Up until I was diagnosed with breast cancer my husband used to go to Chile to work for a couple of weeks a year. I say work but there was usually an element of sightseeing and fishing involved too. He last went in the spring of 2015, a couple of months before I was diagnosed. I never went due to having 2 school aged children.

So this year the kids are both (for a little bit longer) away from home so it seemed like the right time to travel to the other side of the world.

We flew to Santiago where my husband was to do some work for the first week. I shared an office with him for the first day so I could work but then decided to venture out into the city on my own.

Never having been to a South American country I was, before I went, unsure as to whether I would feel up to wandering around on my own. Santiago felt very safe. Like in all big cities you have to be aware of your surroundings but I loved it. Did the metro, cable car, funicular railway and walked for miles in the brilliant sunshine.

After the hustle and bustle of the city we flew to Punta Arenas. We have some friends down there and were using this as our base before leaving for Teirra del Fuego. The weather has gone from 29 degrees to 13 and rainy.

We took the ferry to Porvenir then drove 300 km until the road (a dirt road) ran out at Caletta Maria at the mouth of the Azzapardo River. We stayed in a 2 bedroomed hut with woodburning stove and one solar panel. Apart from 6 people in the other 2 buildings on the estancia there was no-one else for miles. Two days of fishing and walking in this amazing place.

Back to civilisation staying a fishing lodge on Lago Blanco – must have been about 20 people there – then back to Punta and the flights home.

Flying from Punta Arenas to Santiago then out of Santiago to London we flew the whole length of Chile in brilliant sunshine and the views were amazing. Quite a special end to an amazing 2 weeks.

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Now this is what I call normality after cancer – roll on next year – I want to go back!