Second time lucky we eventually arrived in Santiago where we would relive saturday after going back in time. We became aware almost immediately that communicating here was going to be a bit of a challenge as we tried to find money, a bus, a hostel and food. After taking care of the first 3 we found a restaurant and set about deciphering the menu with our trusty phrasebook. Luckily an English language teacher noticed our distress so guided us through the menu and we enjoyed our first 'menu del dia'. In the afternoon we went up Santa Lucia hill where we were treated to gorgeous views of the city and mountains in the distance, as well as hundreds of canoodling couples. Apparently we'd stumbled across a lovers meeting place!

On sunday we rejected the bus tour in favour of our own walking tour of the city, getting caught up in the Chilean marathon on the way. We arrived at Plaza des Armas where we checked out the sunday service in the cathedral and visited the national museum of Chile. We are sure it was all really interesting but given that all the descriptions were in spanish we just wandered around looking at the exhibits making our own interpretations of Chilean history! We crossed the river to Bellavista, the entertainment and arts district, and then went to the Parque metropolitan where we got a funecula (train) up San Cristobal hill to see the statue of the virgin mary. After more stunning views of the city and beyond we walked back via 2 of Chiles most beautiful parks and had an early night.

Catching the bus to Vina del Mar the next day proved to be quite an adventure. Certain we knew where we were going we gave in after half hour and asked for help but apparently our amateur spanish and arm waving just wasn't good enough. After another hour to-ing and fro-ing between bus stops we actually arrived at the right place after yet another english speaking saint came to our rescue. On arrival in Vina del mar we had a long search for a cheap hostel so with our bags weighing us down we collapsed into the first one that we found. We strolled along Acapulco beach where Leanna bought her 4th pair of sunglasses this trip and sat on the beach until the sunset. Much to Leannas delight we stumbled across a rare sight in south america, a veggie restaurant, so we had an early dinner finishing just in time for happy hour! We spent the next few hours in a Mexican bar drinking margeritas and daiquiris and helping the friendly barman Louis improve his english in return for some spanish lessons. 2 locals kindly bought us some nachos and dip and invited us to join them, but sensing the language barrier might be a problem we decided to accept the food and stay where we were!

Next day we planned to take full advantage of the sunny weather and spend the day on the beach. After 2 hours of sunbathing Nikki woke up to realise we'd both dropped off to sleep and her bag had disappeared. In a panic we told the lady next to us in our best spanish 'mi roberro mon bag-o' and asked if she'd seen anything, to which she said 'non'. Taking matters into our own hands we found the nearest hotel, which thankfully had an english speaking concierge who rang the police, Visa international and the British Embassy on our behalf. We were then treated to a form of transport not yet experienced on our travels (thankfully), a police car, as we were whisked off to the station to make a statement. After practically writing our own police report we left the station to scour the beach and the bins in hope that they'd taken the money and dumped the rest. On the way we spotted a boy who had sat near us on the beach earlier that day, and deciding he looked a bit dodgy we instantly made him a suspect. Next followed our very own movie scene police chase as we set off in hot pursuit of the boy. Needless to say when we eventually caught up and tapped him on the shoulder he looked very surprised, a look which quickly turned to confusion as we tried to interrogate him in very poor spanish! After realising this wasn't going anywhere we walked away leaving him thinking 2 mad english girls were trying to chat him up!

The following day another eventful dash around town trying to work out how to get a bus to the next town, Valparaiso. When we eventually got there we spent the day applying for a new passport, tourist card, flight ticket home and making insurance claims. We were too optimistic that morning, both wearing shorts which were attracting some extremely strange looks in the freezing cold weather. Decided to stay in the warm that night and had a cosy night in watching a film. Our final day here in Vina was spent shopping for a new camera so we can continue to make you all jealous with our photos. Tonight has in store a 12 hour bus ride to Pucon, in the chilean lake district. From now on we will be keeping a more watchful eye over our belongings!