Hotel Fundador Santiago

... by the Argentine/Chilean border which required the whole coach had to be evacuated for inspection and possible interrogation (although no actual interrogation took place to my knowledge). If it wasn't for a very helpful German couple who spoke English we would most probably have been completely oblivious to what was going on or what was expected of us. At one point they had us all stood in line with our hand luggage on a low table in front of us ...

... also furious that we might miss the sunset in the "Valle de Luna". The bus driver sped us to the location, with the sun teasing us on the horizon. The viewpoint loomed above us, up a long steep sand ramp of sand...but we figured 3 months of sitting in busses surely hadn't tarnished our perfect physiques, and we started the slow motion sprint up the sand incline, momentarily forgetting about the 40% less oxygen that the elevation was ...

... I was free to dance again...... perhaps the dancing has something to do with it!?!!? Naturally the following day was one of recovery, although now it was no longer jet lag! We ended up going to the cinema to see "He's just not that into you" and I was shocked to find that Hollywood considered a 7 year relationship without marriage to be very unusual, even wrong. I assured Chris that this was not the case. We had only one more day in Santiago and ...

... blessings, some inscribed on marble tablets, others on little pieces of paper stuffed in cracks on the wall. That evening we met up with Emma for a pre-pasta pisco sour (the national spirit) and got to hear all her stories about Peru and Bolivia. This left us both excited and apprehensive...apparently we had better make the most of hot showers, paved roads and good food while we can! Despite this it sounds like an amazing experience and I ...

... Mar - only a subway trip away. I haven´t seen a beach since the Galapogas so I am bursting for a dip in the ocean. Bit overly touristy in the beach area for my liking but the water was beautiful for a dip. Its a nice spot to go for something to eat too and we treated ourselves to the local speciality, - a huge feed of various meats and chips and sauces with a big tasty jug of Sangria like fruit wine to wash it down. Bloody ...

... so there was no point. Plus, the ring on her finger was discouraging, though it could have been a fake ring that women are known to wear, to ward off creepy Canadian tourists. It's funny how a Spanish-speaking senorita always brings out the cheesy side in me (or again, perhaps it was the two bottles of wine) - I asked for her name, which she told me was Andrea. And remember, it´s not pronounced "Andrea" as it is in North America ...

... and it instantly seemed a friendly place; it had even won a few awards which always gives you a bit more confidence in where you're staying! <br><br>We decided to buy tickets for the hostel's New Year's Eve party, figuring that it would be a good way to meet people and get some ...

... were a few non-Spanish speakers on the tour and 1 lady had her own personal guide who translated for us all!<br><br>We really enjoyed the tour and the tasting of course. The walk back was a bit longer as we were weighed down with wine!<br><br>Then it was back in to Santiago for a dash to the airport and suddenly the holiday was over! <br><br>Chile and our short time in Argentina had been fabulous and we would love to go back!