The constantly flushing toilet, showbusiness and mi gusta la tulla

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Hi guys - lots to update you on but will try and keep it brief!

6/2/10

Finally shave the moustache much to everybody's disappointment. But now I can go out in public without felling like a member of the YMCA. Go out once again and come home to a toilet which is constantly flushing. Both wasteful and actually quite ineffective at the pace it´s going at.

7/2/10

Decide to go cycling in Bariloche today with an Aussie girl called Clea. Within about 5 minutes of setting off, Shrennie 'Bradley Wiggins' Westcott inexplicably manages to lose control of his vehicle at high speed resulting in many nasty grazes, a broken bike, damaged pride, and an unprecedented 3 mistake points. Ouch. Other than that, the cycle is good fun with plenty of views for the eyes to feast on.

Come home and chat to a couple of Aussie guys we've befriended - Mark and Andy. Mark is the most stereotypical Aussie you are ever likely to meet. Bleach blonde hair, easygoing attitude and brilliant accent. Also very defensive of his country's skiing potential. When we tell him that Clea didn´t think that skiing was up to much in Australia, he replied (imagine a thick Aussie accent) 'naaahhhhhhhh - she doesn´t know what she´s talking about, it´s absolutely awesome skiing in Aus. But I've never been skiing though.' Of course you haven´t.

8/2/10

Move to another dorm with another constantly flushing toilet. I'm starting to quite like them despite their ineffectiveness. Adam manages to flush Shrennie's contact lens down the sink in the evening. This is only the beginning though in a series of 'missing item' disasters for poor old Shren. The next is when he does his washing only to find that 3 pairs of socks are missing.

When a currency is dealt in so many thousands (one pound = 800 pesos), it´s very difficult to give correct change. When you do however, it´s very exciting. Like Christmas. When it does happen we all give eachother the Todd style 'correct change five'. Satisfying.

9/2/10

Get an early bus back to Puerto Montt in Chile. Fortunately we don´t stay for too long - I hate that place. Soon after, we get on a flight to Santiago. We almost get on the wrong plane, but a Mark Ramprakash lookalike who speaks a bit of English just gets us onto the correct plane on time. Only just mind. I wonder where we'd have gone if we'd got onto the other plane? Uruguay? On the flight, there is a camera crew and presenter on board. For a large portion of time, they film Adam opening his free plane beer and sipping it gently. He should have downed it in one. That would have definitely been the English thing to do. They then try to interview us, but that doesn´t really get off the ground due to our lack of Spanish. But maybe we're going to be huge stars in Chile now. Hopefully. It´s not everyday you´re on film.

Get to Santiago where Shrennie finds he´s lost his flannel and toothpaste. And his phone. The latter is definitely the worst. 2 mistake points for that in total. In the last few days he's lost a contact lens, a phone, a flannel, his shampoo, his toothpaste, 3 pairs of socks, the card game UNO, and his pride and a few chunks of skin when trying to emulate Lance Armstrong. He also spilt his contact solution all over his bathbag. Poor Shrennie.

10/2/10

Spend the day meandering around Santiago. Get a furnicular up a big hill where we see a dramatic view of Chile´s capital city with the Andes mountains as a backdrop. It's a bloody big city. Supposedly 40% of all Chileans live here. I get a point for tripping over a dog. Dogs are still everywhere by the way. They´re communal dogs which everybody feeds, I keep stepping on and Shrennie keeps petting. On ordering lunch I get another mistake point for another Spanish fail. I wanted some pepper ground on my pizza but actually asked for a cucumber. 'Pepino' and 'pimiento' are pretty similar words to be fair. Can you guess which is which? On the walk back to our hostel, we decide to watch a street comedian for a bit. Big mistake. At least for Adam. He clearly sees us coming. After a bit of small talk in English, he convinces Adam to say that he loves Chile to all the Spanish speaking audience. So Adam repeats after him 'Mi gusta la tulla'. Howls of laughter from the 200 or so strong crowd. It actually means 'I love the penis'. Adam gets a point. I think he should have got more.

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