Much has happened since my last post. Apologies for the hiatus but we had a whirlwind couple of days on board and then for the last four days I have been entombed in my berth with a dry cough, chills and fever and since we are on a French boat, la grippe with a temperature of 101F. This morning I managed to keep down some toast and a latte, my first food in three days.

In the course of lying flat for the last couple of days I kept thinking that I should get up and put together a post but my head was so unclear and buzzy that I don’t think it would have made much sense. However I woke up this morning with a clear head and a slight tingling of appetite so I think things are on the turn.

The ship’s doctor, whose English matches my French, for emergency use only, has been terrific …

This is a long overdue post, not written at the peak of my form but written nonetheless. We arrived in Japan late last evening, Tuesday March 26 after 18 hours of flights, delayed flights and washing-machine turbulence from Toronto to Osaka via Tokyo. This trip, one to which we have excitedly looked forward, was preceded by 2 1/2 weeks in Portugal. We returned from that trip last Wednesday, unpacked, did our laundry and prepared to leave on Monday for this trip to Japan. In the interval I celebrated my 80th birthday…

This post is the first of its kind for me, as you’ll see in a moment. 

I’m not sure if I mentioned it in my posts from Tanzania and South Africa last December but as we were settling into our airline’s seats for our return trip home, V said to me, “Well, we don’t have to do that again” presumably in reference to the number of trips that we have made to Africa over the last 10 or 11 years. I think Italy was calling to her and, in fairness, some relaxing time in Europe is long overdue.

And yet, and yet….

It’s been a while since my last post but in the interval we have covered a lot of ground. We left Borde Baker Lodge on Friday for a town called Tortola, our last stop before Villa O’Higgins and the end of the road. Our night there was an experience that I would not want to repeat. Tortola is built at the bottom of a steep hill along the edge of a fjord..

Yesterday, Tuesday, was a very long day. We arrived in Coyaique, a very pleasant and interesting town of about 20,000 inhabitants on Monday afternoon and spent the night at a B&B in the centre of town. The B&B’s restaurant was good and the staff were charming but their Pisco Sour was not one of the better versions that we have come across. Pisco Sours have become our litmus test of a restaurant/bar…

Since my last post written from Futaleufu, R and I have begun to get much further along Route 7, the Carretera, in all its wet and misty glory. That description may be about to change however, and we will all be glad of the change but more about that later in the post…

This note will be brief and I’m writing it in a hurry since we have just arrived in Futaleufu for our second night on the road. The power is out here at the moment but I’m on my laptop until my battery dies. After we leave early tomorrow our next couple of nights will be spent in an eco camp where there is no cell or internet capability so after today we will be off the grid for a couple of days…

I write this on Wednesday March 8 in a wonderful, modern hotel called Tierra Chiloé about 5 kilometres outside of Castro, the main town on the island of Chiloé.

“Chiloé has been described by Renato Cárdenas, historian at the Chilean National Library, as “a distinct enclave, linked more to the sea than the continent, a fragile society with a strong sense of solidarity and a deep territorial attachment.”….