true!! He was a great driver though, negotiating very long journeys over sometimes less than perfect roads with ease!! So, we had all the key ingredients for a great tour, and we were off!!

First stop was lunch at Pichidangui, which means “small raft” in the local Mapuche language. It was a very pleasant seaside town, with a few little beachside stalls and a fair few fishing boats chugging around. We took a walk down the jetty and saw a sea otter swimming around - he was a very cute little chap!! The water was amazingly clear and you could follow his dives almost all the way down!! After a walk around to find some lunch we also visited a unique church just along the coast which was like a tropical greenhouse inside, with lush plants everywhere - all over the walls and seemingly hanging from the ceiling!!

After lunch we spent the afternoon driving to La Serena, a bigger place, but still with some charm. We opted for our own room as it wasn’t so much more expensive, and we went out for dinner to a local place with Jorge and Rodrigo. The whole group seemed to be getting on well and over a few beers we all spent a pleasant night together.

The next day we were up early and headed off to Punta de Churos, a marine national park famed for it’s sea life, including bottlenose dolphins, seals and sea lions, and our ninth species of Pinguino, the Humboldt Penguin!! These little penguins follow the cold Humboldt current up the west coast of South America all the way to the Galapagos Islands, making them the most Northerly travelled Penguins. The Pachamama tour had a special deal with a local boatman and before we knew it we were off towards the distant islands in search of wildlife. It wasn’t long