LP1989

Hola! I am currently sitting in the very exotic study, in the very exotic Stevenage, in the very exotic England. It is cold... and it is dark. But I am sure you are desperate to know what I've been doing in the last week, so now I shall dutifully update you on my last week in Chile. After another overnight bus I arrived in Valparaiso, potentially the coolest city on Earth. The journey itself was less exciting than some of my others, although I did meet a very nice lady who lives in Valparaiso. As I'd heard some rather worrying stories about the city, I asked for her opinion on whether it was a dangerous place or not. She advised me that if I take taxis and 'have a strong faith in God' then I would ... read more

Hola! I´m currently sitting in a little internet cafe in the heart of the Atacama desert. I´ve spent a few days in a small (and again, very hot) town called San Pedro de Atacama and am now awaiting my next overnight bus to Copiapo. The bus journey here was surprisingly good given the duration of it. I met a couple of very nice ladies from Germany on the bus, one of whom was doing some undercover knitting because the conductor had prohibited the (very dangerous?!) activity. On the first day I went on an excursion organised by the hostel to the Laguna Cejas, a lagoon in the desert which is so salty that you just float. The next stop on the excursion was to a big salt lake (salt is going to be a reoccuring theme ... read more

A 6-hour bus journey does not sound like fun but the bus ride from Santiago to La Serena was actually pretty awesome. I parked myself right at the front of the bus so that I could get the best views and was definately not disappoined. My fellow passengers seemed less than excited and spent most of the journey asleep so in comparison I must have looked like an excited puppy whipping my head back and forth to check out the surroundings. I was in full-on tourist mode so I even got a couple of photos although sadly they never come out as good as you hope. One other passenger who was awake however, was an adorable little Chilean girl who I seemed to make friends with despite neither of us understanding anything that the other one ... read more

Hola chicos y chicas. I have arrived here safely after a somewhat gruelling 24 hour journey. Somehow my memories of the bad parts of the journey (of which, thankfully, there are few) are already fading. Cheesy as it sounds, seeing the mountains as the plane was landing pretty much eradicated all the boredom and anxiety! After blundering my way through a conversation about Santiago with a very nice taxi driver I arrived safely at my hostel. All checked in and sorted and so far I´ve managed to find several little shops where I've stocked up on plenty of water!! I think I´ve definately thrown myself in at the deep end here with regards to practicing the language. Still, so far I´ve had a conversation about tuna with a very friendly shop assistant, and been complimented on ... read more