Having survived an earth tremor of sizeable proportions, a plethora of annoying backpackers and a day trip to Vina Del Mar (which John McCarthy accurately describes as Blackpool meets Oxford Street), we left Santiago and made tracks for Argentina.
An 8 hour schlap over the Andes to the winelands town of Mendoza. Sue has banned Phill from bragging about the summer weather here, for fear of causing upset. That said it was hot enough in Mendoza to boil a llama.
The town is home to a million people and provides a base to explore the surrounding winelands. The day of our cycle tour was also the day that Uraguay (pronounced uuuruuay here) played England in a friendly. We reserved the communal TV, cut short our tour and geared up for the big match. A dozen or so Brits joined us as we informed the incumbant Frenchman that TV was prebooked, so he would have to watch the 'Gone With The Wind' DVD another time.
Then... disaster. At half time a rain storm. This followed by the unthinkable. Yep, the satellite transmission went down.
We picked ourselves up and enjoyed a great buffet style meal. Chefs throwing ignited pans of fish in the air, fine Malbec wine and.. wait for it... all for 4 quid a head.
A week soon passed and we were on our way to our final destination for some time. Buenos Aires.
The travel guide described the buses that ply this 14 hour route as 'the Lear Jets of the bus world'. How true. We had fully flat beds, hot dinner, champagne and wine. Flat screen TV's showed Bewitched. Unfortunately in the so far unmastered Espanol.
We arrived early in the day in BA in torrential rain.
A week has since passed. A monumental search for an apartment to house our travel weary bodies proved tougher than we'd anticipated. Still, our persistance paid off and we have a brand new pad in a great location.
Porteños, as the locals are referred, certainly know how to live. Going out before midnight is considered social suicide. problem being we havn't quite adjusted yet. An example. Our neighbours returned at 4am Sunday. We know this because the walls aren't totally soundproof. It might have been tolerable had it not been for their loose headboard. Phill was, by now, sat up in bed and reading Jeremy Clarkson (a god in his own right). Sue gave the obligatory 4 bangs on the wall, though this was only met with a momentary pause, followed by giggles. Normal business was resumed.
'Don't get mad Phill, lets get even,' Sue suggested.
'Love to help ya out, but I've gotta a touch of intergestion', Phill retorted in an advisory tone.
For the next few months we will learn Spanish and lead a relatively normal life. And what a life we can lead. The cost of living is unbelievable. A steak meal for two with a bottle of wine is GBP10.00. Premiership football equiv is less than GBP3.00. A 15 minute taxi ride is around a quid. The same quid that our cleaner charges per hour. Oh yes, we have staff now! A pedicure 4 quid, tube ride 20p, 1 litre bottle of gin GBP1.50. We could go on!
If anyone fancy's posting some PG Tips pyramids or curry powder, here's our address:

Aguero 1637, 1º C
CP 1425
Capital Federal
Buenos Aires
Argentina

Tel: 0054 11 4823 6274

Last, though by far means least, congratulations to Ange and Tony on the birth of their second child, George!

PaS