Hola chicos!

It's Saturday evening and I'm sitting in my hostel watching the sun set at 9.30pm over El Calafate in southern Argentina. It's day 11 of my5 month international advertures and I've loved every moment so far!

So, starting at the beginning, I met up with Yiyo at the Santiago airport on my arrival into Chile and from the very start we were powering through all the sites Yiyo had picked out for us to see.Each night we stayed with Yiyos friends and every single person I met was so lovely and welcoming. It made me feel so at home even though half the time I didn't understand a thing going on. It was a really good initiation by fire into Spanish, and think I probably learnt more in my first couple of days here than in 2 months at Spanish lessons!

So our trip up the coast consisted on a 4am bed time on my first Chilean night, then 2am for the next 2 nights, and an all nighter the day after. So for all you who are familiar with my nannaish ways I hope you're proud of my after-midnight stamina!

We hired a car of a friend of Yiyo's and travelled all along the beaches between Valpariso and La Serena, stopping for millions of photos and soaking up some sun. It wasn't too hot, but I still managed to get sunburnt on my first day which I think is pretty impressive. But a lesson learnt for the rest of my trip!

We also headed out into the desert one day where there is this beautiful green wine valley amidst totally desolate desert mountains. It was an incredibly spectacular sight. By Friday we were up in Puerto Churos and I needed to catch a flight from Santiago south on Saturday afternoon, so to make the flight we left at 11.30pm and drove all night long to get back in time. The electric windows of the car had broken though so the two left windows were fully over for most of the trip and it's freezing at night here so I was wrapped up in my sleeping bag and Yiyo was huddled into his windsheeter. Than, at 7.30am when we were nearly 30kms from our destination the car stoped going! We'd payed a fortune in highway tolls so were thrilled that a tow truck came and picked us up, but basically they're just paid to get us off the highway and dropped drove us to the end of the highway and dumped us. Luckly, we had the bright idea that it might be lack of petrol(hurah!) and we made it the rest of the way and in time for my flight.

From there I met up with Kaya in Puerto Montt and we've been on the go non-stop since. We've covered a lot of ground, including a 24 hour bus trip, and are now chilling (literally) in Patagonia. We've done a bit of camping too. The other day we went out on a boat to see this amazing Glacier (check out the photos) which is appaently the fastest moving glacier, continually advancing and retreating.Then yesterday we hiked up to the base of Mt Fitz Roy and camped out over night. We met up with 2 English boys a couple of days ago and have been travelling with then since. They're hilarous - bicker like an old married couple, and are lots of fun. They did the hike with us and we all woke up at 5am this morning to hike the rest of the way to watch the sunrise over the mountain. It turned the whole mountain pink and was well worth the ungodly hour and freezing cold to see it. Oh, and on the way up we passed by a beautiful lake where there water was so incredibly clear we had to go for a swim. So in our underwear we dove into freezing cold water with a glacier and snow cover peaks in the background - lots of fun.

We only got back this afternoon to hear about the earth quake in Chile. It's pretty scary how close it was to where we were, and I hope everyone we've met along the way is doing ok.

Tonight is my first chilled night when I've had a moment to update this blog and I'm very much looking forward to a good nights sleep. Then tomorrow we head even further south to do a 5 day hike from Puerto Natales.

Take a look at the photos I"m uploading too. I'm still working out my new camera so have taken a gazillion photos - this is just a couple.

Big hugs to everyone.

Xoxox

PS, I know this is probably really long so won't be at all offended if you don't read the whole thing!

PPS, i don't have the guide book with me so have probably spelt every single town incorrectly - please forgive me:)