Whisky and (10,000 year old) ice

Very Happy New Year from Patagonia

Took a 200 kilometer catamaran trip through the Patagonian fjords to the San Rafael Glacier. Most important thing for M was the open bar. Started at 7.30 and got back at 3am the following morning with a live band and free drinks all the way.

Weather was crap for most of the trip but it magically cleared up when we got to the glacier. Absolutely stunning, different blues and whites that changed every time you looked at it and great lumps calving off and crashing off into the sea with a crack followed by a great boom. The beauty made me cry but Marilyn said it was just because I was pissed. Although the glacier is massive and still 16 kilometers long it is receding quickly. Date markers on the mountain show that it is back about a kilometer since 1989 and it is estimated that it will completely be gone in 30 years.

Glaciers are really cold. I know I should have known this but the effect as you get up close is as if it is sucking all the heat from your body. Even a few metres makes a big difference.

After the easy travel in the rest and S America it all gets very difficult in Patagonia. There are these inconvenient stretches of ice fields, water and mountains everywhere.

We are staying in a cabin in Puerto Aysen, imagine Twin Peaks. All very luxurious with satellite TV and our own kitchen. Today, new year´s eve is very special day.   I even managed to find bacon and for the first time in 4 months we had bacon and egg for breakfast.

Christmas in Chile

Christmas Eve with 8 different nationalities

Climb the live volcano in Pucon. We waited 4 days for the weather to be right. On the perfect morning this weird cloud formation meant that chances of getting to the top and seeing molten lava was one in 10.


After a 5 hour climb over ice and snow. The donut storm came down and we had to get off the mountain just 400m from the top. The good bit was we got to slide down on our backs using our ice axe as a brake
White water rafting - class 4/5


Late night swim in the hot thermal baths
Bike ride through the Patagonian Lake District

2000 miles from anywhere

Easter Island has a unique, strange, mysterious, quality. Imagine the most remote place in the world inhabited by people, probably from Polynesia, over 1000 years ago. They create a fantastically complicated and successful culture. The problem is that the culture is based around the creation of massive statues (Moai) and their transportation requires lots and lots of wood. So much wood that the island´s forests are destroyed and the social structure collapses because they can´t renew their fishing boats and feed themselves. Fights break out between different tribes and most of the Moai are destroyed. Then slave traders arrive who deport most of population to mines in Peru and Chile. They get second thoughts about the morality of this and after killing most of them off with hard work, ship the rest back with enough small pox to kill off the few indigenous people left on the island. In doing this all the knowledge about the culture , the Moai, even the written language is lost

You are left with a beautiful, mysterious Polynesian island that fascinates and bewitches tourists such as us.

Grungy tourists after a 6 hour, 20 mile trek across lava fields

It kicks off in Chile

Chile is one of the safest countries in S America but we have seen more action here than anywhere else, including a robbery attempt. Chile is a very Americanised country with lots of money, fast food chains and massive malls but it seems to have lost a lot of the culture that is evident in other SA countries.

When we arrived in Santiago, just after Pinochet´s death there were riots between police and those who think Pinochet was a criminal. The government would only allow a military funeral not a state one. We went to the funeral and there where about 5000 people there, all Pinochet supporters, many of them quite fanatical but there was no trouble. Objectors had been kept in the centre and riot police had cordoned off all government buildings. The vast majority of seemed to ignore the whole thing and just want to get on with their lives

The football final of the South American cup, between Chile and Mexican teams, was held in Santiago. We went to the stadium to try and get tickets but they had all ready sold more tickets than the capacity. The papers said 100,000 for a 66000 stadium. The Chile side lost so there was of course a small riot afterwards

We watched the match in a bar in Santiago. I noticed that a guy was questioning his bill, not shouting or anything but just being assertive. Two police arrived, spent 30 seconds talking to the guy who was quite calm and then suddenly punched him in the face and dragged him outside in a headlock.

If you want to get robed its a good idea to go down to the docks area looking for that authentic fish restaurant, have a brilliant meal and then stagger back blissfully unaware of your surroundings. Suddenly Marilyn shouted ´'its only glasses you prat' as a guy ripped her shoulder bag off her. I ran after him shouting ´'stop him'. A number of people turned to help - including a father who was crossing the road with his family who managed to kick the guy and caused him to drop the bag. So it was an excellent result and a useful reminder to us to keep on our guard. We had got a bit complacent after 3 months without any problems

The Ipswich murders are all over the papers in Chile. They call the muderer 'jack el destripador'. Its not very nice seeing your home town on the map for something like this. This morning CNN opened with `'its 3 PM in Gaza and 12 noon Ipswich`'


We are in Valparaiso and coastal resort near Santiago. Its hot and sunny and the beaches are great. Tomorrow we fly to Easter Island

Salt, sand, steam and that bastard Pinochet is dead

Two English, two Germans, a Chech, an Aussie, a driver and a cook took a red Toyota on a 3 day, 400 mile magical tour across Southern Bolivia to Chile.

We drove over the 9000 Sq Km lake (Salar de Uyuni). -

It is a real lake but one that has a white salt crust that can support a bus.
Stayed in a hotel totally made of salt including tables, chairs and beds,
Saw black, green, blue, white and red lagoons, including a magical one that had white llamas,
pink flamingos, white salt streaks and red and green waters - magical and unforgettable,
Smoking volcanoes, Dali like wind carved rocks,
Atacama desert multi-coloured mountains that have never registered rainfall, powerful geysers
and brilliant night skies.

In a trip involving one mind blowing highlight after another its difficult to identify what is best but it is hard to imagine another part of the world with so many mind blowing experiences in three days.

Crossing from Bolivia to Chile is a complete shock. From almost third world conditions to European excesses- BlueWater Malls everywhere, American fast food joints and prices to match - horrible. But we are enjoying the clean loos.
It is Sunday and all the bars are showing people celebrating the death of Pinochet - though there are one or two local individuals who look as if they have just lost a mate. We are only a day away from Santiago and we hope to join those celebrating one less bastard in the world

Dinosaur footprints and Silver Mines

Sucre is a beautiful city with many of its colonial buildings intact. Its main claim to fame is its dinosaur fields containing over 5000 footprints from 290 different animals.

We could have covered the 100 miles from Sucre to Potosi by coach in 3 hours but decided to take the train that took 7 hours!. Fascinating journey that at times resembles Disney´s runnaway train ride as it ran up and down the mountains along sheer drops into stunning valleys. The train was actually a coach that had had its wheels removed and then mounted on a old wagon chassis. No other changes had been made, the driver even had a steering wheel. The service supports lots of mountain villages that have no road access. Every time we stopped the indigenous people would crowd on the train with all their market goods. It then took 15 minutes for the driver to get them to put the stuff on the roof rack. In the middle of nowhere family groups wave the train down as if it was a taxi. An uncomfortable 7 hours, occasionally exciting but never boring.

Potosi exists because of a single mountain that for 500 years was the worlds most prolific source of silver. The Spanish forced indians to work in the mine making them stay underground for 6 months at a time. Millions of indians died. Nowadays the mountain is mined by cooperatives who are currently making a good living out of zinc and lead as well as silver. 12000 miners including children as young as 11, work the mines and have an average live span of 20 years. We went down with a guide and spent nearly 3 hours crawling around, dodging fully laden trucks, seeing miners go down 60M shafts and hearing dynamite explosions. It was hot, dusty and at times difficult to breath. A sobering experience. We were knackered after 3 hours and very glad to get out.

Before you enter the mine you go to the miners market where you buy the miners presents - cocoa leaves, 95% alcohol, dynamite, fuses and the most disgusting looking cigarettes. An old man went to one of the stalls and casually walked off with an enormous sack of cocoa leaves. His getaway was a bit on the slow side and the stall owner quickly intercepted him and recovered his leaves. The old man carried on his way but the stall owners wife, a large lady in traditional Andean dress, decided that he needed a good talking to so she waddled after him. A minute later she was back and the old man was on his back where she had given him a good right hander.

Bolivia is so cheap. We have a nice en-suite room overlooking quiet courtyard. We can get perfect espresso. In the evening we have an excellent bottle of Bolivian wine in a nice restaurant and follow this up with a few cocktails in a bar with live music. All of this is costing us less than 16 pounds a day for both of us

The only down side of Bolivia is that our abiding memory will be the smell of male urine and roast chicken