Hi Everyone,

Forgot to tell you when we did our walking tour of Santiago the guide was telling us about the coffee houses, cant remember the proper name for them but they get called "coffee with legs"apparently business men use them,they only sell coffee which is served by girls in bikinis,our guide took us into one as he was telling us about them,just about died!! he pretended he was a tourist looking for a beer.

I've just spent the last fifteen minutes reading all your messages,it was really good to hear from you all,keep them coming please and I'd love to hear some of your news too.Well done Aunty Ina sending me a message,if I cant find you when I get home I'll check the I.T. classes at the college.

Well we are in La Serena, arrived on Thursday in a coach,it took six hours from Santiago but the coaches are very good,seats go back footstools come up,steward on board all the way he issues pillows,newspapers,takes contact details before you leave the terminal and constantly checks out the bus and you,the video is on all the time too but you have your own earphones.

When we arrived at our Hotel,[we are being good to ourselves for a few days,cost us all of 16 pounds a night for bed and breakfast!!] Anyway the Senora was so pleased to see us,gave us a choice of rooms and told me off for carrying a heavy bag, as she took us through to the rooms we entered a courtyard all the rooms are around it,the smell of Jasmin was wonderful it is a very beautiful place,very old doors and windows with the original fittings and shutters.Tables .chairs and sofas scattered around BUT even more amazing she had the Scottish flag and the Standard flying for us,how thoughtful is that.

We went to the Elqui Valley yesterday,it was a great day out,it has every kind of fruit you can imagine growing including the Pisco grape,that makes the very famous Pisco Sour, naturally we had to try it and bring some home,had our lunch at the Solar Cuisine,the only one like it,couldn't believe my eyes,the food was excellent too,a large group arrived and it turned out to be a family holding a birthday party for their mother,we all sang happy birthday to her.

On the way home we went to the Mamalucca Observatory,this area has the clearest skies in the southern hemisphere,we spent a few hours with a very knowledgable guide and a very powerful telescope,we were lucky as the moon hadn't appeared which would have limited our viewing as it has just turned full in this part of the world.

The whole day was led by our guide Gustav,we were his only clients and he spoilt us rotten.We are walking to the beach tomorrow and having a day catching up, our next stop is San Pedro,we leave on Tuesday night,the journey takes 16 hours,from there we are going to Arica and then intend to fly to Lima on the 10th from Arica but we have a lot to see and do before then.Will go now and try and load some photos on,talk to you all soon.J xx