Chile (2002)

Holidays and short breaks
Argentina (2001)
Chile (2002)
India (2003)
World trip (2005-2006)
Libya (2008)

Pictures
1 Croydon to Arica
2 Arica, Azapa Valley
3 Arica, Panam + Codpa
4 Arica, PN Lauca
5 Calama
6 Chuquicamata
7 Salar de Atacama
8 San Pedro de Atacama
9 Tatio and Puritama
10 Santiago
11 Santiago to Pucón
12 Pucón
13 Pucón, a lazy day
14 Termas de San Luis
15 Pucón, horse ride
16 Puerto Varas
17 Ancud
18 Chiloé
19 Chiloé, pinguineria
20 Puerto Varas, casino
21 Torres del Paine
22 Torres del Paine
23 Torres del Paine
24 Torres del Paine
25 Zapallar
26 Zapallar
27 Zapallar, rodeo
28 Long trip home

Bernardo O'Higgins

(1778-1842)

Born in Chillán, a town in southern Chile, then a colony of Spain. South American revolutionary and first Chilean head of state ("Supreme Director") 1817–23; illegitimate son of Ambrosio O'Higgins.

He was chosen in 1813 to replace José Miguel Carrera as revolutionary leader. After the loss at Rancagua, O'Higgins fled with the remnant of his army to Argentina, where he joined forces with San Martín. Returning to Chile in 1817, San Martín and O'Higgins defeated the Spaniards at Chacabuco. O'Higgins was named supreme director of Chile, whose independence he proclaimed on Feb. 12, 1818. His financial, political, and social reforms aroused much opposition, and in 1823 he was deposed and exiled to Peru, where he remained until his death.

Chile

In 2002 we went back to South America. Ness came up with the idea of Chile, from where we don't know. The year before we had had such a great holiday in Argentina that it would be difficult to equal it as our expectations had been raised. This time we planned it with the help of Nelson Neves at Journey Latin America. As before, we struck a balance between booking things ahead and traveling independently. Effectively we ended up booking a series of flights to join the dots in this very long, thin country. We also booked hotels and car hire in advance. So again it wasn't "independent" travel in the proper sense of the word but it suited us down to the ground.

Coming up with an itinerary for Chile is a pretty straightforward matter of choosing your starting point and then one of two directions: "up" or "down". We flew to Arica and then worked our way down. It did feel odd for our first "leg", from Arica to Calama, which at 500km was comparatively near, to be flying via Santiago! But it was a damn sight quicker than driving.

One character accompanied our journey: Bernardo O'Higgins! We took his picture in every town we visited. Calama was the only place that did not have a statue of him in the main square, so a miner stood in. "Por favor, donde podemos trovar el monumento de Bernardo O'Heegeens" was usually one of our first opening lines with the locals.

Diary

In Chile we both kept diaries. The links point to Stefan's diary entries as we haven't yet typed up Nessie's. We'll try to include them on the same page, in columns side by side.

Click on a highlighted date to go straight to that day's entry or use the links on the left.

Books, Films, Music, Links, etc.

For more references, check our links section.
•	Between Extremes, by Brian Keenan and John McCarthy
•	Travels in a Thin Country, by Sarah Wheeler
•	Journey Latin America: www.journeylatinamerica.co.uk Well-known South America travel specialist. We'd certainly recommend them.
•	(the bits in Michael Palin's Full Circle)
•	Inti Illimani, Chilean group. Their album Lejanía is excellent and transports you back to the altiplano.
•	Los Jaivas, another Chilean group but not as good as Inti Illimani.

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