Ok then, well we are now in Santiago and have only 2 days here until we
fly to New Zealand. Buut what have we been upto since the last entry…

After Arica we had an overnight bus journey down to San Pedro De
Atacama in the middle of the desert. The journey was boring and we didn’t sleep at
all unfortunately.This meant that the first afternoon in the dust adobe
that is San Pedro was spent sleeping. We did however manage to get out before
our siesta to book ourselves on a few excursions. The first was that
evening when we went for a 2 hour trek through the Dead Valley and onto the
Valley of the Moon for sunset. They say that that particular area is called
the Valle De La Luna because it looks like the moon but I thought it looked
like the rest of the barren landscape around. Either way is was good to go
trekking and the sunset was pretty spectacular too. Desert on one side
of our perch and volcanoes the other.

The next day was an early start to head out the the Flamingoe reserves
in the middle of the massive Salar De Atacama. Third only to Uyuni in
Bolivia and Salt Lake City. The flamingos were incredible and we really got to
use the x 48 zoom on the new camera for a lot of our pictures and then the
sports mode for when they were flying. Folowing this we went out to a
few volcanic lakes 4,300 metres above sea level and saw Condors. The
highest we had been! Im not sure how the pictures would have come out but Gemma
may upload them…. Following flamigoes and a good nights sleep we were up
at 3am for a trip out to El Tatio Geysers! It was hard work getting up that
early but well worth the trip and the altitude sickness that we both really
suffered from for the first time. That afternoon we came back via a
lush version of the desert with cacti and all sorts of other plants and
stuff and then home to bed.

One of the things I did want to do whilst here was climb a volcano but
we didn’t have time and I was struggling to convince Gemma to join me!
However, all in all San Pedro was cool, it really is just a dust village,
completely based on tourism in the middle of nowhere. As you can imagine
everything is expensive but it is certainly worth the visit!

After San Pedro we lined ourselves up for a grueller of a 24 hour bus
journeydown to Santiago. Nothing eventful happened apart from us going
insane. All of it was through desert so we couldn´t even play I Spy!!!!

Our plans in Santiago were limited, we had never originally planned to
get here this early but the way the buses run we had to come into Santiago
to get out to Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar on the coast and after 24 hours
on a bus there was no chance we would be getting straight on another one!
Thus we spent the night at a hostel in the middle of Santiago. First
impressions were good, everyone we have met and bits we have read have said the
Santiago is dirty and smoggy but we have both been impressed so far.
Either way this was only a one night stop over before onto Valparaiso and Vina
Del Mar.

Valpo and Vina are two separate places but on top of each other though
they could not be more different in every way. Valparaiso is cool and this
is were we stayed. It can best be described as a cross between Pompey, it
has a huge port and the navy are based there, and Brighton, loads of little
back alleys and quirky shops and cool bars. Oh and funiculars to get you up
the surrounding hills for the main downtown (Gemma doesn’t like them cos
they are really old, like 130 years old and they rattle and shake).

There´s not really much to do in Valparaiso except stroll and have a
few beers. And guess what, that’s what we did! The next day we made our way
into Vina Del Mar, which is totally different and the biggest seaside resort
in Chile. Our intention was to spend the day on the long beaches and mess
around on the sea but the weather had changed overnight and we had our
first overcast day since leaving the UK! Instead we spent the whole day
shopping in the huge mall. Gemma got herself a black jacket to ‘dress everything
up’ with her jeans for nights out in the cities and I ended up having to
buy a pair of size 12 trainers! God knows how my feet have grown yet more….

So anyway we are now back in Santiago, we have 2 days here, tonight we
are out on the town and going to explore the Chilean night life before we
hit western world beer prices again. Peru was cheap for a beer, say
50pence, Chile a little dearer, say 90pence. Unfortunately I have heard NZ is UK
prices…. Will have to start drinking wine I think…. Tomorrow we will be
nursing our heads in the many parks and seeing the sites before our NZ
flights in a couple of days.

We have decided to buy a car for New Zealand too, we figure that this
will be the best way of getting around and making the most of our time there
and hopefully I get to climb a volcano….

Anyway enough of us. Whats going on at home? I did hear that Andy
Robinson has been sacked for incompetence in failing to beat Argentina and it
would be interesting to hear what mad cap things Tony Blair has been doing in
our absence!

Let us know how you all are, what you are upto and drop us line so we
know whats happening in the UK and most of all take care…

All the best in everything

Leigh & Gemma