Chile

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Hi guys n gals sorry its been so long since we last wrote a blog but things have been pretty hetic; so we are going to treat you to 2 blog etries while we have a spare 20mins- it´s a hard life this travelling lark.

After Nick deleted the photos of Buenos Aires we decided we ought to check out what Santiago had to offer. On our first full day we set about on an epic climb in search of the Virgin Mary having only had 2hrs sleep and Pauls stomach being far off top form. She is located on the top of a hill in the Bellavista district and the views from the top give a spectacular panoramic view of the city, with the Andes in the background. The next day we did a city tour and walked though the impressive gardens in the centre of town. Although it was great to be in Santiago, in reallity we fealt that it was just a pretty standard big city.

Following our stay in Santiago we moved a short distance north to the supposedly 'undiscovered Venice'- a place called Valpariso. We were somewhat dissappointed, although it did have a certain charm and character, it was definitely setting it´s sights too high. The next day we went 5mins along the coast to the beach resort of Vina del Mar although it was cloudy. That night the owner of our hostel put on a bbq for the 4 guests and 2 of his mates. It was possibly the nicest bbq we have ever had- a mass of meat cooked to absolute perfection and 7 litres of wine, the language barrier seemed to become less of a problem as the night went on!

We then caught a 7hr bus journey north to La Serena. Here we had awsome weather, in nice surroundings. One day we took a visit to the vineyard district where Pisco (the national drink) is made. Here we tasted 75% pure Pisco which certainly didn´t sit too well in our empty stomachs (no breakfast due to the 8am start and clocks going backwards in Chile). The trip was well worth it. With the weather still good, we spent our first propper day on the beach.

From Serena we then jumped on a 15hr sleeper bus. We were both very smug with our fully reclining comfy seats. Then 10hrs into the journey the bus came to a holt and we were forced to change onto the most standard bus on earth. After a terrible end to the journey we finally arrived in San Pedro, tired and discovering that our South America handbook had been left on the broken down bus.

That day we booked our trip to the salt flats in Salar de Uyuni (Bolivia), and with incredible temperatures, things were looking on an up!!!

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