We arrived by the little train in Tachna, a 1930's type railway station that has been turned into a museum. It has old trains, equipment, photos and stamps of trains. At the railway station we had our passports stamped again. We had been told the bus stop was just down the road from the train, don't catch a taxi, just walk. Well it is ages away. The bus station is a most unusual place. Full of indigenous people who had been to Tachna to buy good for their stalls or shops. They unpacked all their shopping and put it in big [View Full Entry]

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We did not have a very comfortable bus trip to Arica, The couple in front read until all hours and then the lady put her seat back so far it broke so her head was in my lap all night and when it got hot it was unbearable. The bus stopped at every town and all the lights were put on as people got on and off. The only good thing about it was that it took us to Arica, a big city on the coast of northern Chile. Arriving at 0730 we were welcomed at our next hostel with a [View Full Entry]

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Another overnight bus journey that was 15 1/2 hours of bliss in a Cama Saloon - these are seats that lie down flat and are like big lazy boy chairs. We arrived in this little town called San Pedro de Atacama without a hostel booking, the first time we had gone cold into a town. What a different little town to what we are used to. This is the first time we felt we had arrived in a different culture. All houses were adobe, with adobe or grass on the roof. Red dusty roads, that were not made for 2 way [View Full Entry]

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I made a mistake buying bus tickets to our next stop. I must have been tired and got the tickets for San Pedro and not La Serena. We could not understand why the bus was going to take over 24 hours when it was just up the coast. When we found out what I had done it was a rushed trip down to the bus station to change it. It was the hottest bus trip ever, the sun was shining in the front window the whole way and the air vents were not working. Paul was down to his singlet and [View Full Entry]

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After returning to Santiago from Valpariso we took another overnight trip to Mendoza, so that we could see the Andes close up. We travelled by bus over the Andes across the most amazing road. The road up was muliple switchbacks with the bus passing trucks and all seemed very freaky. Think of the Devil's elbow times a hundred. The trip took about 7 hours, about 2 of them being at the boarder crossing. It was different to the crossings to Urshuia, both boarder places were in the same building. Go here get a stamp. go there get a stamp, then stand [View Full Entry]

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To fill in time while awaiting my new gadget to arrive we spent 2 nights in Valparaiso, a coastal city,near Santiago. We stayed at a really nice Hostel at the top of a acsensor, a little railcar up a vertical incline, pulled by cables. Steep at hell. It was so nice to only have a small pack and not have to lug the big ones. We left the big packs at the hostel in Santiago. We still had alot of steps to climb to the hostel and it was a bit of a slog. The hostel was in an open air [View Full Entry]

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Paul enjoyed his Volcano climb in Pucon, saw molten lava, and the volcano booming and throwing up lava. The climb took about 6 hours, with lots of laughing on the way up, coming down only took about 1 and a half hours. We slid down huge snow chutes, and felt like we were bobsledding. He got quite wet and cold but had a good day. I had a trip over, getting the biggest bruise ever on my knee cap. I wanted to see the Monkey Puzzle tree forest so went on a bus to the park, only to be told it [View Full Entry]

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We saw whales, dolphins, seals,and called on one of the most isolated island communities imaginable - Purto Eden. We even sailed through icebergs and up to a glacier. We pretended to be in Antarctica. There was ice all over the surface of the water and the ship made a trail in the ice, and bumped into the icebergs. [View Full Entry]

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Paul is out climbing a volcano, so I have the day to myself and can catch up with mail, blogs etc. We've done heaps since the last up date, so here is the last couple of weeks. We came south for some cold weather and never got it until our last day is Ushuia, it snowed overnight and got quite cold. We thought we had carried our cold weather clothes all this way and wouldn't need to use them. After shaking off the mothballs into the warm clothes, we again had to pack. We are much better at it now, we [View Full Entry]

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We are now settled in Ushuaia, every place we come to is the best and have trouble thinking of moving on. An update of what we've been up to for the last wee while. We had a good time in Bariloche, didn't do much but try to learn the language, rest, window shop and visit the occasional chocolate shop. We had a steak at "Alberto's", the place to have a steak in Bariloche. It lived up to everything you could imagine and a bit more. I tried to get the photo of the meal, but my battery ran flat right there. [View Full Entry]

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