I arrived in Salta at 10pm on Friday 23 October after my 12 hour journey from San Pedro de Atacama. I was really tired, hungry and thirsty and when I arrived at my hostel it was quite dirty and there was a huge cockroach running around my dorm room floor. I decided to walk around town to try and find a hotel but everywhere was fully booked for the whole weekend. After a couple of hours I was ready to give up (and ready to pass out) and then I found a hotel with availability. I went back to the hostel [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in San Pedro de Atacama at 10.30am on Sunday 18 October. Although we had reserved a hotel we did not know the address so we spent quite some time walking around in the intense heat with our big backpacks asking people where it was. After being sent on a wild goose chase, a kind man with a minibus gave us a lift. Our room was lovely and the hotel seemed perfect for some rest and relaxation. We went for a walk around the small town that made me think that we were in the middle of a film set. [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in La Serena at 5.30pm on Wednesday 14 October and the three of us walked to our hostel. We stayed in a nice little triple room in the gardens of 'Maria’s Casa'. Chile was playing Ecuador at 7pm so we found a bar with a big screen and ordered a couple of pitchers of Cristal beer. There was even a TV crew in the bar filming the crowd of people anytime something exciting happened. Chile won the game and celebrations followed but nothing like that of Santiago 4 days earlier. We went for dinner in a local restaurant but [View Full Entry]

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I arrived back in Vina del Mar at 11.30am on Monday 12 October and checked into a hotel near the bus station as I was only going to be staying for 2 days. After lunch, I went to the beach to enjoy the clear blue sky and hot sun. It was so nice to relax on the beach for a few hours after being in the bustling metropolis of Santiago for the weekend. In the evening I went for dinner before returning to the hotel to watch NY Jets Vs Miami Dolphins in the NFL Monday Night Football. I woke up [View Full Entry]

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My bus arrived in Santiago at 6.30pm on Thursday 8 October. I took a taxi to the hostel (in Barrio Bellavista) in the heavy rush hour traffic. The hostel had warned not to pay more than 5,000 pesos in the taxi but I was not worried when I saw that it was on the meter. However, when I arrived at the hostel the meter said 19,800 pesos. I refused to pay and said I was going to ask in the hostel. The driver then said it was a mistake and should be 9,800. I reluctantly decided to pay this hefty fare [View Full Entry]

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I arrived in Vina del Mar at 6.30pm on Thursday 1 October after an 8 hour bus journey from Mendoza. From the bus station I took a taxi to Hotel Vancouver where I checked into my nice room with a big double bed, bathroom, balcony and cable TV. I walked straight to the beach (5 minutes) and sat on the rocks to watch a lovely sunset. Then I went for dinner before returning to my room to watch TV. After a good sleep, I went downstairs for my hotel breakfast and I tried to read some of the local paper. Then [View Full Entry]

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I woke up at 8am on my overnight bus from Bariloche to discover it was snowing. After 19 hours on the bus, I finally arrived in Mendoza at 9am on Sunday 27 September. I took a taxi to Hostal Lao and had breakfast there while I waited until check in time. There were still a couple of people in the lounge who were still partying from Saturday night. The rest of the guests were appearing one by one, all with serious hangovers. After getting my luggage in the room, I went for lunch with a few people from the hostel. When [View Full Entry]

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I arrived in Bariloche at 4.30pm on Tuesday 22 September after a flight from El Calafate. It was my first internal flight in South America and was well worth it considering my other options were a 5 day boat trip or a 2 day bus journey. It took 3 and a half hour in total from leaving my hostel in El Calafate to arriving at my hostel in Bariloche. The flight also allowed for a different view of the Andes and I took over 50 photos from the plane. I was shown around the hostel and the views over the lake [View Full Entry]

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I arrived in El Chalten at midday on Saturday 19 September. It's a small mountain village (only 25 years old) and is ideal for trekking. I was the only person staying at the hostel when I checked in. The weather was not great, it was really cold and raining so I went to a cafe to watch some English football and get some lunch. After watching Liverpool beat West Ham 3-2, I returned to the hostel where the 2 owners (2 Argentinean guys) were about to watch a DVD (Get Smart) so I joined them. They had a huge TV with [View Full Entry]

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My alarm went off at 4.45am on Thursday 17 September and the minibus picked me up at 5.30am. I slept for the first 2 hours of the journey but for the next 2 hours I stared out of the window admiring the breathtaking views of mountains, lakes and wildlife including various birds like pink flamingos. After about 4 hours of driving we reached the Chilean border and I received a big exit stamp for Argentina before getting another big entry stamp for Chile. Another hour or so of driving and we reached the National Park where we paid the usual fee [View Full Entry]

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