In February/March, 2016 we took a trip to Chile. We had previously visited various countries in South America, but had never stopped in Chile before. We arrived in Santiago and stayed for a couple of nights to shake off the jet lag before heading to the north of the country - to the Atacama desert close to the borders of Bolivia and Argentina. This part of the trip was, unsurprisingly, hot, dry and dusty (I know, I know - what did we expect when going to the desert?). It was certainly unlike other trips we had made to, and through, desert areas and turned out to be a really new and different experience for us. From there we flew south past Santiago to an Chiloe island, which is separated from the mainland by only a few hundred metres. Tourism in this area is quite "low key" - a perfect change for us, coming from Atacama. We stayed with a wonderful local family on their small farming property. Their hospitality was just great and this was a truly enjoyable stay. After Chiloe we flew much further south to Puntas Arenas and drove to the Torres del Paine National Park in Patagonia where we were stunned by the spectacular beauty of the area. Incredible landscapes, mountains, glaciers and lakes to leave one speechless. Simply incredible! Then we made our way back north to Valparaiso, the harbour and port city close to Santiago. Valparaiso was a major seaport until the opening of the Panama Canal, and is still trying to establish an identity for itself. It is now best known for its graffiti and murals (it's difficult to say where one ends and the other begins). From Valparaiso we returned to Santiago to the wonderful news that we had been upgraded to business class for the long flight home to Australia. |
Click here for our home page | Return to the list of albums | Click here to contact us |
Click here for our home page | Return to the list of albums | Click here to contact us |