Ola amigos!

Hope you`re all well and in a Christmassy mood : ) Sun is still shining and we are now in Valparaiso in Chile. Not blogged in a while so lots to tell you about. Where to begin?!

Last couple of days in Argentina were action packed. We did a days kayaking in the quaintest town called Tigre. It was v surreal to travel only 45 mins out of the huge BA and arrive in a little toy town of perfect holiday homes and canals lined with trees, felt like we were in Switzerland!

Then 14hrs drive West we arrived in Mendoza. Nice quiet place but lots of adventure sports to do. Anna did a day of horse-riding in the mountains with these real gauchos who lived in the middle of nowhere. She thought it´d be a group activity but it was literally her and two cowboys in the Andes lol! They cut off some Catcus fruit for her to eat, cooked her lunch in their little house and taught her circus tricks!

I went rafting in the Mendoza river towards the bottom of the Andes - was level 4.5 - that´s supposedly quite high for a first time and they put me at the front of the raft as I was the strongest rower! Woo woo! Almost fell out when we got caught up in this whirl between two rocks. Very scary but very exciting. Then I did a little trek in the Andes and abseiled which was terrifying! Got pure rope burn on my hand cos I was gripping it so tightly. Had a boss pic taken of me at the top of the mountain but accidentally deleted it - Gutted!

Next day we hired bikes and did a tour of the vineyards. Apparently the Mendoza region produces 70% of Argentina´s wine. Niavely thought the vineyards would only be a round the corner from each other but ended up doing almost 8km between each one! Knackering esp since our muscles were killing from the previous days activites. Was very interesting though and tasted lots of delicious wines, liquors and chocolates.

And another coach trip later we arrive in Santiago, Chile! Went through the Andes - spectacular views! Bad Luck Number......oh wait, hang on, I´ve lost count! Anna´s purse got swiped within 30mins of arriving : ( Both feek sick about it and can´t believe it happened again. You must think we´re very careless but we are being very vigilant and just don´t understand how it happened. Like moi ahhem, she dealt with it very well however that ruined our plans for a Sat night on the town. Oh also, the police station we went to was more of a prison - Anna said she saw ppl in white uniforms beind wire mesh and the policeman was v mean.

Next morning, I bumped into a friend from uni at breakfast (Alice Ready for you Astonites, she´s been travelling S.America with her boyf for 9 months) Small World non?! Took a fornicular to the top of St Christobal and had a good look at Santiago from above. Not a very pretty city but amazing views of the mountains surrounding it. Alice n Atoin treated us to lunch as they were leaving and had lots of pesos left over - very nice of them!

Yet again, plans for a night on the town were crushed!!!! As you must know by now, Pinochet died on Sun and the atmosphere on the streets was great. All the Chilenas were shouting and dancing so we decided to cook dinner and go out. As night fell, we suddenly heard helicopters and saw black smoke of the hostel window. Looked ont news on tele and there were fires and police literally in the street next to our hostel spraying all the ppl who had gathered to celebrate. A girl staying our room came back with pepper spray in her eyes and hostel staff weren´t letting anyone out! Crazy that we were there when this historic moment happened and lucky we weren´t out!

Pheuw, this is the end I promise. Now in Valparaiso - multicoloured hilly port. Very pretty at the top but smoggy in the city. Staying a wonderful hostel (walked up an incredibly steep hill with rucksacks and all only to find we´d gone up the wrong hill! Not the first time we´ve been lost I tell you) Plan on beaching it in Vina del Mar tomorrow.

Sorry this has been so long. You´ll get a shorter one next time! It´ll teach us not to leave it so long to blog next.

Hope you´re all cool. Miss you all. Lots of love, Soph xxx