Arica and Lauca incl Lu's birthday June 28 to July 3

Left Iquique with a good feeling having enjoyed our 3 days there - but it was now time for the long drive to Arica the last stage to the border with Peru. The drive varied from the now mundane (across the desert!) to amazing plunging roads clinging to the hillside from the desert plateau to the valley floor where rivers had gouged there way through. Reached Arica in good time and booked into Hotel de la Valle Azapa on the outskirts of Arica. Hotel had seen better times but was pleasant enough with rooms facing the garden and unused swimming pool. We both had well-used 4 bedded rooms which were adequate for our needs.

Set off for the National Park of Lauca - high in the Andes on the road to Bolivia. Have run out of descriptive words - incredible and stunning remain the best - for the drive and scenery. Our journey took us from Arica at sea level to Park Lauca at 4600 metres, taking us through the Lluta valley, desert plateau, the cordillera (mountains), the Altiplano with grazing Vicuna, to the lakes and volcanoes of the Andes. Stopped off at Parinacota a 'typical' whitewashed adobe altiplano village. Met all the criteria with a pretty little church. Saw herds of llamas but only two people – one manning a handicarft store and the other a small shop. It appears that the villagers return to their homes for festivals but spend the rest of the time earning money in Arica. Putre, and Las Vicunas, was a nice place to stop. At 3500 metres the effects of the altitude were less obvious than at Park Lauca. The night was absolutely freezing though.

Back to the Hotel de la Valle for the last three nights before Lucy left for Peru. Very pleased this time with the excellent rooms - double beds and lots of space – OK to celebrate Lu's birthday. Booked Lu's transport to Arequipa – taxi to Tacna followed by a bus. That evening we had a 'picnic' in my room with a very nice bottle of red wine and played several hands of crib which had become our holiday game. Woke the next day for Lu's birthday. Opened little presents over breakfast in the hotel. Fun, but missed the rest of the family and the '22 today' posters! Drove down to the beach for lunch followed by some lazy time lying on the almost deserted beach in the sun. Spoke with mum/Nic in the afternoon on skype before rest. Taxi in evening to Ocean Blue for some very good Pisco Sours before walking to La Maracuya for dinner. Excellent innovative seafood (and for Lucy's sake as I repeated it several times – good value!). For me, it was wonderful to be with Lucy on her birthday so far away from home.

Back to normality the next day – laundry day. Could we find somewhere to do it the same day – no. So back to the hotel for their same day service. But the most exciting event of the day was Lucy taking me shopping for some new trainers – successfully!! Dinner back in Ocean Blue – Lucy had to have another of their Pisco Sour's. Dropped Lucy at the bus station the next day at 7am. Taxi driver was waiting so we had a quick but good hug and off she went to Peru. Set off myself with a significantly empty space in the passenger seat (eventually filled with cheese, crackers and crisps – breakfast on the move). Changed plans on the way as made such good progress and ended up driving 470 miles to San Pedro, taking about 8.5 hours, mostly down Ruta 5, the Pan American highway. The scenery was very much the same as on the way up! But as I came to the first significant hill out of the valley, there was thick cloud overhead. Amazing to drive through this, but a little scary to think of the steep drops to the side. In view of the 20 yard visibility, I hoped that other drivers were being as careful as I – the number of shrines by the side of the road was evidence that this was not always the case! Amazing to break through the clouds to reach the desert plateau and find sun and blue skies and cloud below.

Wrote up my diary sitting on top of the world with views across the desert to the Andes and volcanoes with a warm sun and beautiful blue skies. I had walked the 3 kms out of San Pedro to Pukara de Quitor, a ruined fort, which had survived the Inca period but was finally overcome by the Spaniards after 4 years of trying. A stunning setting on a sharp ridge. After returning to the base, another 30 min climb took me to the top of this hill with its 360 degree view of salt flats, desert, the cordillera, San Pedro river valley, and stretched right out in front of me the Andes, pink-brown, studded with volcanoes, separating Argentine from Chile, with the mountain road to the border being clearly visible.

San Pedro is a great place to stay for a few days (and even longer if you have the time) as has been discovered by the many travellers and Chilean tourists and as is evidenced by the numerous handicraft outlets, cafes, restaurants and hostels. It's amazingly laid back though and the tourist side well-contained in single level adobe buildings separated by dirt roads. Sentimental old git that I am though, I am really missing having Lu here to share it with. Stayed at the viewing point for a couple of hours soaking in the views and atmosphere. Despite seeing a dozen or so people at the fort, not one has ventured up here – guess it's not mentioned in the Lonely Planet or the Rough Guide. Believe it or not though – my phone rang!!!

Beautiful hot sunny days - but freezing at night. Even the river was still frozen in places in the morning. Reminds you that you are still at 2200 metres even if the mountains look so much higher.

Iquique June 25 to June 27

So - let the long drive across the desert begin. And it was a long drive. Including the early morning trek to the geysers we covered around 500 miles in the day. The desert was very much the same the whole way - except there were many different ´sames´ if that makes sense. At times it was just flat and brown, then crusty chunky salt, messy as if a giant had been ploughing the land - probably mining, dotted with small trees, rocky etc. Lu slept a fair bit, following our 4am start but woke every now and again to change over our newly acquired cd´s. beat the intro became easy, having alternated between Red Hot Chili Peppers and Carole King for several hours! fancied a decent hotel after the long drive so tried one in the main plaza that Lu had chosen. Looked remarkably shut so we drove on (later discovered it wasn´t) so drove on towards the beach. Pulled in to nice looking place right on the coast but still close to the centre. What a great choice! Having beaten them down for our two rooms from several times our budget to just three times, we went to our rooms to find amazing beach and rockpool views over the bay from our balconies, the rocks being awash with bird life. This was a result as driving towards Iquique we passed through an industrialised area and our first view of the town was of surprise at the size of it. The first sight was truly amazing for another reason though - up to the last moment you are driving on a desert plateau which comes to an abrupt end with the road then dropping dramatically xxx metres down the side of the cliff. We spent three nights in Iquique and loved the place. Our first full day we lounged around, read a bit, ate a bit, did some shopping and did little else. On day two we set off again to see Humberstone, an ex-nitrate but now ghost town. Fascinating to see the little rows of houses, market place, theatre etc all intact. This is quite the thing here, the towns are built around the mines or works and as soon as they are exhausted, the towns are abandoned. we have passed many of these on our long drives! After this we went to view some geoglyphs - ancient pictures created on the mountainsides either by clearing rocks and scraping away at the surface or using the rocks themselves. There are many of these littered around but this place had a really high concentration of them. We then headed off across the desert to Pico, an oasis wih hot springs. This was a lovely place very green, many flowers, pretty church (but with a scary tableau of the last supper) etc. Had lunch in a pretty little courtyard and drank the fruit juices for which the oasis is famous. On our second night we ventured out to a bar restaurant which sounded good, to find nothing but a burnt out shell when we got there. This was worrying for me because places I´ve lived or worked usually disappear after I´ve left not before I arrive! Found somewhere else on the main street, where we were able to listen to music in the street - not sure what it was about but it was amzingly good. We listened mostly to a very young band (I thought about 12 but Lucy put them somewhat older) just drums base and lead guitar but they produced some great music. We then enjoyed a school brass band. Again only teenagers (with a couple of oldies thrown in). The treat here was a young female singer who sang jazz and blues with a voice to die for (Norah - you have competition). No only was our hotel right on the coast, it was also at the end of the main street which is lined by colourful wooden ´mansions´ of a style we have not seen before, which hark back to when this place was the nitrate centre of the world. Tried to work out if we could convert our house to the same style but Lu objected to an open plan second floor - that is - open to the outside! All in all, we both agreed that we loved our stay in Iquique.

San Pedro de Atacama June 23 to June 25

... and the battered old beast of a truck got us to Calama some 135 miles from Antofagasta across the desert. And that was about as much as we could take. It was like an enclosed roller coaster with no air-conditioning and a terrible music system. With zero optimism we pulled into the Alamo depot in Calama to try our luck - and it worked! Nobody there when we arrived but a kindly old gent who spoke no English and lived across the road rang the boss who left his lunch to see us - where were the secretary and mechanic he asked. The place was totally run down with wrecks everywhere ... and one gleaming Suzuki Gran Vitara, the model we had booked. Much paperwork and discussion about Alamo's incompetence with the boss and away we drove in the Suzuki, with the agreement that we would speak kindly of the boss (his request) when we rightly wrote a strong letter of complaint to the management in Santiago. Lunch inside us and smiles on our faces we drove on to San Pedro and found a small hostel (Hostal Katarpe) where we were able to book separate 'cabins'.

San Pedro was a great place to stay. A community of small adobe houses separated by dusty streets located in the desert at the foot of the Andes. San Pedro itself is at an altitude of 2400 metres but is still dwarfed by the Andes in the background. The Andes at this point are so different from those in the central area around Santiago. Contrast barren pink/brown hills in this area, sometimes smooth and rounded othertimes schoolbook volcanoes, against snow covered hard jagged peaks further south. We were struck very quickly by the number of travellers here and the way the town has adapted itself to being a centre for tourism. Very low key and pleasant; a great atmosphere despite this. Dinner around a log fire with a couple of games of crib rounded the day off well.

The next day we drove to Lagunas Miscanti and Mineques, 4,350m above sea level. The drive itself was an adventure, climbing 2000m on a desert road, meeting almost no other cars, and then turning onto an even lesser track where we realised why 4x4 was a necessity. Very steep and bumpy in places. The lakes were magnificent, deep blue in a stunning mountain setting, with flamingoes (a few!), very rare ducks and other birds, grazing vicuna (or alpaca but not we think llamas - we're starting to be able to tell the difference!) etc. On the drive up to the lakes we had seen llamas and also, a desert fox which sat by us when we pulled up quite unscared.

On the drive back we stopped at Laguna Chaxa in Salar de Atacama, the largest salt flats in Chile. This was fascinating. The salt flats were massive, not smooth as they appeared from a distance but very rough and crusty. Here we did see many flamingoes, including we think all three varieties.

After a late lunch in a little restaurant in Toconao, a small adobe village with dirt streets that were being wetted to form a muddy surface as we watched, we drove on to Valle de la Luna - so called because of its obvious similarity to the moon's surface. This was a fantastic setting of wind-shaped hills, canyons, caves, an amazing sand dune and a wonderful peak where we sat and watched the sunset. We rounded off the day with dinner in an open courtyard sitting around a large brazier.

All in all a fantastic day but early to bed ...

... because we left the hostel at 4am the next morning to drive across the desert to catch the El Tatio geysers at sun rise. Two and a quarter hours later after a bone rattling drive across another desert road this time with the surface of a washboard, in the pitch dark, we arrived. But we were the first - were we in the right place? would the geysers erupt underneath us? being still dark it was hard to tell but we could see some initial steam rising not far away. All a bit ghostly and minus 13 degrees so very cold! eventually others arrived and we found that there was a better spot not far away. The geysers were great to see - hot water bubbling from some and great jets of steam from others. All surrounded by wonderful mountains changing colour as the sun rose. Finally decided we had to leave as we had a 350 mile drive to look forward to, the first 100 miles across desert roads dropping form 4,400 metres to 2,000 metres. It was a hair-raising drive to say the least, partially due to the fact that we drove the last 50 miles on empty, there being no petrol stations anywhere nearby but mainly due to a couple of very nervy moments! Relieved at arriving back at Calama, we refuelled, had lunch, bought some cd's for the journey and set off for our next stage, Iquique. Ruta 5, the PanAmerican highway, just about all the way - straight as a die - non-stop desert.

Valparaiso to Antofagasta June 19 to 22

Decided that the best way to see Santiago and its surrounds was to hire a car so, with the help of Dennis, we set off in a little Nissan Platina - a mean machine! Straightforward drive to Valparaiso (Valpo to the locals) with one downside - it started to p### it down and continued to do so for the 24 hours we were there. Shame because we could see what a lovely place Valpo would be, set on a series of hills around the harbour. Each hill was served by an antiquated funicular and was populated by small colourful houses some perched on the hillside on stilts. Rain was so bad that the tram which would get us to our car parked several kms away was closed. We received an example of the friendliness and helpfulness that we have experienced several times so far here, when the ticket lady left the tram station despite the rain and deep puddles and stood with us to try and find a taxi. L and I both liked the place despite getting drenched but decided that we would move on the next day in search of the sun.

Set off the next day IN THE SUN and drove down the coast to Isla Negra the home of Pablo Neruda, a poet and absolute hero (almost on a par with Bernado O'Higgins Chile's liberator). PN's house contained amazing collections of just about everything much of which he collected in his travels as a diplomat. His real fame though is as a poet. He had quite a life with Lorca and Allende amongst his friends. On the way down we stopped at a lovely beach where some brave souls were surfing and Lu could paddle - freezing! Also saw sea lions somewhat out of the blue in San Antonio harbour.

Eventually arrived in Santa Cruz in one of the wine regions for an overnight stay. This was very much a small town with a Chilean atmosphere (not sure what that is but it's different from a big city!). Stayed in an interesting little hotel, Hotel Alcazar, which was like being in somebody's house. Very much a traditional low level spanish adobe building. The rooms were off a small living room with a log fire where the family were eating when we arrived. Wandered the town for a bit, mixed with the locals in a bar watching football, ate, drank some of the local wine, decided it was getting a bit chilly and returned to our rooms. Awoke in the morning to find our car covered in ice - it was cold!

Changed our plans in the morning and decided to try the longer drive to Canyon de Maipo in the Andes not too far from Santiago. A great decision. Stayed in a log cabin by the river with a wood burning stove. Woodcraft training came to the fore as we had no matches but there was a hint of fire in the stove - eventually got it roaring. Lu took a two hour horse ride up to a plateau with a meadow and an amazing view. Based on my last experience with a horse I decided to do a one

hour trek up to some waterfalls followed by a two hour trek up to the same plateau as Lu. Views were well worth it but the climb was steep and needed several stops to regain breath. Was passed by Lu as she was on her way back looking very relaxed and untired on her horse! Both agreed we could have stayed longer in the cabin but our flight to Antofagasta had been booked and we had to return to Santiago in the morning.

Did so, returned the car, did some laundry (Lu very happy to have some clean clothes), taxied to the airport and caught the flight. All going swimmingly - until we arrived at the airport at Antofagasta some 24km out of town. NO CAR and NO REP FROM ALAMO and NOONE ANSWERING THE PHONE. Helped by Jorge, who had arrived on the same flight and was in Antofagasta on business. He drove us into downtown where next problem - hotels fully booked. Eventually booked into (expensive) Hotel Antofagasta where we shared a twin room - my snoring only became unliveable with on one occasion - the rest of the time it was just annoying according to Lu!

Next morning the tribulations continued but after a lot of wasted effort and expensive phone calls, we found ourselves driving an old double-cabbed pick up truck which had definitely seen much better times. Could we really survive 13 days in the beast? On to the next leg ...

Santiago June 16 to June 19

And it all went to plan. Our journeys were both of about 20 hours flying in opposite directions; we both had to change planes; and amazingly we met in Santiago, had our luggage and our B&B owner was awaiting us. Seemed surreal except we were both a bit stunned from the journey. Absolutely great to see Lucy though - and she looked wonderful. The flights in to Santiago took us in over the Andes which was a great way to arrive.

So off to the Casa Bonita with the Dutch owner Dennis. He and his wife have renovated an old historic building with similar restrictions as you would experience in the UK. The result was worth it. Our rooms large and well decorated. We were a little concerned on arrival though as we drove down a well populated alley and found the entrance to the B&B opposite a snooker hall. The alley is in fact the route from the metro to a university and is pretty active throughout the day. It is quiet at night though.

In the afternoon, we took the metro - a very efficient and cheap system - to Bellavista. This proved to be a bohemian area with many bars and small restaurants in an area which was run down. Despite this, many buildings were painted in reds and blues and greens which gave the area an interesting feel. We both took to it and agreed to come back for dinner and drinks one evening when we expected it to be more lively. That evening we tried a fish restaurant near to our B&B. It didn't look to great from the outside but the inside was sea-themed to the nth degree including our elderly waiter and waitress dressed as matelots! Food was good though as were the beers and pisco sours (could get very used to the ps's ...)

The next day, we walked up to 'downtown' the old centre of Santiago. As anticipated the sights are not overly exciting but the market was quite something with an astonishing range of fish but with a smell that meant we did not linger. Lucy was pleased when I cracked first and suggested we moved on! Sorted out flights to Antofagasta and a hotel in Valparaiso so the three weeks are starting to take shape. Back to the B&B for a siesta followed by another excellent dinner, this time in Bellavista which proved to be a great place to go for the atmosphere at night. Tried some Chilean wine - very good.

Following morning, ventured by funicular railway to the top of Cerro San Christobal. Had tried to buy single tickets to the top and walk back, until the girl in the ticket booth advised us that it was a 6 km walk back!! So we took the return option. Not a particularly clear day but the views were still amazing with a 360 degree panorama of Santiago (hadn't realised how big it was) surrounded by mountains, some snow capped. Brief attempt by Lucy to help me buy a warm top - but quickly realised that this was futile, so back to our rooms for a pre-dinner siesta and an opportunity to catch up with reading, emails and blogs.

Conclusions on Santiago - we were not here at the best time for weather and the sights are limited but we both agreed that the city had something about it which we liked very much. People bustling around, many students, great little bars and restaurants. Casa Bonita was a really good place to stay and Dennis an excellent host.

24 hours to go

So Lucy and Dad are 24 hours away from take-off ... Lucy in Fiji and Dad in Muswell Hill having just enjoyed three pints of lovely bitter with friends in the Vicky Stakes. If all goes to plan we will meet 45 mins apart in Santiago on Tuesday!! ...