We were up at 6.30am and on the bus to Valparaiso by 8.00. It was packed with local people and travellers heading to the coast for new year. The journey inevitably took us through the mountains descending very rapidly to the beach resort. The beginning of the 2 hour journey was through dry dusty land. Through the second half we were surrounded by miles of vineyards where the air was fresher and cooler, a pleasure to breath. Noel referred to the Lonely Planet gude to see if we could get a tour of the vineyards. Whilst it is possible there is [View Full Entry]

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…..well, we say road, it´s a very long way from Seattle until Santiago so we flew, again via Dallas. We arrived at ten am after 24 hours travelling, so got our heads down straight away. Santiago is Chile´s capital and houses a large percentage of Chile´s population. It is surrounded by the Andes and sits at 500 feet above sea level (thanks MD), whichs seems to keep in all the poor quality air. In the winter when the air is heavier there are major issues with air quality, causing a great deal of illness. We have not been here long enough [View Full Entry]

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At Mei’s Christening we met lots of locals including Linda and Javier. Z-C and Gen’s neighbours. Javier is Argentinian so we quizzed him on the traditions and locations of Argentina. He introduced us to Mate, which a tea drank communally. There is one brewer and one cup (gourd) that is filled with dry tea leaves. The brewer (in this case Javier) then adds water and honey (for sweetness) to the mix and lets it brew for a couple of minutes. The brewer has the first drink via a special filtering straw (bombilla). The reason he has the first ‘toke’ is because [View Full Entry]

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Back in September we booked a beautiful looking chalet near Mount Baker for the 20-22 December, so that we could get a few good days skiing in before our trip to S. America. But when Gen suggested we went for a days skiing for a day on Mount Crystal on our 3rd day, we jumped at the chance. Gen, Noel and I left early the next day and drove the 2 hours to the resort (How LUSH to live 2 hours away from skiing!) With zillions of layers on I was prepared for a typical December day in the Mountains, but [View Full Entry]

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Mei (TS) It’s been wonderful to see my 6-month year old niece, Mei, for the first time. Even in the two weeks that we have been here she has grown and changed so much. Those who know me well know that I am not a natural baby person (dogs seem easier to me!) but your own family is totally different. Mei is a beautiful little girl, not surprising when you look at her parents. The only problem is she currently seems to like Noel more than she likes me. I say it’s because he’s got a big face, big nose and [View Full Entry]

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Getting to know the family was complete so it was time to get to know the local area. We started with a walk to the local pub. It seems that there is a fear of alcohol in this state. Supermarkets can only sell wines and beer; spirits must be bought from a liquor store, which it seems only open Monday-Saturday 10am-7pm. This is typical of the attitude to alcohol here. We got into the pub at around 1.00pm - there were only six people in. It was everything we thought it would be. Bright neon signs advertising ‘Lite Beers’, men on [View Full Entry]

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Your family-in-law are people that quite frankly you are stuck with - and I mean them with you are much as you with them. Before arriving in the States Noel had not met Zoe-Clare’s husband Gen and had only met my sister once on a night out in Harpenden. I doubt they were expecting to get to know him as well as they did on our second night’s stay here. In the States the plumbing seems to be a bit different, and not as vegetarian-friendly as perhaps in the UK. After falling asleep on the Friday night I was woken by [View Full Entry]

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As with all good journeys - our adventure began with some drama. I somehow managed to leave some vital documents at my parent’s - which I realized at the train station 15 minutes before our train to Gatwick was due to depart. As Noel and I waited for the train my dear old Father nearly sent himself to an early grave by driving home at 70 MPH, grabbing it, driving back and arriving just as our train was leaving the platform. The first we knew he’d succeeded in this mission was when I was called to first class over the tannoy [View Full Entry]

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Throughout November we successfully packed the contents of our three bedroomed house and distributed it amongst our obligated family and friends as far a field as northampton, and newcastle - thank you all. We checked out of our lovely cottage on the 24th of November taking with us some very fond memories. After a visit to the north east to say goodbye to 'me clan' we returned south(ish) to Earls Barton where we are staying with tas's ma and pa until our journeys begin on 7th December. Best wishes Noel and Tas [View Full Entry]

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