This is no ordinary travel book, but then again neither is this an ordinary country.



It is a land of precipitous fjords, volcanoes with attitude, temperate rain forest, the driest desert, the world's oldest mummies, ice-caps, geothermal marvels and the longest and highest mountain range outside the Himalaya. It is a preposterously skinny land wedged incongruously twixt Andes and the Pacific. With its head sweltering within the Tropic of Capricorn and a toe tickling Antarctica, it is a veritable 'smorgasbord' of sensory stimulation.



This land compares to an uncut diamond. The more effort put into it the more its potential beauty will be revealed and, in this case, the greater the rewards any journey will provide. Eight ferries, over sixty buses, two rickety bicycles, a rowing boat, two 4x4s, an inflatable Zodiac, two seat-of-the-pants light aircraft, eleven taxis, a trusty pair of hiking boots and over 15,000 kilometres after leaving a tiny island near Cape Horn, my rough 'diamond' had become a glittering jewel, a trove of other-worldly experiences. Forty Degrees of Latitude is the showcase for that treasure.



This is not just any land. This is Chile.