Lu, with the backpacks, on the boat that we took from the village of Chepu to a remote trailhead on the island of Chiloe. We were gobsmacked when we got dropped off in Chepu at the "tourist information," which was the size and approximate look of an outhouse in a field of horses.

The helpful gent at said information booth gave us a vague wave in the direction of the Pacific Ocean, when we described the trail we wished to hike. "Take a boat," he said, "and you'll find the trail over there." (or something like that, in Spanish). There was an assortment of watercraft moored at the delta nearby, so we negotiated a ride on a rickety motor boat with a group of locals who happened to be sitting around, looking like they were eventually going to go somewhere on the water. We tried to make them understand, with the help of the phrasebook, that we needed to be picked up the next day at three, wherever they dropped us off.

They seemed to get it, and were not at all bothered by our worried brows, so we just decided to go with it. They dropped us off at a dock, led us through a farmer's field, and waved onward, so that's the way we went. How hard could it be? Just keep the Pacific Ocean on your right on the way in, and on your left on the way out. Simple. We had extra food, in case we got stranded & they didn't show up, so off we went. We took the fact that they didn't accept our money for the ride as a bit of a guarantee that they would, in fact, pick us up.