Bringing you up to date

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So after the arduous climb up the volcano and a late night in the hot springs, you would think we would have the good sense to have a bit of a rest. But no not us. It was the last day in Pucon for a friend, Karen we had met back in Torres Del Paine, and Karen and I were keen to go riding. It turned out to be just the two of us with a guide who didn't speak any English or German (Karen is German), which didn't matter too much as you can mainly get by, by pointing. In the morning we visited a really pretty waterfall, it was 80m in height, and we had to leave our horses at the top and walk down and up again. This wasn't really what we'd planned after the day before and our legs were protesting, but it was worth it, and we were soon back in our comfy saddles again (like in Argentina they had big sheepskins across the saddles to sit on, which really helps). Soon after Pedro (our guide) suggested we stop for lunch, but having just stopped we were keen to push on little longer. 2 hours later we were starting to regret this! We finally stopped for lunch on the hill top with a great view down to the river, where there were people tackling the rapids on rafts. I think Pedro usually takes the horses up, but this time the gate was padlocked, so we left the horses with their reins over fence posts in the road, and he dismantled a bit of barbed wire fence, and ignoring all the 'PRIVADO' signs, up we went! It was a great ride, and the horses were very well behaved (although did require a bit of kicking), they even went over a pretty ricketty bridge over the big gushing river. Both sides of this bridge there were signs up, saying only one vehicle should cross at a time, and that passengers should get out and cross seperately! We just caught a bus load of people getting back on!

Whilst Karen and I were horse riding, Jamie went out on a bike.........


That night we joined up with various other people we´d met on the ferry who had made their way to Pucon, and enjoyed beers, cocktails, and some great food in a restaurant. About 11 we decided to head back to the hostel, but on the way managed to get invited to a BBQ on the street by the agency we´d gone up the volcano with. So there we were at midnight, sharing a sausage with some guys from the agency (including a French guy who sold us our tickets and was very drunk and VERY friendly!), and listening to the tales of a group of 3 French-Canadians who were spending a month climbing and skiing and boarding down all the highest peaks. They were a bit crazy and one of them actually started juggling withn some hot coals from the BBQ.

The next day in rained. What can I say, I think we watched 3 different films on TV in the hostel, including Narnia! We had thought about going rafting, but the weather was truly horrible and I think we were glad of the chance to sit and do very little.

That night we spent on a 10hr bus journey, then we had a whole day in Santiago (capital of Chile), site-seeing from 7.30 am when we arrived till 5pm when we left for the airport. We arrived at Lima airport at 1am, and there was no one there to meet us, but thankfully after about 10 mins someone appeared with a little placard saying: Jenny Whitehead. I've never been so pleased to see my name (apparently it's not too safe to just get in a taxi). We were picked up by a guy from the hostel we booked called Ricardo, he proceeded to sing and talk spanish to us all the 45min journey to the hostel, I was really struggling to concentrate, it was 2am by the time we got to bed, although actually only mid-night due to the time difference. These are some of the more challenging aspects of travelling! So today we've been looking around Lima (capital of Peru), it's very different to Chile and Argentina, much poorer, and we had a slightly crazy ride in to town on one of the many minibuses that pick up and drop of people at random, competing with each other for trade and every now and then having to pay a small fee to someone with a clipboard. It was somewhere in between the 'matatus' of Africa and the buses on Oxford Rd, Manchester.

Tomorrow we head to Ica and Huacachina where we hope to go sandboarding, and then on to Nazca to see the Nazca Lines.

Hope everyone back home is well.

Jenny

Photos to follow when we get a PC with a usb port!

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Comments

[Simon]

Hola!
Have been catching up on your blog today.... really amazed by all you're doing! Seems like you're both having a great time and getting to experience loads (though Jamie, shame on you for choosing a bike over a horse, though I might have gone one step further and opted for motorised aid!). Anyway, jealousy dictates that I make up what a fantastic time I'm having at work ;o) Keep up the good work, look forward to some more photos.