Timeline 24th Oct to
29th October 2005

Banditry, hostage-taking and political coups, just some of the words which I associate with South America. With this in mind and with more than a hint of apprehension, we left for Chile. I needn't have worried. By South American standards, Chile is safe, modern, Westernised and travel within the country is straightforward.

Like a shoelace that runs down half the length of the entire continent, Chile is ten times as long as it is wide. It's hemmed in by the Andes to the East, by the Pacific to the west, desert to the North, and in the South it simply tails off at the foot of the world with only Antarctica for company. Even today there are still only a dozen or so passes over the entire 4000km length of the country.

Due to this unusual shape and geography, Chile has been spared the problems endemic elsewhere in South America for centuries. With the exception of the Pinochet regime it has long been a politically democratic and stable country, now with a prosperous free-market economy.

This is one of the only positives from Pinochet's legacy, and for this he still commands a surprising amount of support, from those who benefited most, of course. For others he is the Devil incarnate and, now stripped of his self-imposed immunity, he is currently awaiting trial for tax evasion and embezzlement. In addition to this he recently underwent medical tests to determine whether he was fit enough to stand trial for Human Rights abuses relating to his direct role in the "Disappearance", torture and execution of thousands of Chileans during the 70s and 80s. He has been deemed fit enough to stand.

The capital Santiago sprawls out to accommodate over 5 million people but the central "Downtown" area is an impressive, and very Spanish looking, city. Wide tree lined avenues and busy plazas add to the effect. Not quite as pretty as Madrid maybe but definitely as hot, with temperatures still hovering around 30 degrees even after 6pm. It also boasts one of the most impressive backdrops of any international capital with the snow-capped Andes rising immediately from behind. However, due to the continual heat haze and smog the range is barely visible.

The colonial architecture (left) invokes a sense of grandeur and history but you'd be hard pushed to find any buildings more than 150 years old. Santiago's position on the world's most active fault line has seen a succession of earthquakes level the city over the years. In fact, on our first night there we experienced one for ourselves. Nothing major, just a gentle wobble, but enough to topple bins and wake us from our sleep!

Our initial plan in Chile was to head south to the vastness of Patagonia but we missed the only ferry departing that week and instead turned our attention to the northern expanse of the Atacama Desert. A pub quiz classic; this is the driest desert in the world, and in some places moisture has never been recorded. With Chile just 180km wide on average, the choice could only really be north or south.

Travel of any distance is done by bus and these can take you to absolutely any city that it is possible to drive to. The bus service is efficient, reliable, safe and cheap. The journey north took 24 hours, our record so far, and the vast majority of this was driving through 36C (96.8F) degree desert. Unfortunately, we were sat directly in front of the toilet and for 21 of the 24 hours the smell was none too pleasant. The joys of travelling!

Our destination was San Pedro de Atacama, a picturesque little village, typically South American, complete with whitewashed buildings and dusty roads. But it is fast adapting to the tourist dollar with small cafes and independent travel agencies springing up by the day and, I suspect, new tarmac roads about to be laid. I only hope it can retain its charm.

It was in one of these travel agencies we discovered that it was possible to venture into Bolivia on a four-day tour. Not ones to let an opportunity like this slip past, we signed up.

BOLIVIA Timeline: 29th Oct to
1st November 2005

Bolivia had been part of our original itinerary but then so did most of the 191 UN recognised countries. For whatever reason it had been omitted but now it was back in and we were going!

Over the centuries Bolivia has engaged all its neighbours in war at one point or another, and lost every one. With it went territory and prosperity and it is now a poor, landlocked country.

Bolivia has the largest proportion of indigenous people in South America but society is riddled with a racial hierarchy. Those with Spanish ancestry dominate political and economic life while the majority of indigenous Bolivians are still low-income subsistence farmers, miners and small time traders. On our second day in Bolivia the country went to the polls to elect a new President, that since turned out to be a radical indigenous Indian, a landmark event in South American politics.

But the first thing I noticed about Bolivia was not these inequalities nor spectacular scenery but the altitude. Although it wasn't obvious, our tour around the Altiplano region started with a crawl up to Bolivian immigration at 3400m above sea level. This climb continued for the full four days eventually peaking just over 4900m.

At this altitude, or anything over 2000m, your body struggles to acclimatize. Altitude sickness affects people differently, it can be as mundane as insomnia or, depending on circumstances, it can even be fatal.

Although we were hardly climbing Everest without the use of oxygen, the slightest bit of exertion brought on breathlessness. As the first day went on I fully expected to acclimatize but instead I felt worse. By lunchtime nausea and a headache had also kicked in. This continued right into the second day, despite drinking plenty of water as advised. Three others in our group were physically sick, but whether this was due to the unusual Bolivian altitude or the unusual Bolivian food I'm still unsure.

It was a long four days, with 04:30 alarm calls to catch sunrises and up to 11 hours spent being bounced all over the back of an old jeep crossing the barren, road less, landscape. Ultimately, the scenery made it all worthwhile. In the Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat, I stood, shivering, surrounded by the huge, white, vastness. I could have sworn I was in Antarctica. Then amongst the arid desert plains, between the smouldering volcanoes there were several lakes, home to thousands of flamingos, and due to strange microbiological and geological occurrences, each of these lakes appeared as strong primary colours; red, blue and green.

Throw in some hot springs and geysers (far more impressive than those in New Zealand) and a couple of old mining ghost towns and it makes for quite a surreal environment. The weather too, could not be defined. Incredibly cold one day, uncomfortably hot the next, then blustery winds followed by library stillness, all the while being amongst an eerie moonscape. And dusty too! On our arrival back at Chilean immigration I noticed our reflections in a mirror and it looked like someone had dropped a bag of cement on our heads.

From the border, San Pedro De Atacama stood out, quite literally, like an oasis in the desert. We spent a couple of days more there but then it was south again. Just a 17-hour journey this time, to La Serena, a sizeable but pleasant city in the Elqui Valley.

Here we went to a football match, an ambition of mine for some time and not for the faint hearted! We also managed to explore the valley, visit a distillery where they make Pisco Sour (Chile's national drink) and visit one of the many observatories in the area. This part of the world has the thinnest atmosphere and clearest skies of anywhere on earth, ideal for stargazing and pondering over the origin of the universe.

But what puzzled me most was how Chilean food could be so bad. Even as a Scotsman I struggled with the sheer quantity of fried foods, fast foods and salt.

Between the 6th and the 10th, we visited Easter Island.