Quick update on adventures so far...
We made it to chile without too much fuss, they have the friendliest border guards in the world, annelie and i were "beautiful chicasīs" etc etc. We got to Pucon at aroud 8:30 and organised our volcano ascent for the following day.It was all quite hectic as the currency obvioulsy changed and we went from paying 20 pesos per night per room to 6000 chilean pesos, all a bit stressful..

Chile is very different to Argentina, weird as you could tell the difference as you crossed the border, i seems more mysterious and brooding almost. The skies are more of a mauve colour as opposed to the bright blues of argentina and the mountains are in dark clusters around the place covered in trees (aregentinian andes were bare of and trees or much vegetation). The people are also not as open and chatty as the argentinians which is no a bad thing, just different.

You gotta love this place, the next morning we were up early and driven to the Villarica i think itīs call(the volcano), we got crampons on our feet and ice picks (no teaching us how to use them or anything funny)and off we went. the weather was not great being pretty chilly and cloudy so the snow had turned to icem hence the crampons from word go. It was bloody hard work and after 3 hours of climbing we had to turn back as the the clouds had decended over the top of the volcano - it was a pity but it was still a great experience and the views were amazing. Pics to appear on the site shortly - you can see how Paris and Nocole do volcanos.

We are now in Valparaiso, arrived yesterday and have had an accident each day. yesterday in the taxi from the bus to the hostel and then today on the bus back into valparaiso. Its pelting down cats and dogs and our bus crashed into a car on the highway, these things always happen to us! anyway we are fine but had to wait for another bus to come pick us up.

Off again tomorrow to get back into Argentina which im lookin forward to as this place is bloody expensive. I do have to say however that Valparaiso is growing on me, it was a little scary at first as it felt very foreign. Everywhere else we have been has had a western feel about it whereas this place is very dilapidated and does not have many tourists (if any)but it has alot of charm, all the houses are painted different colours (not unlike La boca in BA) and go on as far as the eye can see. Very interesting architecturally too...we are off to dinner tonight with an interesting guy from the south of spain who has moved here named Oscar (met him in a coffee shop yesterday) - very liberal left wing arty tye of guy with some very interestig views on the world. He first had to go to hospital today for a bruised or broken rib, seems lke him and his friend who came here with him dont get along so well anymore.