The Cactus Trip Diaries

Hi folks,

Yes, this winter’s cactus circus has started again. Tonight, the clocks in Chile change to Summertime.

Yesterday Ian and Cliff were supposed to leave Heathrow on an earlier flight than Angie, David Neville and myself. Ian was first to arrive and, while waiting, was able to arrange for all of us to join an even earlier flight to Madrid. There Angie, David & I would leave on about an hour before Ian and Cliff were due to take to the air.

All plans are great, except if they are foiled by our plane (due to arrive from Frankfurt) was late, so that Ian & Cliff took to the air first. Eventually we left 2 hours late, so that it became quite a tiring day.

Arriving at Santiago Airport was like arriving home. Andres, our regular rental car supplier, was there to meet us. This was my sixth trip in cars supplied by him, so over the years I have come to regard him more as a friend then as a business contact.  

I surprised myself by being able to find my way back to Flo’s place where we were treated to lunch and enjoyed a nice relaxed afternoon, preparing for tomorrow’s travels.

The plan is to leave around 8 a.m. and drive north along the PanAmerican Highway, Ruta 5, aiming to spend the night at Huasco. Hope that you’ll tune in tomorrow to see how those plans fared.