Chile

After a farewell to friends in Auckland, it was off to a new continent and back on the travelling road again, speaking different languages (or trying to) and using weird currency. Bienvenido a Santiago.

It took a good couple of days to adjust to the new lifestyle, but after making new friends in La Casa Roja, top hostel in Santiago, we took a day trip to Chile's main port town, Valparaiso, taking in the maratime sites and really bad soup. It was a seafood chowder sort of thing, but it had stuff that tasted like bars of soap in it - horrible.

The nights out in Santiago are among the best I've had, very 'forthcoming chicas' and great clubs make for a good evening. I was taught, or rather shown, how to salsa by one of the girls there. I failed miserably, but they didn't seem to care too much.

Adam and Henry jetted off to Buenos Aires to get me a ticket for Argentina v Brazil after we watched Chile beat Bolivia in their world cup qualifier. It was held in the National Stadium, which some of you may know was used in the past as torture grounds by Gen. Pinochet's government - was a bit weird to go there knowing that.

When Greg wasn't wooing his Chilean girlfriend, we spent some time perusing the streets and visiting summits to look out on the city - it looks a lot better from higher up..

The week was soon over and plans had changed to leave early to get to Argentina for football and steak - matches made in heaven.