Since we last spoke, we have been star gazing in one of the worlds best observatories, cycling along the sea front, learning about the exploits of Sir Francis Drake and have explored another city!

We'll start with star gazing - we went to Mamalluca observatory just near the village of Vicun Tuesday night. We saw the moon - and got an amazing photo of it! through the smaller telescope, and we also saw lots of clusters and constellations not visable to the naked eye - very cool. We can actually see the Milky Way in its entirety with the naked eye here cos the visability is so good! It's like a big cloud of stars - more exciting than it sounds! We also learnt about the new planet that was discovered a few wks ago, the one thats like Earth, and then went to the big telescope where we were treated to views of Saturn and Jupiter! Crazy. Didn't get any freeze dried space ice cream tho - poo.

We watched the Liverpool game on Wednesday - less said about that the better.

On Thursday we hired bikes and cycled down the beach-lined coast from La Serena to Coquimbo. It stank in Coquimbo cos they were harvesting seaweed or something! However, we did happen upon a nice little cafe at the very end of the bay, where the very nice Chilean owner (who spoke English) gave us a potted history of Coquimbo - did you know that Sir Frances Drake landed here during his travels? Apparently it was the first place in South America that the English settled - doesn't tell you that in the Lonely Planet! The owner wants to build a replica Golden Hind as a tourist attraction (Sophie went to the Golden Hind at Salford Keys once! much fun!). Anyway, after a nice little chat, we cycled home on our limping bikes (Sophie's wouldn't go out of 1st gear) and then bought Andy some new socks - exciting!

On Friday we caught the bus to our current location - Vina del Mar. Remember the German girl whose party we attended? Well she was also on our bus, going to visit some friends, and when we arrived her mate directed us to the hostel furthest away from the bus station - we nearly died under the weight of our bloody rucksacks! Anyway, the place is not bad - we are on the 3rd floor and have our own balcony with amazing views of the city, and it's only 12 quid a night, bargin. We have spent most of time in Vina del Mar, which is pretty nice, lots of trees, but busy, walking around and eating! There are lots of good eats - we like the Middle Eastern take away best - can't beat a jumbo Falafel with humous! Have also seen an Easter Island head, which for some reason they put outside, rather than inside the museum, so we managed to skirt the enterance fees! (every penny counts!) The coast line is nice, but its a little chilly (boom boom) for our liking! We will be off to Santiago tomorrow!

Things we should have mentioned before, but forgot - went to a weird zoo/park thing in La Serena - very odd, but did see a giant tortoise, condors and emus up close, poor things. Also went to the biggest supermarket in the world in Serena, no cider tho - rubbish.

When we were on the boarder between Chile and Bolivia we met a girl who used to ride Trio at Mobberley! and another who has been drinking at the Hare and Hounds on Werneth Low! - VERY small world!

Ok, so think that?s about it - we are off to eat more food, walk and perhaps browse around the shopping malls of this city by the sea, taraaa!

p.s. soph lost her coat - well, ok, left it on the bus - pants.