31/12/02

Up @ 5 and picked up @ 5:30. We were in a big Land Rover so thought it would be comfy. We picked up the only other person, a German guy called Tom and set off. The 1st couple of hours were OK, normal roads, nothing interesting. As we got to the mountains the tarmac ran out and it became a gravel road. It wasn't in too bad a state and sunrise in the Andes was spectacular. As we got to the higher plains though it got dustier and we were getting covered, it was dehydrating us as well. Add to that the altitude sickness, we were up at 4800m at the highest point, and you have a good recipe for being ill, which we were. By the time we crossed a salt flat to the Argentinean customs post we all had throbbing headaches. After that we drove a few km's over no-mans land and changed into a Chilean people carrier. It was luxury with aircon and reclining seats, the tarmac returned as well. It was only another 2hr drive to San Pedro, the comfort didn't make us any better though. We arrived @ 4pm, checked into our guest house, went out to get some drink and change some money then slept for a couple of hours. About 9 we dragged ourselves to a restaurant, still feeling really ill. We were the quiet couple in the corner not talking to ourselves let alone anyone else. We didn't drink anything alcoholic apart from a sip of champagne from the bottle that we were given with our meal. We managed to make it until midnight but were in bed by 12:!5. What a new years eve!

29/12/02

We were supposed to go rafting today, we even got up early and had breakfast but we are still in lots of pain so we're not going. The bloke even came round to find us, sent him away.

27/12/02

Went horse trekking. I hadn't ridden since I was younger and then only for a few minutes. S has never ridden at all. We did explain this when we booked the trek and the bloke said it would be fine, we were to spend 3hrs riding then stop for lunch, then another 3hrs, the guide would speak fluent English and we would have plenty of water. It didn't quite turn out that way. The 1st thing the guide said after the 3 of us said we were from England (there was a guy called Alistair with us), was "My English is very bad", that was a good start! The horses were OK, he understood that we had never ridden so we got lazy old things, but then he was asking questions about if the stirrups were the right length, how the hell would we know! The riding itself was OK, well the 1st part. We just sat there holding on for dear life while the horse went where it wanted, luckily that was normally as far as the horse in front, if it started going too fast we just pulled back on the reins and said whoa! I've seen them do it on TV and it seemed to work. Despite the lack of English spoken we got on alright. There was a load of local kids out with us, 7 or 8, and they were friendly enough, a couple of them spoke a little English and had a go at talking to us. We spent the 1st 3hrs riding through some bush to a river, then up the river bed to a house where we stopped for lunch. It was a small shack where a farmer lived with his family, they had no electricity and I'm not sure where the water we were drinking came from. There was a stream that ran through between the huts but later I found the toilet was the building furthest upstream. There was all sorts of wildlife running around, goats, chickens, turkeys, sheep, rabbits, our horses, but also hundreds of flies. They were everywhere, especially near the food. Lunch wasn't much, ham and goats cheese with some bread, followed by some meat that was as tough as leather and some mashed potato. After that we set off again for the afternoons trek, it hurt a little getting back on the horse but wasn't too uncomfortable. We set off along the river bed again, then crossed and climbed for an hour to the top and a ridge line between 2 valleys that had a good view of both. It was good but nothing too spectacular. It was v hot at this point and the water we had brought all got used up as was the 1 spare the guide had. We walked the horses down the hill again to give them a break apparently and 2 loosen us up a bit. It was OK, the horse went where I lead it, obviously as I am a master of all animals! It was when we got to the remounting point that the problems started for both S and I. It suddenly became extremely painful to sit on the horse, as we went on it got worse, there was no comfortable position to sit in. It was worse when the horses decided to go faster. This went on for another 2hrs, we were getting worse as we went on, the lack of water didn't help either and dehydration started to set in. By the time we had got back to the village we had both had enough and we got off and walked the last km or so back. We passed a shop luckily and brought 1.5 ltr of Coke which went in 10mins. It took a couple of hours for my knees to stop aching and start working properly. I don't think the pain in my arse will go away for weeks. Quite disappointing really, I think we would have been better off with just a half days trek. We went out and found a nice restaurant in the evening to help us feel better but did really appreciate it.

25/12/02

Didn't get up until 12. Had some breakfast and a chat with the other guests, 4 English/2 Irish, then went out for a walk. Went to see the sites as we figured everyone else would be at home, we weren't wrong. Came back and went to play Scrabble on the roof terrace with a bottle of vodka to help us along. We were joined by John and Mel, the Irish couple (who turned out to be IT people, a programmer and a web designer) and had quite a good time, although the game went on for hours and we had to have a dinner break about 9:30.

23/12/02

Flew to Salta. 1hr flight is so much nicer than a 12hr bus ride. Got dropped off @ our guest house by the minibus from the airport. It's v nice, as is Senora Toffoli who owns it, she even speaks slowly and clearly for us so we can at least try and understand. The room is OK, it's on the street side of the house so it might be a bit noisy. Found a nice'ish restaurant in the evening and had a steak with a whole garlic on it, I may smell tomorrow.

21/12/02

Went out to find a travel agent in the hope that they had brought some tickets up to sell on @ a higher prices. No buses but managed to get a flight for the 23rd for £40 each, hurrah, everything is good again. Went and did some e-mail in the arvo, tomorrow we'll walk around and see all the churches.

19/12/02

Our bus to Cordoba is @ 9:30, sorted out our room & arranged to stay until 6pm, only cost a little more. Went & walked up the hill, it took 4 hrs there & back & was a 10 mile hike. Good monument @ the top & worth the walk. It was cooler today + we'd got up early to walk before the heat set in. Had some lunch then phoned the g/h in Salta to book for Xmas week, managed OK I think. Packed after that & left the hotel @ 6 to come to the bus station where I am now, waiting for the bus.

17/12/02

Walked from the bus station to the 1st g/h we had picked but they had no rooms. We walked around for a bit then decided to go back to a Hotel that both LP & FP describe as gloomy. It is, there's no windows in our room, other than that it's fine, huge room with b/room & breakfast for 36 pesos/night, also has cable TV & it's not that far from the city centre. Rested for the rest of the morning then went out to find some lunch & have a look around. The city looks quite nice, the parks are nice, clean as well. Slept more in the afternoon, must be the heat, it's 33°C today and v humid. Found a nice restaurant in the pedestrianised part of the city for dinner. V nice, the beggars are a bit annoying but the buskers were good.

15/12/02

Did v little all day.

13/12/02

Went for a walk up Cerro Otto, it's only 1400m high so it's one of the small hills in this area. It was a beautiful day, too hot to be walking in really but v nice. The 1st part of the walk is quite steep & we were stopping every 5 mins for a water or scenery break. After that it levelled out into a steady climb 2 the top. This is a ski resort in winter so there is a revolving restaurant at the top of the mountain, it has a small museum/exhibition of Michael Angelo's work in it, the view is amazing. It's about a 5km walk to the top & took us 2 hrs. We stopped & had lunch & watched a woman throw herself off the edge with a parapunte attached, it took her a couple of goes but she got it in the end. The walk down was easier, obviously, & we took a few detours, one to see a climbers refuge (although it was shut) it looks like a dilapidated chalet. The other was down a 4x4 track that was a short cut we should have taken on the way up. It was on private property but we went anyway & were rewarded with an excellent walk through down through some woods. Nice day, nice walk. Had an ice cream & relaxed in the sun when we got back.

11/12/02

Up early as we had to get the bus at 8:45. 1st part of the trip was a 1¾ hr bus ride to Petrohue with a 20 min stop at the waterfalls of the same name. They were more like rapids really, not that impressive, there was a lot of water though. At Petrohue we boarded a cat for the boat trip across Lago Todos Los Santos. It also took 1¾ & the views were amazing, surrounded by mountains with forest & the occasional farm or holiday home. We passed between 2 islands, the larger (300 acres) is owned by the family that own the tour company, nice house! We had some good views of the volcano, Osorno which had a cloud capon it & some other mountain peaks. The boat passed a waterfall & went in v close to it, can't remember it's name though. It was v relaxing a we made it to Puella in time for lunch. Puella is just a small harbour with a couple of houses, a Chillian customs hut & an enormous hotel. The hotel is v posh & looks really nice. As it's the only place here it's also expensive to eat there, we knew about it already and had brought our own lunch which we ate in the equally fantastic gardens. After that we walked around the hotel & climbed up to the Cascadas Los Novios which is a huge waterfall, v impressive. We sat by the stream for a while waiting for 3:30 & our next bus. After going through Chillian customs, which was just a passport stamp, we got on the bus and went up a winding road, over the mountains & into Argentina, to Puerto Frias. We had a stop for 5 mins on the way as there was a really good view of Mnt El Tronodor which sits on the border between the 2 countries. It has three peaks, the border runs through the middle one; & another quick photo stop as we passed the border. Argentine customs was the same as the Chillian, after that we got on another boat for a 20 min trip up Lago Frias 2 Puerto Allegre. From there we chose 2 walk the 3km 2 Puerto Blest, it was OK, just a trek on the dirt road the bus uses and not much to see. From Puerto Blest we caught another cat to Puerto Panuelo, it looked v scenic & the ride was 1½ hrs, I missed everything though as I fell asleep 5 mins after sitting down, I woke up just as the boat was docking. Last part of the trip was a bus ride to Bariloche where we were dropped near our guest house. We have picked a good'un this time, the guest house is a little cottage at the back of the Rosan Arko's house. She is a 80 year old Slovenian woman with a beautiful garden. We have a really large room with a private bathroom for 15 pesos each/night, that's £3. There's only a couple of other rooms so it wont be crowded. Had a fantastic, and really cheap, steak in Albertos, apparently he's world famous.

9/12/02

Went for a walk around the town, it didn't take long it's not v big. Put the laundry in, did some shopping, hung around doing nothing, lazy day.

7/12/02

Hired mountain bikes for the afternoon and set off on a monster bike ride. We rode from Pucon to Caburgua on a dirt track, that was about 18km. On the way we stopped at Caburgua waterfalls and had lunch which was OK, it's spring so there's loads of water coming over them. I'm embarrassed to say that I had to walk up nearly all of the hills we came across, I'm so unfit it's not funny, good job no one saw us! We came home on the main road, it's 22km but most of it's down hill so we did it in 1¼ (it took 5¼ hrs to get there), we were ½ hr late taking the bikes back but they didn't seem to mind. S cooked our dinner in the guest house again, good job as we were too knackered to go anywhere.

5/12/02

Has a lie-in then packed. Got the bus to Pucon, it was a 5 hour ride. Got here @ 7pm. Found a room by going with the 1st tout who caught us, he collared an Ozzie guy and his dad as well so we all went for a look. It's quite nice, sort of chalet style. Aaron and George took a room as well, we have the upstairs part of the house to ourselves. There's 2 rooms, the bathroom, a kitchen and small lounge/dining area so we can eat in, that should save some money.

3/12/02

Got the bus to Chillan. It seems quite nice. Found a guest house, good bed and cable TV. The town is v clean, there doesn't seem to be any dogs.

1/12/02

Walked up to the museum and had a look around, we didn't give ourselves enough time as it closed @ 12:30. After that we went for a walk to try and find some moai that face the sea, unfortunately we went the wrong way so we missed them. Went for dinner and tea in Restaurant Pea, it sticks out into the sea by the harbour and was v good.

30/12/02

Booked our trip to San Pedro, what a relief, thought we would have to spend New Year here. Didn't do much else apart from pack. Went out for a nice meal in the evening.

28/12/02

Felt very sore this morning, my back really hurt. After a late breakfast we walked to the cinema to watch Harry Potter 2, very good.

26/12/02

Walked to the bus station again to find out about the buses. Bus to San Pedro only goes on Friday so will book a mini bus instead. Walked around town for a while then came back and sat on the roof terrace.

24/12/02

Walked to the bus station to find out about buses to Chile. Very busy so we decided to pop back some other time. Walked around the city which seemed nice. Decided to go on a 2 day horse trek over Xmas but after we had been to an Internet cafe we went back to book it but the office was shut. Brought some food, only just as the supermarket was about to close. Had a meal in and some drinks. At midnight we went up on the roof as there were lots of fireworks going off.

22/12/02

Walked around the city looking at churches and historical buildings. Unfortunately all the buildings were closed so we were unable to see the insides which are supposed to be a lot nicer than the outside. Stopped for lunch then went and checked our e-mail.

20/12/02

Did manage to sleep on the bus which surprised me. Arrived in Cordoba about 9am. Tried to book a bus to Salta but they are all fully booked. Can't get one until Xmas day. The thought of staying in Cordoba for 5 nights is very depressing. It's a dirty city and there is not much to see. Found a hotel and stayed there all day. Slept a while a watched TV. Popped out for a meal but I didn't feel very well and had an upset tummy. Had to get back to the hotel rather quickly.

18/12/02

Walked around the city. Went to the old part which was destroyed during an earthquake in 1861. Saw the ruins of ruins of San Francisco (church) being held up by a lot of scaffolding. Walked back into the centre for lunch. Afterwards we walked to Parque San Martin which is huge. Walked around for a while but it was very hot so we decided to come back to the hotel.

16/12/02

After breakfast I finished packing and then we went to the shops to buy some food for our trip. Our bus left at 1pm to Mendoza. The trip was not too bad as they showed a few movies on the way which were in English.

14/12/02

Walked along the lake to the bus station to buy our tickets to Mendoza. Quite a nice walk but as we made our way back to the town it became more cloudy so a little chilly. Stopped in town for lunch before coming home. Popped out again late in the afternoon to get some shopping.

12/12/02

Lazy day. Didn't rise very early so popped into town for lunch. Most of the shops were shut so we came back for a while. Went out for a walk around town again later in the afternoon.

10/12/02

Went for a walk along the lake. Sat on the beach and had our lunch. Aub then gave me a lesson on stone throwing. Later in the afternoon we went to an Internet cafe but no messages today.

8/12/02

Caught the bus to Puerto Veras. The journey took nearly 6 hours and we arrived about 5pm. Had to walk a fair way before we found a place to stay but it's nice.

7/12/02

Hired mountain bikes today. We are so unfit. Took us a while to find the cycle track but we eventually did. It was a good ride to Ojas Caburgua but a little bumpy which means everything wobbles. The waterfalls were very impressive and we stopped here for lunch. We continued back along the track which joined the main road. We then went to see Lake Caburgua which was quite a hike uphill. Stopped for a rest before heading back along the road. Luckily it was downhill nearly all the way home, what a relief!

6/12/02

Wandered around the town, had a look at Lake Villarica. Very pretty place.

4/12/02

Lazy day. After a lie in we popped out for lunch. In the afternoon we sat in the park writing our postcards while Frank Sinatra was playing in the background, very relaxing.

2/12/02

After breakfast we got a taxi to the airport. Managed to buy some postcards and a moai to take home. Flight was OK and we arrived in Santiago about 7pm. Found a place to stay through the tourist information again. Dumped our bags and popped out for some dinner.