After our first expeience on the Tur Bus we pulled into Valparaiso hopped off the bus and realised we didn't have a clue where we were. Not to panic and after a bit of wondering we whipped out the Lonely Planet and headed off in the right direction. On the way we spotted a chap cruising down the path and middle of the road with a hard hat tied on with string, aiming his karate kicks and punches at anything that moved. Lethal This man was air fighting for fun. After nearly being mowed down by the traffic he the gave an OAP the classic Ben Stiller from Meet the Parents 'Can you handle that?' right in her face. And we're guessing she could of. Mental. After a short hike we arrived at the Patiperro Hostel and checked into our own private room. A 12 maner! Really home like though and they put up with our English. No keys as of yet however! Dumped our stuff and headed out to see what Chile's cultural capital had to offer!

Cruised down to the main square for a look at some fancy buildings. Little bit peckish we headed to the harbor to get a nice little Salmon Steak in seafood sauce with a potato of our choice and a cappuccino. Felt good looking out over the water even if the harbor we was at was identicle to Dover and we were watching a P&O being loaded with freight. Different. A cruise back into the square and splashing the cash on some authentic Chile hats (made in China) and Jame 'Panpipes' Lovett faulking out 90p on some sticks with holes in we headed off for a further look around town. Not being the complete culture vultures we didn't hit any of the museums but we hear they're good. Some chill out time back at base before we headed out for an evening meal. Eat where the locals eat was the key although it was a pretty average joint compared to the luxury we were starting to get used too! After that the party animals went back for a bit of i-net action and some sleep. Crazy!

1st June it was off up the coast to Vina Del Mar. Had a grande (allegedly) breakfast at the hostel. This hostel was like someones house. Baby's kicking around, everyone living there, and Handy Andy kicking around doing the DIY. Checked out - or just left as no one was around and headed back to the bus terminal. At this point we made our first new friend of Chile. A stray black dog called rover. He followed us down every turn for the next half hour, stopping and waiting outside shops we went into until we re-emerged to be followed. He would not leave us alone for s**t! Went back to our Tur Bus terminal who told us we'd have to get on a local bus. Not too sure which was which we went for first time lucky. Luke spotted a bus, flagged it down and on we got. Not to sure where the hell we were going, the bus was heading up the coast which was a bonus. Luckily James managed to spot the place we were staying in Vina Del Mar so we stopped the bus. James paid and somehow he managed to jump off the bus with a 20kg bag on his back and his pants round his ankles. We were left scratching our heads at just how much we had been charged for the journey. A little over the odds in comparison to our other bus journeys! Checked into hotel Rokamar which had it´s name spelt wrong as that's not how you spell Faulty Towers. With Basil behind reception we had the pick of rooms (literally we were the only ones there) and settled for the three bed penthouse up top. Massive but bloody random. Headed off into town and to our suprise it was much nicer than Valaparaiso. Had a wonder round and sorted out the bus for the following day. Hit the supermarket for some food for our bus journey where we were followed around by security like white on rice. With no offence we could have probably bought the whole shop between us but that didn't seem to matter. We must look like shop lifters! Having paid for our goods (shockingly) we sat in the park to check the map for something to eat. Whilst sitting there a guy insisted we watch him ram 9 inch nails up his nose. Nice! So was the 10p Chris tipped him. Decided to hit a row of cafe's where a brawl broke out to get us in. After a little chopping and changing we managed to pick the s***test one there. Jame's and Luke had a lovely medium cooked loin steak which a good vet could have bought back to life whilst Chris had some sort of Beef rap. The jury is still out on what exactly it was! An out of date coke to wash it down we finished up in town and headed back. Not much was open there on a Sunday night so we stayed in for a film-a-thon and some quiet time. The boys seem more tied than they thought! Tomorrow it was off to Coquimbo! Permita que la aleatoriedad continúe!!!!!