After Torres del Paine we thought things couldn’t get much better, but our next stop in Patagonia took us to the literal end of the earth - El Fin del Mundo - also known as Tierra del Fuego. Tierra del Fuego is the name given to the archipelago at the tip of South America. The... Continue Reading →

Our last stop in northern Chile was Arica, the port town we passed through on our way to the Ruta de las Misiones.  We stayed here over the Christmas holiday for a little R&R after being on the road for so many days. Arica itself is a scrappy town of approximately 150 thousand people and... Continue Reading →

The route described in the previous post is part of a relatively new heritage trail called the “Ruta de los Misiones” being promoted by the Fundación Altiplano in collaboration with local governments and communities. The foundation has spent the last 25 years restoring adobe churches in the small indigenous villages that dot the altiplano as... Continue Reading →

In Arica we hooked up with the Fundación Altiplano (http://www.fundacionaltiplano.cl/en/) and the Ruta de Las Misiones (http://www.rutadelasmisiones.cl/en) who’s mission is to help rural, mostly indigenous communities rebuild their towns and economies through promoting traditional building techniques and agricultural practices as well as eco- and heritage-tourism. We had a two part experience, the first being a... Continue Reading →

After San Pedro we took Diablito for a long drive up the Panamerican Highway to Chile’s northernmost city, the port of Arica, near the border of Peru. On the way north we passed several geoglyphs! These weren’t as extensive or grand as those in Nasca, Peru, but still pretty impressive and emblematic of the Atacama.... Continue Reading →

The Atacama desert is perhaps best known for its extremes: it is the driest desert on earth, only receiving an average of 1 mm (yes, millimeter!) of rain per year, and is so stark and lifeless in some places that its soils are closer to those on Mars than our own planet.  But like so... Continue Reading →

The last 10 days have been so packed with activity it will take several posts to capture it all! Here is the first installment. It all started with a flight into Calama, the major commercial and financial hub for Chile’s Atacama Desert region. Chile is the world’s largest copper producer, and just north of the... Continue Reading →

VALPARAÍSO, what an absurdity you are, how crazy: a crazy port. What a head of disheveled hills, that you never finish combing. Never did you have time to dress yourself, and always you were surprised by life. -from "Ode to Valparaiso" by Pablo Neruda We left the bustle of Santiago for the coastal city of... Continue Reading →

We made it to South America! First stop: Santiago, Chile. After a smooth flight and easy pass through immigration we navigated our way via public transportation to our AirBnB apartment in Santiago Centro. The bus and metro system is very efficient, although as always it took some time to figure out how to purchase tickets... Continue Reading →