It's a tragedy! A disaster ....We knew it would happen one day, and that day has eventually come.

Yes, indeed, after 4 wonderful months we finally left South America ! I am heartbroken but Andy is ecstatic to have arrived in New Zealand, so it kind of balances off. On the plus side, I have just discovered that I only needed 4 min to upload 40 pictures on the STA site as opposed to the compulsory 2.5 hours that I got used to throughout South America. So all is not bad !!

We're now in Auckland, trying to recover from a 13h flight journey and the 18hrs time difference. It gives me a chance to update you on our last few days in Chile before we set off for a 3 weeks 'express discovery' of NZ on board of our new fancy rental car !

So, Santiago and Valparaiso were our last stop in Chile. At our arrival at Santiago we found ourselves pretty impressed by the great location of the city. It is surrounded by huge snow capped Andean mountains that you can see from pretty much anywhere in the city...that is if they're not completely hidden by the thick pollution smoke the city is drowned into !

But maybe more importantly, after 1.5 months in the cold south, it's with great joy and relief that we welcomed Santiago's Mediterranean temperatures. The colourful T-shirts neatly folded at the bottom of our rucksacks were out again ! Hurrah !

Our hotel was located in the colourful & vibrant Bellavista neighbourhood. We spent 5 great days there, relaxing, making friends and manically playing fuse ball. Now, 'manically' might actually be a bit of an understatement. We virtually became addicted to this game, playing it first thing in the morning, last thing at night and engaging in intense team competitions throughout the day. This addiction left us with broken backs and sore wrists !

In between fuse ball games, we were left with a bit of time to visit the city . Our favourite bits : the Cerro Santa Lucia and the Cerro Concepcion - 2 green hills right in the middle of the Santiago which boast fantastic 360 degrees views of the city and surroundings mountains. Another must do, strolling on Plaza de Armas, the heart of the historic city centre, on a week-end day. Most people come with their family to relax, enjoy the sun and watch the performance of the many street artists, while chess players battle at the centre of the Plaza.

At last, one of my personal favourite was the visit of Pablo Neruda's house. For those not familiar with him, he is renowned across the world and adored by the Chilean people for his virulent political views and for his poetic legacy (which won him a literature Nobel prize). He still enjoys the status of an icon in Chile 30yrs after his death and the Chilean don't miss an opportunity to proudly bring him up in any given conversation !His mad house, built to resemble a ship, is full of secret passageways and filled up with eclectic junk (as he wasan obsessive collector). A unique insight in the man's eccentric character and brilliant mind.

After 4 days in Santiago, we headed off to Valparaiso with a group of friends met at the hostel. Valparaiso quite simply blew us over ! It's an incredibly colourful and charming city. You don't have time to get bored walking through its streets. The paintings & graffiti all over the walls and house' facades are stunning, and some are real pieces of art. As a matter of fact, an entire neighbourhood has even been transformed in an 'open sky museum' with about 20 murals from local artists disseminated in a winding network of streets.

The city itself stretches across various hills. To get to the top of those hills, the more courageous opt for the steep stairs with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds (!!) of steps, while the lazier pay a modest sum to take one of the many ancient funiculars Valparaiso has become famous for. We (stupidly) opted for the stairs in most cases and after only 2 days of visit, we ended up with extremely sore legs & calves from all that climbing!

Another highlight of our time in Valparaiso was the visit of the Palacio Baburizza. Officially closed for renovation, we managed to charm the guardian who agreed to give us a secret private tour of this stunning Art Nouveau palace built in 1916. But our best memory of Valparaiso will remain our encounter with Papito, a 52yrs old man, ex-prisoner who spent 25 years of his life in prison for theft. We met him in the old prison of Valparaiso, now closed down and turned into a cultural & art centre. Papito is one hell of a character with one hell of a life. First prison sentence at the age of 11 yrs old, he pretty much spent all of his adult life behind bars. His passion for theatre (that he discovered in one of the prison's rehabilitation workshops) saved him. Pretty much illiterate to start with, he worked hard to reform itself. He now manages a small theatre and prison museum on the old prison grounds and has even written a play which received a national theatre prize. He tells us his life story, his prison struggle & the horrible and humiliating tortures the police inflicted him, while proudly showing us press articles about the success of his play that he religiously collected. He comes out as a very simple, authentic kind of guy and we can't help but be moved by his life story.

On a lighter note he also shows us some thief's tricks, managing to distract me long enough to put his hand in my pocket and steal its contents. Honest, I didn't feel a thing !!Needless to say that before leaving, I couldn't help but discreetly check my pockets to make sure I still had everything ....

And that was the great conclusion to our fantastic South American trip ...

More to come soon about NZ natural wonders we heard so much about !!

Lots of love xxx

Soph and Andy