Well hello again everyone.

We´ve had a slightly surreal week exploring a tiny bit of the incredibly long and skinny country that is Chile. Have spent most of it recovering form the most incredible jet lag either of us has ever experienced, but at the same time trying to make the most of our short time in this beautiful country.


We landed in Santiago last Tuesday at about 1pm after 16 hours travelling and a 14 hour time difference and just about 1 hour´s sleep... My sister´s wonderful friends welcomed us into their home with open arms and a bottle of Pisco sour... and another... and another... and another... 16 hours later, at about 5am, our heads finally hit the pillow! Phew!

Needless to say, the next day we were pretty wiped out, so after a quick guided tour of the main sights of the city, we went back to bed! On Thursday we managed a trip to the coastal town of Valparaiso, where we wondered about like zombies, trying to take in the wonderfully higgledypiggledy, colourful houses sprinkled all over the hillsides here.... slums built in and amoungst and alongside huge wealthy mansions and tons of interesting street art to look at. 15 coffees later we still couldn´t stay awake so we hopped on a night bus to travel south to the town of Pucon.

This place was a real surprise... we suddenly found ourselves in somewhere very similar to Switzerland ... surounded by snowy mountains, dominated by a huge volcano and streets lined with cosy-looking wooden houses. We settled into a lovely backpackers and then set off for the natural hot springs and spent a few hours soaking away the long bus journeys and jet lag from our tired old bones!

The next day after the most amazing night´s sleep in the comfiest bed EVER, we set off with a guide to climb up the volcano... as you do! Turned out not to be the best weather for it and although Seb made it very nearly to the top, the icy winds and rain approaching made it just a bit too dangerous to go to the crater. I didn´t make it quite as far but was pleased with what I managed as it was pretty tough climb with crampons and ice axes and everything!!

After another amazing 15 hours sleeping (I dont think I´ve ever slept quite so much in one week before!), we set off on another bus south to the island of Chiloé. It was dark by the time we got here, so we found a bed and climbed into it again!!!! The next day we hoped to see penguins and dolphins off the coast, but aparently they don´t hang around here much in the winter ... d´oh! So as it was absolutely heaving it down with rain ALL DAY, reminding us alot of Ireland infact, we pretty much spent the day curled up infront of the fire in our B&B reading, watching tv and drinking wonderful chilean red wine... it´s a tough life for sure!

Another night bus and we´re back in Santiago now to kill a day before flying to Peru. As I said at the start... it´s been a bit of a a surreal week... as it´s off season there´s not alot going on round here and we seem to have spent to most of the time travelling on a bus from one place to another!! However we will take away with us a warm feeling from all the wonderful Chileans we´ve met, who have been helpful and welcoming here and we look forward to exploring the north on our way back through after we´ve conquered Peru, Bolivia and Argentina!