursion very nicely.
Upon returning to our hotel around 9 p.m. we immediately had our evening meal as tomorrow we would be waking at 5 a.m. for our 6 a.m. departure.

Day 7

A day of flights and transfers. We rose early to travel by coach to Calama airport to take a flight first to Santiago and after transferring surprisingly to the self same aircraft, thence to Puerto Montt on a not completely full but if at first a rather bumpy flight from there to our hotel, The Park Inn at Puerto Varas, influenced greatly by the Germans who settled here as Lutherans following their persecution in Germany, hence the design of many of the buildings. Took a stroll along the town front with superb views of Osorno and Calbuco volcanoes

across Lake Llanquihui then a look around the shops whilst all the time enjoying the cool moist atmosphere which was so obviously absent during our 3 days in the high desert. Our evening meal was a delight, stone crab casserole for me and king crab crepe for Maggie – yummy! To bed, we were knackered!

Day 8

We are now in Puerto Varas for 3 nights. Today, after breakfast, which was particularly good, we took a coach to the Osorno Volcano, no, not the one that erupted back in April, that was the other one! On the way we stopped to get a close up view of some Llamas but unknown to us, there was a lapwing nest nearby so the adult birds kept dive bombing us which was really quite hairy.

We travelled further along the road and across a bridge which had previously been damaged by the eruption, it was here that we noticed a vulture overhead, they are enormous birds. After an hour, much of it uphill and in 2nd gear, we arrived at the visitor centre/ski lift station where it was windy, very windy. The perfectly formed volcanic snow covered cone was there but under a blanket of thick white cloud. After a bit of retail therapy, the clouds moved, the wind dropped and the summit was partially visible be it only intermittently. It was covered in dazzling white snow and frequently disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. We next drove down the slope of the volcano until we arrived at the starting point for today’s 3 hour walk, through the recently deposited and very deep ash that had been spread on the ground everywhere. We walked through trees and bushes upon a well defined path and stopped every now and again to look at flowers, leaves, moss, lichen etc. whilst all the time leaving a cloud of grey ash dust in our wake. Eventually it was lunchtime and we sat and relaxed in a wide, dry riverbed to eat. Following a quick lunch we traced this same valley downwards until we came to the road where we were met by our coach and Boris our driver, who, it had become apparent, had never before been on this trip. We now started to retrace our route back to town only to stop for a while at a set of waterfalls which we are sure would have been spectacular had not the pathway leading to the viewing point been under reconstruction so disappointment all round, oh well! We returned to our hotel, freshened up, had our free drinks at the bar and made our way into the centre of town to our restaurant for the evening. The meal was again excellent and the 4 on our table had a good laugh!

Day 9

We’ve just finished our longest day yet.It all began at 8 a.m. and Maggie and I got back to our hotel at 10 p.m. Wow! Today was a trip to Chiloe Island in the Pacific and just off the coast of Chile. This place was the last to become independent from Spain and is a step back in time, the vast majority of buildings are made of timber with walls covered in weather boarding or shingles and painted in a variety of colours. The tight knit communities who live here do so by either farming or fishing, both of which provide food for use throughout Chile or for export. Whilst crossing the small strait in a car ferry which took about 20 mins. we noticed sea lions, brown pelicans, dolphins, black necked swans etc. upon our arrival, we stopped first at a small settlement where we visited a local church, house and shop, the house was traditionally made and it was like stepping back into the 1950s. To show our appreciation, people did some shopping and Maggie bought a hat!

Next we drove to a view point overlooking the island’s second largest town, Ancud, onwards then to Castro, the capital city boasting a superb Cathedral made completely, yes completely of wood.

Next, to the fish market where we saw dried seaweed and smoked mussels amongst many other things, we also downed an oyster each, surprisingly they weren’t that unpleasant! Lunch today in Dalcahue was manic, we all ate in what can only be termed as a shack but one with numerous eateries, we chose 3 seafood and 3 cheese empanadas, they cost a measly £2 and were delicious.

We had a quick look around the market, quickly bought a small woven bowl and found ourselves yet again in the coach and onwards this time to a renovated church, made of wood. Making our way from here we stopped at Ancud once again but this time to view a collection of parts of the original cathedral and the methods of carpentry used when building the numerous churches that can be found on this archipelago, quite interesting.

Back on the ferry watching various flocks of birds feeding as we travelled back to the mainland. Thence to Puerto Varas and our evening meal which after much walking and deliberation we chose to eat where we had done so 2 nights previously, more pisco sours and crab meat – fantastic

Day 10

Today was a relaxed morning, a late slow and easy breakfast, the purchase of a clay mask from a rather upmarket craft shop, a mid-morning pavement style coffee (where she tried to short change me by £10), a cake and juice lunch in one of the best of cafés (with only 50% of the order correct) a walk in the sunshine, you know, the normal holiday thing, then, wham! On the coach to the airport for flight number 6, this time to Punta Arenas or Sandy Point as the British first called it, a place originally settled by prisoners then later by those hard folk from Chiloe Island.
It was raining, windy and cold but the sun was shining upon our arrival at this Southern point on Chile’s mainland. Nowadays a sheep farming and oil producing area, Punta Arenas in Patagonia (so called because of the ‘big footprints’ found in the sand by the first Portuguese explorer Magellan) is a place for hardy souls. Next to the Straits of Magellan, first discovered by the explorer of the same name and the burial place of many a shipwrecked sailor the land is flat and quite green and the town is surprisingly large and quite sophisticated.
After checking in to our lovely traditional hotel, we went straight to search for the statue of Magellan. It did not disappoint us, we touched all the feet for good luck, not just the obvious shiny one, and photographed it in the daylight and at night. It fulfilled a childhood dream to be, at last standing beside this statue!!!

Our meal was in an amazing restaurant with tables and chairs upside down on the ceiling reminding us that we were near the bottom of the world, there were wine bottles adorning one complete wall, maps with the pins of numerous visitors scattered over them, shelves of empty beer cans from around the world, a very unusually decorated men’s toilet and a superb meal rounded off with SHACKLETON beer, Fantastic! What a great introduction to Punta Arenas.

Day 11

A quick trip before breakfast to pay homage to Magellan (with a j sound rather than a hard g) and a view of the straits named after the aforementioned Portuguese explorer then after breakfast we all piled onto the smallest coach yet for the longest journey yet! First to a viewing point to look over the town then to what must be one of the most southerly cemeteries. This place was very strange having the best clipped/pruned cypress trees that anyone has ever seen, no peacocks or other weird and wonderful topiary shapes, just perfect round top cones all identical to each other. OCD topiarists obviously.

And onwards to Porto Natales across miles of rather windswept and barren pasture/moorland with sheep in huge fenced fields, lakes, woodland where most of the dwarf trees had either died or been cut down for their timber and a great variety of birds; geese, raptors, water birds, flamingoes and luckily for us, the most iconic of all South American birds, the condor.

After breaking for lunch and picking up our local guide in Porto Natales, we continued our journey towards the area of the world famous Torres del Paine National Park.
We were soon surrounded by snow capped mountains and shimmering lakes and silver fjords. A complete contrast to what we had experienced previously. After a very long time on this cramped and very hot bus we stopped for a quick visit to a cave where milodons (giant sloths) had once been the inhabitants. I didn’t find it very interesting, I don’t like paths and steps and handrails in caves as then, the cave, for me, loses its authenticity, nevertheless I’m sure others in our group got something from it, its size was impressive after all.
Now the jewel in the crown which was hiding behind a veil of clouds not yet ready to display itself to its full splendour, the Torres or granite towers that make for an incredible sight.
After checking in to our hotel, the Rio Serrano, some of us took a walk, as a group, uphill to a lookout point not far from the hotel, a walk in total of about 1 hour 30minutes. As we walked the clouds began to move, and slowly, bit by tantalising bit, as we looked over our shoulders whilst climbing higher, more and more of this unique landscape revealed itself to us.

It was truly awe inspiring. At the top we spent some time just taking it in, looking open mouthed at giant peaks, tall pillars, flat grey glaciers, deep cut valleys all above a flat green fertile flood plain with narrow, free flowing meandering rivers crossing each other. Nature at its most beautiful, untouched by mankind. What a privilege, aren’t we lucky? Finally an evening buffet at which we must surely have sampled most of what was on offer, a good chat with our fellow travellers and thence to bed after an extremely tiring but very rewarding day in Patagonia.

Day 12

This may have been one of the best days yet, not only because of where we were but also because of the weather which was amazing from the word go until Maggie decided to go horse riding at 5.15p.m. when, not only did the Torres disappear but it started to rain, oh well! The hotel is perfectly situated with windows looking towards arguably the most photogenic scene on the planet, depending, of course, upon your point of view. Even before breakfast time I was out taking photographs with the long lens!

After a substantial breakfast and rucksacks loaded with an assortment of clothes suitable for layering in anticipation for cold weather and our snacks, we set off to the Torres del Paine National Park proper. With spectacular views all the way from leaving our hotel and then again once inside the Park, we were sure this was going to be one of those special days, one to remember.

After several photo stops we left our coach for an 8 km walk into the hills and valleys, the land of the Puma!

Alpine flowers, various birds, a grey fox and numerous Guanacos were constantly on our radar, a condor was spotted and numerous bits of Guanaco leftovers from Puma kills lay strewn everywhere, from virtually whole skeletons to odd bones etc. Pumas kill 3 or 4 times a week to eat fresh meat and do not eat carrion, that job is left to the birds of prey which abound in this place. All the time throughout this day we were seeing the Torres at what must be, their best, with ribbons of blue sky, white fluffy clouds and the odd patch of mist – magical.

Eventually, at the top of a path under some overhanging rocks, we stopped for a snack, oh yes, I nearly forgot to say, there was a wall painting (petroglyph) directly above us, who knows how ancient this image was. A hunter, a hand and a puma! We continued across moorland stopping every now and again to take photos and talk to each other about the things we were looking at then at last we stopped for our snack lunch, we had finally met up with our coach at this new location, for the journey back. 4 condors and a series of waterfalls later and we were back at the hotel.

Maggie went horse riding, a last minute decision and as I write this, the rain has stopped and the clouds are lifting from the Torres beginning to show them at their best once again, I can’t begin to tell you how good this place is and only hope our photographs go some way to do it justice. Just admire the view from the window I am looking out of as I write this blog!

Day 13

Yet again it seems impossible to put into words what we have experienced today. After being almost cancelled, the trip to the Grey Lake and Grey Glacier happened today. Yes, we did have to get up and be on the move earlier than we may have liked, was it worth it? You bet your bottom Peso it was! Upon arrival at the entrance hotel named after said lake and glacier, we walked across a wooden planked swing bridge, strictly no more than 6 at a time, across the outwash sands created by the glacier, beside some white icebergs very close to shore and to our boat tied up on a small beach.

We were issued with life preservers and then made our way in groups to a small boat which ferried us the meagre 12 metres or so to the back of our cruiser from where we could board. After getting underway and about 10 minutes from shore we were invited to go from inside a large seated cabin on to the open top deck. The bitter wind hit us strong and hard as we slowly made our way towards the distant glacier.

The scenery was indeed, awesome, snow covered mountains, floating icebergs of various shapes, sizes and colours, layered rock distorted through being twisted by thousands of years of earth movements and surprisingly a small settlement of 2 or 3 buildings providing opportunities for extreme camping, kayaking and the like. All this whilst constantly getting closer and closer to the front edge of the glacier. Eventually we arrived at one side of the Nunatak, the crevasses and cracks in the glacier gave it a wrinkled and shattered effect which was stunning.

However, when we moved to the other side of this rocky barrier which split the tongue of the glacier in two, the ice was totally different in its appearance. It was blue, an aquamarine blue which when contrasted with the grey/blue lake was almost breathtaking in it’s beauty.

 

It was at this point that pisco sours or whiskeys, whichever you preferred, both served on the rocks with glacier ice, made their appearance. After numerous photographs it was time to return to our mooring to consider what we had just experienced, natural power and beauty combined to produce a sight that some can only dream of!

We returned to our coach and continued on our way back to Puerto Natales where we walked along the quay side,

did some shopping (bought a woolen wall hanger) and in the evening we had our final group meal with Em. Guess what we ate, King Crab Pizza – yes I know! We spent the night at the Hotel Martin Gusindi

Day 14

Up early or what! And as the fire glow which was the sun rose to our east to herald the start of another long day (it doesn’t get dark in this southerly part of the world until at least 9.30p.m.) and the land around us became forever lower and flatter we slowly but surely made our way along seemingly unending straight roads and eventually alongside the sea to our left to Punta Arenas airport, this time bathed in early morning sunshine.
Upon our arrival we waited patiently in a growing queue for the desks to open ready to catch one of the earlier flights of the day. These were flights 7 & 8 first to Puerto Montt, finally to Santiago. And oh to be travelling in either one of those 2 fabulous aeroplanes, an orange Dakota or the red turbo prop British Antarctic Survey aircraft which both waited patiently beside the terminal building for their passengers, what a cold and icy destination must have awaited them.
Following a great shuffling of humanity at Puerto Montt, existing passengers getting off and new passengers getting on whilst others surprisingly changed their seats and some seats apparently appeared to be double booked, it seemed that there were strange happenings all around, however, following all the confusion we were then, not before time, off on the second leg of today’s trip. After again settling in to our hotel, we went off to change some money, this should have been easy, go left out of the hotel, turn right and go 3 blocks. We eventually found the place but, guess what, it was closed. We therefore got on the tube to Place de Armes and after asking a police officer found a bureau de change. From here, near the presidential palace we walked the whole way back to the hotel taking photos as we went. It was a long way but quite interesting in parts. Our evening meal was taken at the same restaurant that we had visited previously and was again excellent, if you come to Santiago you must try the BKS or Backstage Life restaurant. Goodnight reader(s).

Day 15

Another early start and long flight but we are, at last, on Easter Island, Rapa Nui or Isla de  Pascua whichever you’d prefer to call this isolated island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and over 2,000 miles or 5 hours flying time from Santiago and before you ask, yes, Amazon do deliver here, I have that information on good authority. It is exactly what you might imagine of a remote sub tropical location. We were each met with a garland of flowers hung around our necks and then driven the short distance to our hotel The Tahatai close to the beach in the island’s only town Hanga Roa on this small piece of land which is, in fact, the top of an underwater volcano. It was a hot day with a blue sky, white clouds and the surf bashing in over the rocks, totally different from our previous recent experiences. We did not have to walk far before we came upon what we had come here primarily to see, Moai atop their platforms or Ahu, this particular one at Tahai. They were exactly as we had hoped for, imposing giants of stone, recognisable the world over and synonymous with this location.

Day 16

Photographs cannot, in any way, do justice to the wonders we experienced today on this truly spectacular island.The group took a whole day tour around the island stopping at all the important sites relating to the tribes of people who had lived and toiled in this place during the last 1000 years. We purchased a carved stone and a piece of engraved driftwood on our visits today. We had explained to us how Moai were carved, using only stone tools of obsidian and basalt, from grey tuff stone from one particular quarry with their top knots carved from a different quarry of red stone and then how these massive objects were moved by manpower alone to their Ahu or platforms where they could watch over and protect each settlement. And finally, how these links to a greater spirit were toppled onto their faces hopefully breaking their necks as the tribes argued and then fought with each other as their patience and food slowly ran out.

There was even a collective ‘wow’ as we spotted the row of 15 Moai silhouetted with their backs to the bright blue sea at Tongariki.

It should be said at this point that the last standing stone to topple facedown did so around 1838 and that all Moai now standing have been re erected more recently.

The quarry at Rano Raraku which still has part finished Moai as well as numerous free standing giants and also those broken on their way to what would have been their platforms was truly an amazing place. On our way out is where we bought our small hand painted Moai picture.

We finally ended up at a beach resort of Anakena where we could see even more Moai and had some time to relax and contemplate over the sites we had been privileged to visit throughout this glorious day.

Thanks Easter Island.

Day 17

Today we awoke to torrential rainfall which unfortunately did not stop until we were halfway through visiting Orongo village where we battled against the elements of wind and rain to learn about the ‘Birdman Competition.’ This yearly event took place until the last of its kind held in 1868 and was the island’s way of selecting a new chief or King of the island for the year to come. Each tribal leader would choose a champion to swim to the largest of 3 Islands Motu Nui, who would then wait for the arrival and first egg laying of the new season’s Sooty Terns and the first of these strong guys to swim back to the mainland with an intact egg (strapped to his head if you please) and present it to their leader would mark the newly elected tribe and King.

Eventually the rain abated even though the sky remained grey and we thankfully revisited the village to look at some houses, rather indistinct petroglyphs, the cliff overlooking the birdman Islands and the crater rim, this time hopefully to take slightly clearer photographs.

From here we drove to Vinapu to see some of the best stonework on the island and another Ahu with Moai which, when they had been toppled, had then be used a places of shelter.

Upon our return we decided that it would be a good idea to be dropped off at the best coffee shop in town, Marley Coffee, yummy Capucinno. We took a walk around town and ended up at the church and then the indoor Artisan Market where we bought some earrings. On our way back, we spotted a rather nice jewellery shop, it was closed so we checked opening times for a revisit later, Maggie felt a purchase coming on. Lunch was delightful, whilst watching the surfers do their thing in the sea just off the coast,

a shared plate of chips with cheese and shrimps all washed down with a fresh fruit juice each, none of that imitation juice you get back in the UK. We returned to the hotel to pack ready for leaving tomorrow. In the evening we took a stroll out to the shop where, indeed, several purchases occurred then to the same restaurant and again we shared but this time, purple yam and shrimps with Margueritas and Pisco sours.

There was a Music Festival, amongst many other things, taking place both in the road, which had been closed for the evening and on the grass round about so as we passed on our way back we stopped awhile and enjoyed the dancing girls and a singer, what a great way to end the day with the sound of people enjoying themselves and the ever present ocean making itself heard in the background.

Day 18

A late breakfast, the only one of the trip I suspect. A walk along the seafront to see the Moai that we had first visited a couple of days ago and then further to yet another Moai and to the Museum which was extremely well done. Lots of information and a good photography exhibition in an adjacent building although some captions wouldn’t have gone amiss.
We had a drink, non-alcoholic, on the way back to the hotel, waited for our pick up and then to the airport to wait for our 5 hour flight to Santiago which went quickly and without a hitch.

FACT:- the runway at this airport is one of the longest paved runways in the world and was an emergency runway for NASA and the Space Shuttle if it ever needed to land in this location, how about that then!

We arrived at our hotel, which we now have a love/hate relationship with, at around 12 midnight and after saying some goodbyes as different people from our group would be leaving for home, or their next destination in the case of Peter & Kay, at various times from now on, took a well earned rest and snoozed the night away.

Day 19

If you choose to ride a bicycle in Santiago you are brave although I suppose you could be classified also as being slightly mad and it goes without saying, make sure above all that you have a bell, and a big loud one at that. Today, our last day in Chile was a free one for us to do with as we pleased as different people left at different times throughout the day to catch their flights home. After a rather later than normal breakfast we decided to take a walk to the money exchange, hey presto, it was open today. As I’m sure you are aware, it’s quite difficult to calculate how much local currency you need to see you through the last day, especially when you know that you will most probably never need to use, in our case, Chilean pesos, ever again. After carefully stowing our cash, we decided to try to find the Sculpture Park which we had seen on our first time in this city. After some map reading and discussion and a bit of guesswork, we came across the place we had been looking for. We could have gotten here much quicker if we had just stuck to the nearside of the river and crossed at Valdivia bridge, still, hindsight is a wonderful thing. We liked this park and the artwork on show, it was a tranquil place and rather empty with only the odd one or two people around so we took our time soaking up the atmosphere whilst also taking photos of the pieces we liked.

It was now lunchtime so we walked from here to have our last meal in Chile at Bella Vista. This was followed by an ice-cream although we decided against, cucumber & wine, violet & vodka or celery flavours. Following a light lunch we decided that there was still sufficient time for us to visit the statue of St. Mary on the highest of hills overlooking the city.

When visiting this rather impressive place, you can either walk to the top or use the funicular which is what we decided to do. It was a steep one and a bit of fun both going up and coming down.

Finally it was time to go to the airport for flight number 11 of the holiday, this would herald the beginning of our homeward journey and the evil that is a long haul flight!!!! We took off nearly on time and arrived in Madrid at 6pm local time – 13 cramped hours!

A short hop from Madrid to London Heathrow and then train to Bexleyheath. Hurrah!

Tuesday 24th November

In the words of the song –

….and I say to myself

What a wonderful world……

Thanks Louis!

THE END