Arriving from Easter Island into Santiago, raining! seems like i take the weather with me. As per Kathi's instructions, took the blue bus out of the airport,got off at Los heroes, took the subway and got off at Boquedano, walked around trying to find the Providencia hostel in the rain and cold. Found it and after setting my things in my room went to a chow at the Chinese restaurant across the street, I was starving so did not matter what food. The next morning I met Mario the super friendly owner of the hostel and helped me locate the Paraguay [View Full Entry]

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Arriving quite early at the bus station in Santiago 5am exactly I noticed(luckily)there is a bus from there run by Tur Bus for the airport leaving every 30 minutes starting at 6:15am and takes half hour to get to the airport which is perfect for me as the plane for Isla de Pascua leaves at 8:10am, saving me at least $25 for the taxi. It was cold and decided to just sit inside for awhile other people are also there waiting for their connecting bus. The counter for the airport shuttle lit up but not open yet, the woman over the [View Full Entry]

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Ben and Karli a very nice Aussie couple shared the taxi ride with me to the bus station from the Surfhouse hostel then, when we are paying for the bus to Iquique the lady asked for our passports and ben realized they left theirs at the safe in the hostel so he have to run and get it , he only have 30 minutes to spare. i was confused when I asked about the time schedule of buses I thought the lady in the counter said the next bus was 2:30pm then saw posted 12:30pm turns out i did not understand [View Full Entry]

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WIKI INFO: "Arica is known as one of the driest inhabited places on Earth, at least as measured by rainfall: average annual precipitation is 0.76 mm (0.03 inches), as measured at the airport meteorological station." "Lake Chungará , situated in northern Chile, in Tarapacá Region is one of the highest lakes in the world. It is near the Volcanos Parinacota (20,827 feet or 6,348 meters) and Pomerape (20,413 feet or 6,222 meters). It was formed 8000 years ago, when a major collapse of the edifice of Parinacota produced an avalanche of 6km³ of debris which blocked drainage pattern, thu [View Full Entry]

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Last minute , I decided to go up northern Chile, since I have 10 days to kill before flying to the Easter Islands which was also last minute only because people we met in the Villarica climb told me rates are cheaper if you buy them at LanChile local website, for under $500 I got a round trip ticket, if I book 1 month before departure I would have paid only$330. But I dont want to spend any longer time here Chile is not cheap. 32 hour bus ride from Pucon, Mick saw me off at the bus station, I booked [View Full Entry]

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ecole is the place we decided to stay in Pucon, arriving on a 5 hour bus ride from Puerto Varas, along the way we stopped in Osorno, Valdivia and some other small towns. the trip was quite pleasant, Valdivia seems very nice i made a mental note to come back there in the future. Jo, Simon and i shared a room. there is a portable heater but not working and it gets cold here at night, at least the duvet is super thick. We got down to business fairly quickly, booked with Aguaaventura for the Villarica Volcano hike the next day, [View Full Entry]

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1st day on Navimag, we checked in at 9pm we all got herded to the ship,rooms got sorted out and an orientation in the lounge room then off to bed,my roomies are David from Switzerland and British docotor,Simon who just volunteered for Doctors without borders in Chad and Niger. The next morning woke up to use the toilet see some beautiful colors in the sky, nice sunrise i thought, went back to bed when i got up it was gloomy and rain is starting, windy as well. breakfast was ok and lunch we had salmon. chicken for dinner ,not bad . [View Full Entry]

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The border guards on the Chilean side was a bit strict, cant bring along meat and fruits or you get fined $4,500! We were also asked if we have been to yellow fever areas as there apparently an outbreak in the north of Argentina. Soon as i arrived in Natales I looked for the Kashewar hostel owned by a dude named Omar. Nice guy, there is room but i have to provide my own sleeping bag and is a bit cheaper. So got myself money from ATM and also met Neil and Louise here, they just arrived from doing the Navimag [View Full Entry]

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Arrived in very cold Calafate. Gareth and Hinesh was to catch the next bus to Rio Gallegos so we separated ways in tme main street. I wanted to go to America del Sur hostel i follwed the directions from the map posted in the bus station but I got confused and lost and have been looking for it for 30 minutes walking withquite heavy pack, got annoyed, then decided to try the hill, and that was the right street. I dont understand why they dont post a sign before going up the hill that will make it easy for people to [View Full Entry]

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Got up when Alex’s alarm went off at 8:15am, he leaves for Perito Moreno town on his way to Bariloche. I need to get up before 10am , check out time here in rancho Grande, I decided I probably will stay here for another night or two, it is nice, only 4 beds in a dorm and has got internet though not free and warm and comfy. So I got down for breakfast and paid for another night’s accomodation. After breakfast I decided to do a short hike. Alex mentioned he did 2 short hikes, the Los Condores and Las Aguilas, [View Full Entry]

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