May 5 – Chile Conclusions:

• Visit Patagonia – visit Chile (what will we say having visited Argentina and Brazil?)
• People are very friendly, pleasant and honest although due to the poverty there is theft around
• Learn and be prepared to have to communicate in Spanish as very little English is spoken. Certainly we have improved our Spanish (accents not so good) out of necessity alone (especially Graham 0 to perhaps 10 words in as many days!).
• Stick to seafood, don’t eat meat – wait till you get to Argentina, not a lot of fresh fruit and veggies around, good coffee rare to find
• Not a bargain destination – European prices. Luckily we visited off peak season
• Stay in hostels/B&Bs as much nicer than hotels and affordable – money just dissappears
• Lots of stray dogs everywhere but usually in good condition, not famished looking although a lot of them had fighting scars (if you are a member of the RSPCA or SPCA stay away – stay away, little to be done)
• 4000 km coast line, beaches, Patagonia with the glaciers, fabulous lakes, skiing, Magellan Strait, Cape Horn
• Didn’t see penguins, whales, geysers, volcanoes, salt lakes or the Atacama desert – week was not long enough – we’ll have to come back. We left with a sense of not being fully satisfied