Hi guys, still in Equador, and all I've been doing is dossing which has been a great recovery from all the constant travelling. I am very near the end of my trip - around 3 weeks to go and in those three weeks I'll be travelling somewhere in Equador or further with the lovely Paola Romero, whose house I've been staying in the past 2 weeks. To continue from the last entry, I was telling you about Chile..... after the geysers in San Pedro, we travelled through the Atacama desert and camped IN the desert (when I say desert, we were only at the beginning of the vast desert at the time so it was quite rocky). We had a campfire and ate fajitas which felt so right in those settings! Me and 3 of the girls slept 4 in a 2 person tent that night which was interesting. Clare had thrown up INSIDE the tent the night before and on this night, Patricia threw up just outside the front so I was dodging sickness for a few days.

The next day was a long drive again to the seasidecity of La Serena. We had such a good time here, me especially because this is the 1st day I felt better after being sick for a week and I wanted to catch up on all the partying I missed out on so on the 2nd night there, we went out to find a happening bar and ended up in a quiet karaoke bar which only had some locals and a bunch of Americans. But that didn't stop us and we ended up playing 'Kiss and Blow'to get two of our travel buddies together and it worked! By the way this is the first time I'd ever heard of this game where you have a piece of paper and you suck in air to keep the paper on your lips and release to someone elses lips without touching or dropping it. The idea is if u fancy someone, you drop release the paper early on purpose and u end up kissing. 1 of the American's tried this a few times with me but even in my drunken state, I wouldn't let that go on my record!!

On the first night in La Serena we went on what was one of my favourite trips - to a Planetarium where I actually saw the Jupter and its orangey pattern and it's 4 moons!! It was amazing and we saw various other things like nebulas and star clusters and examined the milky way. We also learnt interesting facts like that those who are born in a certain couple of weeks in December actually belong to a 13th star sign! And we were shown what the Inca's saw - shapes of llamas and a snake and other things in the milky way. It was cool. We cooked Paella that night and wrecked it cos of the wrong balance of ingredients.

This by the way was the beginning of a solid 7 days of partying and drinking (to make up for all those lost nights). Arriving in Santiago was a big relief because we were all ready to end the camping and be warm, clean and dry and not be stuck on a truck for days on end. We went out for a last group meal and I ate the delicious Ceviche - raw seafood in a soupy sauce.... definately one of my favourite dishes. Everyone got into a conversation about noses and I was voted best nose out of everyone (about 20 people) so I was chuffed. It was sad saying bye to everyone the next day but nice to form our own little groups and move on as well. Me and Patricia moved into THE BEST HOSTEL IN THE WORLD - Hostal Andes, with Maya, Kirstie, Claire and Anna. The best thing about this hostel is it is FULL of beautiful people. On the first day there, Patricia got caught naked in the boy's bathroom, I accidentally walked into some half naked guys room, there was another gorgeous topless guy running up and down the stairs, the rest of the cuties were in the lounge room playing pool and we - a bunch of girls were in heaven!! The Chileans to me and the girls are not particularly attractive so it was even better being surrounded by gorgeous people.

As you can imagine, these days were some of the funnest. I got a bit more skilled at pool here and the boys were easy on me. The local clubs were all quite different. One we went to had only locals and played a variety of hot latin music - salsa, regatton etc, which I loved and all the guys there were really fab dancers.. though you do have to dance quite close to dance to it properly. Another night we all drank wine and played pool with the other guests in the hostel and after a Brazillian guest teaching me 'Foca', the Brazillian dance which involves dancing so close people would think you were glued together, we hit the local club and downed very tall glasses of Tequila and danced Foca some more. Maya dancing cracked me up cos she's a tall blonde and when the Latin rap came on, it reminded me so much of the film 'White Girls'. Anna got it on with one of the guests and was thrilled cos 'he took his time'...

I suppose I should say something about the actual city of Santiago... it has a lovely cathedral and lots of shops so the girls were happy. So, onto Equador, Cuenca is a nice city with nice people and in all these two weeks I haven't done much - I've visited the hot springs in Baños, which also has a steam room and where I gave Paola stomach massage. A guy saw and told us he'd injured his leg and ankle so I gave a stranger a leg and ankle massage as well. One night me and Paola drank a whole bottle of Bacardi in the house til 4 in the morning (I'm really into my rum out here). We've been to visit her home town of Azogues a few times which is peaceful. We've been out with Paola's friends a few times to various local clubs which are really interesting and I even learnt how to dance to Merengue! And I'm getting loads of practice with latin dancing in couples. I haven't done much else - learnt how to make bracelets and do braids in the hair with beads and string. I've also been trying to get my bellydance muscles moving again after a long long break and no practice. I've only learnt little bits of Spanish cos I'm mega lazy.

In a few days me and Paola will be off somewhere but I don't know where or which country - we'll probably catch a few buses and see what happens. Paola's friends told me I look 15, so I'm quite chuffed about that... must be the alcohol. I can see the worried faces of everyone that cares about me!

I'll write soon, Rish xx