Ok my last South America blog! After I finished the Salt flat tour as I said before I got dropped off at the Bolivian/Chilean border along with Justin and the french girls. We were in the middle of nowhere but thankfully the next bus turned up and took us to San Pedro de Atacama. I was originally gonna stay here for a few days to see the desert but by now I was all deserted out! I decided to head to La Serena in Chile and luckily could get a bus that went all the way there (although it set off at 2 in the afternoon and didnt get there until 7 the next day! ) It was fine though and a nice bus and we had been travelling since 3:30 that morning so I slept for alot of it. I was still travelling with Justin as we were both going in the same direction. We got to La Serena and the hostel we wanted was full up apart from a double bed!!! So obviously we didnt do that and luckily a little old woman was outside and said she had a B&B type thing. It was like staying at your garndmas and she made us coffee and did all our washing for free so we put practically our entire back packs in! Neither us or our clothes had not been washed for days! The shower was cold but it was nice to get clean! We booked on a star tour for that night, here has one of the best atmosphere conditions in the world so loads of observatories are here. The tour sounded cool but if it is cloudy it is cancelled! So we waited all day just looking round the town which was nice and walked down the beach which was ok. But suprise suprise the tour was cancelled! Too cloudy! But every cloud and all that, I checked my mail and Abbie the girl from Peru was in mendoza in Arg and I really wanted to go there, and Justin was heading there so we decided to leave that night! Bear in mind I got up on tuesday at half past 3... travelled all day and night till weds when I arrived here... then we didnt end up staying the night we got another overnight bus to Santiago and then straight on a bus to Mendoza... over the border again which is always an hassle with customs etc! So by the time I arrived in Mendoza it was late thursday afternoon and I hadnt been in a bed since Monday night and that was a concrete one for a few hours!!! I had a little wander around and then sat outside in the hostel by the pool, was talking to this guy called Howard (unfortunatly his last name wasnt Donald) and said i wanted to do a wine tour the next day, he did too. I booked mine and then he did and before I knew it there was a group of twelve of us all going. Justin new a guy who he met in brazil and the others we just got chatting to. We all went out for dinner... which was a nice place attatched to the hostel. A mix of nationalities but mainly english, which was a nice change coz i hadnt hung round with many so far. One of the guys called Pete runs Dirty Disco a club night at Northern lights in leeds (just closed down though) so its now at Mission. He also happned to live practically next door to James and Chesh which was random! Another guy an american who was an editor for paramount so was interesting to speak to. The wine tour was cool, visited two wineries and had loads of free samples then a liquer place and had more shots... by then we were all slightly tipsy and it was only mid day! We bought 12 bottles from one for the night time and then got taken to a restaurant and the food was amazing1 first it was two massive tables full of cold meats, cheeses, veg,salad and loads of things i didnt know what it was but very nice! and Quail eggs but i didnt try that! We had free flowing gorgeous wine too! We thought that was it but they just kept bringing food. Steaks and loads of types of meat, pastas you name it! The desert was gorgeous too! We were all stuffed and tipsy by the end and all went back for a sleep. We thought we would never eat again! But we did! that night one of our group a girl Tanya from NZ but who was half Chilean too cooked a massive meal for all 14 of us... we had been joined by a couple of other ( one of which was my mate Abbie who I met in Peru) So we all sat drunk yet more wine and loads of food (i had more chicken) then went to a bar. At about 2 am we went to a club which was quite far out of town, a cool place with loads of floors and outside bits but me and Abbie soon got sick of the Arg men! they just wouldnt leave us alone! every two mins and they work in packs and surround you! I ended up pretending I was german and couldnt speak English or spanish! We left around five am, which was late enough for me! Next day i woke up at 8:30 after only a couple of hours sleep! Went for a long walk around Mendoza for hours then went to the bus station with a few others to get tickets sorted. Then it was time for a nap. I woke up and was talking to Will, an english guy in my room and we ended up having yet another bottle of wine in the garden. The group of us (minus some who had left mendoza) went for a meal where i finally had abit of wills steak!!! And it was medium rare! Yippee! It was nice but couldnt have loads. You can cut the steak with a spoon here its so tender...apparently! Next day decided to go to the mall, not been shopping yet really, went with tanya, justin, kathy and Adam. I didnt really buy much apart from a new bag that broke within three hours! Then i just went back to sunbathe by the pool. Said goodbye to tanya (who i will meet in Auckland9 and Justin (who i will meet again in Melbourne). That night went out for more food and wine with Will, and his two new dutch friends, Erna and Ricardo from Amsterdam and Killieny an Irish guy. The next day explored the town but it was yet another bank holiday! Culd see this top i really liked and had my eye on for days but couldnt buy it! (and leave early next day) gutted. Then i went horse riding which is like an extreme sport for me!!! Got driven up to the foothills of the Andes to a gaucho ranch and basically just put on a horse! I have only been on one once when i was six and when i was twelve I had an incident on a donkey in Blackpool...it ran away with me so i have since been put off such animals (susan and graham stop laughing!) Anyway it started fine, soketti my horse (just like odd socks lindsay!!!)it was quite lazy, i thought its knees were gonna buckle!(do horses have knees?)and it wouldnt stop eating, stoping all the time to eat grass! Just like the horse version of me really! Bad knees and eats alot!hee hee. It was really cool though but abit nervey as i didnt know really how to work it! The scenery was amazing and Juan our cowboy guide was good. My horse did run once but it managed to stay on! Phew! Was glad to get off though to be honest! That night went out with the same folk as last night, plus a nice guy from Stockport called Christian who was on a journey from Columbia to the bottom of SA on a bike! With no former training! So he was really cool to speak to! It was also nice to here a northern voice as not met hardly any!... and even when i ring home Phil is bloody southern! ha ha only joking honey! Anyway stayed up for abit with him and two german girls playing pingpong then went to bed as was so tired and I leave tomoro. Got up and got bus with a couple from horse riding, left Arg over the andes to Chile which is the most remarable journey, prob the most beautiful ive seen in SA, journey wise. Got to Santiago and my lovely new hostel. Met a gril from Miton Keynes who is in my room and went out for dinner with her, have spent the last few days with her, wandering around, going to parks, doing chores we both need to do, me before i leave SA and she has just got here and starts a course soon. So we been sorting stuff out drinking more wine and relaxing and walking alot around Santiago... a city which i really like. I am feeling the expense of this place now though after coming from the cheaper countries! Its only gonna get dearer from now though as tomoro I leave for NZ and to meet Kirsty! Yippee! Im glad as everything is closed again here for more bank holidays for easter! And they are not like our bank holidays! Leave sat night at ten on a 13 hour flight but dont get to NZ until 8:30 on monday morning! Because of the dateline! So the whole of easter sunday vanishes for me! good job really with all the eating and rinking ive been doing! ha ha. So I´m going to a land down under... write more from there. Happy Easter! Take Care Love Emma.xxx.