HEllo all!! Sorry for the huge gap in up dates, its funny that even though even the street vendors have broad band internet over here I couldn´t manage to shoot off a few lines filling you in as to our where abouts and what we´ve seen and done.

We´re now in Buenos Aires, Argentina in yet another differnt kind of hostel. This one is quite new, colourful, and busy withthe chatter of a mutitude of different nationalities, all a bit to busy to extend an invite to thier little activities, but thats OK we´ve been a bit too busy ourselves. When I say new, it dosn´t mean that the shower head didn´t come off in my hands the first time I turned it on and the door to my brightly coloured looker didn´t almost fall off the one remaining hinge. We are in South America don´t forget.

BA is quite the beautiful place. Coming from a confessed "not a city person" that is a compliment. Its steeped in history (compared to Oz anyway) and very recent major historical events as close as the 70´s and 80´s where military dictatorships and "state terrorism" reeked havoc on local lives. The wealth and pride of the POrteñas is evident where ever you look with ornate buildings towering along every street and tall monuments erected by greatful visiting countruies. This place is a lover of french arcitechures wet dream. We´ver spent past 3 days wearing out our shoes trecking all over the must see parts f the city the 600 odd photos you can check out later. Aagin we are in south America so the contrasts are also at every turn. Shanty towns spread due to political greed and homeless make a comfy bed on the lush green lawns of the beautiful parks that dot the city. La Boca, the home of Maradona, the Argentinian football star is everything the colourful post cards make it out to be if you stay within the couple of touristy streets but reveals itself as the working class part of town that typicaly spawns the sports hero like many places around the world. In our remaing days here we will take in a Football match and a TAngo extravaganza aswell as venturing a little ways out of the city so stay tuned for that.

So we didn´t start here so where have we been? Well, we flew into Santiago, Chile to the welcoming arms of a hundred taxidrivers inviting us into there cabs. Finally Dad arrived with Angelica and another family friend who generously offered her car and service to get us back to Providencia (Dads part of the city) The first meeting of my Dad and sister went well I thought, hugs and pleasantries were all that could be expected after 15 years. Angelica, my Dads girlfriend (of 20 years) reacted to Fi just as I had predicted. "Soooooo bbeeautiful!!! with a big hug and a big kiss. The language barrier didn´t slow down the chatter. Everyone streaching their limited vocabulary beyound the bounds of comprehenssion. Ariving at Dads place in the city was an experience of how its done there. A small, but nice apartment, comfortable for a couple but meeting the needs of Angelica, Dad, Angelicas daughter Monica and her lively little Niña Sophy. oh and the cat. A huge Chileanmeal was presented and Robyn politely negotiated her way around the main ingredient.... chicken. I then streched my stomach to a limit unknown to me by reducing the size of Robs leftovers. Lucky for us siesta time was apon us and Fi was able to make it to one of the 2 beds in the one bedroom befor she fell face first into her empty iron bowl. We all past out for a little whilñe before making our way to our Hostel down the road in a funky part of town called Bellavista. Dad escorted us by Cab with a serious warning which was basically "watch out for these shifty b******s" He was quite surprised to make it to our destination without relincuishing too many pesos. NOt like our nect trip where we braved it on our own and payed twices as much to cover less distance. Rob caught on intime to give hima stern finger wag and death stare, but what could we do?

I must say that travelling with two of the most important people in my life through unknown streets, surrounded in an unkown language kept me on edge a little longer then I´d had expected. It took the better part of the first week to relax enough to walk the streets comfortably. It probablywasn´t untill we got to the smaller town of Baraloche that I chilled out a little.
Our days in Santiago took on a routine of a nice sleep in, waking just in time to catch a nice sweet breaky. The girls trook more to smothering their toasted Pan (flat bread) in Delce de Leche (caramel) then I. I´m sure on more then one occation I came close to a sugar induced fit of some sort. Needless to say Robs already coming up with her explanasion to the guy at customs as to why there are no cloths in her bag and only 15kg of Delce de LEche. Good luck to her. We would meet with Dad and Angelica where theywould should us around the major sites of the city aswell as some of thier favourite haunts, like the lesser known resterant in the fish markets.
I think the contrasts between rich and poor were alot more evident inSantiago then here in BA, but then again I could just be getting used to the whole situation.
Our last night in Santiago was spent with Dad and Angelicas close friends at a barbeque outside the apartment which was surprinsingly good! i had memories of Chilaen BBQ where the meat was tough and stringy, but the atmosphere was always good and friendly. I think the friendly, very relaxed atmosphere contributed to the very slow cooking time and inturn made the meat really good. ENglish was in short suply at the gathering but Dads proclaimed "best friend" Bernie, was,as I remember him from my last vist, a hoot. From his story of negociating the city traffic on a motor bike laiden with shopping bags carrying his contributions to the BBQ to the comedic stories of teaching ione othe little girls he lives with to drive, his Austin powers demener kept us all entertained.

So from Santiago we vetured East to Baraloche, the northern part of Patagonia, where we swapped smog and high rise buildings with sunshine and Mountain skirt lakes. Aaaaahhhhhhhh relax. We checked into Pudu, a very cool little hostel run by a great Irish couple, and filled with english speaking travellers from Ireland, the states and Isreal for the most part. Ineviatbly, the company of my 2 wonderful travel mates was ..... well ... all a bit girly, so to talk to some blokes was a nice change. One fella Eli, from California teased me with stories of desserted south Chilean towns with empty endless left hand point breaks, and his plan to buy some land there and start up a school of sorts for the areas local kids. The other, Warner was a larger then life yank who spent the better part of his time travelling the world. He had just arived from a treck through Antartica and the Patagonia in search of some fly fishing. The enthusiasm and excitement with which he would talk about his travels, be it Africa, India where ever, is the sort that makes people drop out of their known reality and hit the road. He, unlike most of us is able to finance these adventures which some smart investments aand a very understanding girlfriend. Good luck to him.
We were lucky with the weather, in that we went straight for the scenic look outs on our firstday where we caught some breath taking images of the surounds. The glassy lakes and blue skies soon turned grey and choppy with a strong wind cooling the place right down, but it all worked out seeingf as Fi was feeling a little under the weather and was trying a veriety of over the counter coctails, and the hiking up and down various must see sights warrented a break. One of the characters in the hostel, Roy, an israley was in quite the jet lag spirral, waking at 5-6pm onmly to partake in the evening activities and wander around during the night to finally drift off at 8 or 9 am. His ability to communicate with everyone on that level that allows you to see his personality and sence of humour I found pretty amayzing, and a little embarressed at my own ability, or lack ther of to communicate in anyother languge other then poorly spelt english. But I am trying, and feel better for making an attempt, unlike my last visit.

So there you have it, a small, one sided account for our travels so far. I´ve left out the juicy bits which aply more to Fi, so she can tell those who "need" to know and the hundreds of pictures Rob and I have taken already should make their way intio cyberspace soon. They can tell a different story again.

So I hope you are well. We´ll talk to you soon

Alex