Length of the trip : 2 weeks excluding Easter Island, involving 5 border crossings between Chile and Argentina somehow! Still on a shoestring but Chile is considerably more expensive than anywhere else in South America so beware!
Residencial Victoria in Iquique. I had never slept in a sitting position on a mattress before! The mattress was sinking so much that it was touching the floor 30cm below! How is that even possible! No shower for 5 days I can cope with but I need to change at least! Landing at 3am in Punta Arenas in considerably cooler Patagonia and finding all the hostels shut. We walked for 2 hours around town and finally found a hostel answering the door bell at 5am.
Must have woken up the entire town though. The grandma in Casa Bertila Hostel in Puerto Natales was very sweet and bringing me extra breakfast cake just for me! Decided that we should go cycling in the desert of the Atacama for 6 hours without sufficient water supplies!
How dumb right? Scary border crossings become a lovely playful delight for Chilean guard dogs! What a life! Fried chicken and chips was quite a low point for me. Going so far away from south London to find just the same greasy chicken! Red light district in Santiago! Never felt quite that unsafe in a hotel room with prostitutes and drug dealers all around us and no lock on the door!
Never want to go to Santiago ever again! Would love to go back to Patagonia and explore the stretch of land between Patagonia and Santiago. Will definitely go on an Antarctica cruise when I can afford it. However if you go to Patagonia you will probably find yourself crossing the border between the two countries back and forth. Torres del Paine is a must though. Female travellers, remember that long excursions might become demanding in terms of our female special needs so get kitted up!
