RAPA NUI (CHILE)

Going to one of the most isolated places in the world we had to put up with the ordinary you even get at home. Drunkenness. The owner of our campsite "Jimmy" ( because he looked like Hendrix) was really nice and chatty at first, then he had a few to much from time to time and at the end you never saw him sober again. One evening we even had to carry him back home from town. But not like everyone else he was thinking of going to bed, he took all his clothes off and jumped in the swimming pool. It looked like he was drowning so we run after him to pull him out. To our surprise he was pissed off with us interfering him in his breathing exercise.

Rapa Nui is of cause famous for his moais. Laying or standing, broken or fixed, we saw many of them. We also finally went for our first swim in the ocean. Going around the island is pretty cheap because all locals give you lifts in their pick-ups. We even got driven once by someone from the municipal and got offered beer in the car too.

All in all people from Easter Island are the most friendliest we met so far on our trip and it was worth the money.

LAKE DISTRICT (ARGENTINA AND CHILE)

We had 15 days in the Lake District before catching a flight from Santiago. We decided to visit Osorno, Villa los Angostura, San Martin de los Andes and Junin. Having been to the south of Patagonia, that area just couldn't compare with the same stunning landscape and unfortunately it was to cold for swimming. We visited Parque National los Arrayanes, a forest full of cinnamon barked trees (but its not cinnamon). A stray dog who must have been really board followed us the whole circuit of 30 km. He well deserved some of our BBQ chicken and he even protected our tent all night. He fell asleep as soon we got up and didn't even realize that we packed and left.

While we have been travelling we have been lucky not to have anything stolen but instead we just lose everything. Arriving in Junin Phil realized he forgot his ring on the last campsite. determined to get it back he jumped on the next bus and returned 4 hours later with a big smile on his face. Unfortunately we weren't as lucky with various other items we lost.

PUERTO NATALES TO PUERTO MONTT (CHILE)

There are only 3 ways to go up north from the bottom of Argentina, going up the same way we came down, spending 3 days and nights on a bumpy road by bus or taking a ferry through the fjord land of Chile. We chose the last option for a change of scenery. On our first day while we had dinner suddenly all crew members started running on board and the ferry took a sharp 360 degree turn. We heard then that someone went over board. After a few minutes search they turned on route again and announced a false alarm. 10 min later they actually counted all passengers, no one was missing.

The next day wasn't so enjoyable for Phil. He had 2 spoonful of his dinner and went to bed seasick. He wasn't the only one struggling with the rough sea. We could hear people vomiting all night long. Next morning there was an announcement at 7.47am, they spotted killer whales next to the ferry. Phil never has been that quick out of bed that early but he had the pleasure to see one. Unluckily it was also the moment he realized his camera had gone.

PUERTO NATALES (CHILE)

Most people go to Puerto Natales for a few days trekking in Torres del Paine. Being told the 5-6 day "W" trek is easy, we filled our bags with plenty of wine. Having a tough first day mainly uphill we decided to get rid of that pretty soon.

Staying on basic campsites the poo stories are not ending and hope you don't mind to share one of them with you. One morning Petra had the urge for a Brad. How is she suppose to know that once the job is done it didn't go down with the low pressured flush. Conscious by people knocking on the door she luckily found a stick to solve that problem eventually. Confronting Phil how he dealt with that situation he simply answered he left if for the next one.

After we finally finished the 112 km of the "W" and Phil being stung to pieces in his face by mosquitoes he was determined to still do the "A", "N", and "K" too.