We left Rancagua next morning after another yummy buffet breakfast. It was Sunday so we hoped to get through the capital Santiago without to much trouble. As we approached Santiago a policeman waved us down. Not a good start! He looked quite serious but only wanted to see Peter's driving licence. It is quite funny when you see them trying to read the reverse side, it's so complicated and you can see them give a knowing nod whilst trying not to look completely baffled. Roadside police stops are fairly common and it's just pot luck if you come along next after the one stopped is sent on their way.

After that we headed into Santiago. Peter noticed that there were cameras and electronic signs for an automated toll payment. Until then all the many tolls had been the old normal person in a kiosk type. We assumed that they read your number plate and then you go on line and pay. Sounded straightforward but we had trouble finding a site and, even then, every time we put Arthur's number plate in it just said it was incorrect. Maybe it didn't read foreign number plates. We thought we might have to make a run for the border!

We got through Santiago and headed to the coast. The weather got cooler with some impressive sea mists. We stopped yet again in a petrol station for the night. Our favourite is Copec. We call ourselves 'Copec Campers'. This particular Copec was great as it had a washing machine and tumble dryer and for £1.50 we got everything clean. These stations are great, clean, nicely kept, free wifi and 50p showers.

Next day we headed inland to Illapel to visit a parque with the last colony of long tailed Chinchillas. The road was quite winding and uphill with some rather deep drops to the side. After some time it became very misty. Along the road there were many shrines, with car wheels, to deceased family members who possibly didn't manage to stay on the road.

In Illapel Peter tried to get the Arthur's prop shaft greased but three garages said they didn't have a grease gun and said no. He decided he would have to buy a grease gun at some point. As we walked through the local market we saw a man selling tools and on the off chance asked if he had a grease gun. He looked rather pleased and showed us three. I suspect he was chuffed to sell one that looked like he'd had it for years.

After this we headed into the parque de los Chinchillos and waited till night. Unluckily the Chinchillas are nocturnal. Shame because I am defiantly not! We headed out on the path up the hill just around dusk and at the top sat and waited and waited. After sitting in the dark for an hour we decided the Chinchillas were having a lay in so we gave up.

Next morning Peter blocked the parque bathroom facilities. He had a good go at clearing it with a plunger (obviously a common occurrence) but to no avail. A while later I noticed some ominous stains on his trousers!

Next day we set of towards Vicuña were we had booked a tour up to an observatory. On the way we stopped at a small town to visit the museum and buy bread. We heard about some petroglyphs so headed out. Petroglyphs are not Peters favourite and these were no exception. The road started okay but at the very end it was a rather dodgy but Arthur rose to the challenge and we got through. The petroglyphs were on private land and the owner gave us a tour. His commentary was not overly helpful as I couldn't understand most of what he said except there was the usual solstice worshipping.

From here we drove for a couple of hours and camped wild and next day got to Vicuña. I actually managed to find the exact hostal we had stayed in 3 years ago. I thought that was quite impressive.

The observatory tour started at 8.30. We drove up into the hills where there is no light or smog pollution. This area of Chile has many observatories some with rather impressive sized telescopes. A group of European countries are about to embark on the building of the biggest one yet with a mirror 32 metres in diameter. The one we looked through had a 6 inch mirror. Even with this one the moon was very impressive and we got to see some Nebullae and Uranus and Neptune (the later two were just minuscule blobs). We also saw a shooting star and 4 satellites pass overhead.

Our next stop was parque de los Humbolt penguins comprising three islands with marine wildlife. We arrived late afternoon and actually went to a campsite despite it being a Friday. We hoped it was too far from any town for locals to arrive in force and keep us awake all night. We were right only us all night. Next morning we were told we had to wait till 11 for a boat. After half and hour a man came over and told us we could go now. After this it all got a bit chaotic. Peter accidently bought a shrimp and cheese Empanada which he had to discreetly dispose of. Our tour boat wasn't in the water and Peter got roped into dragging it down the beach. Then two of the three boats going on the tour didn't start. We got on the first boat, got told to get of, got on the second, now repaired boat and got told to get of. Then had to wait for more people and finally did get on a boat at 11.30. But the trip was worthwhile as we saw Bottle Nosed dolphins swimming with 2 Blue whales.