So we thought we'd treat ourselves to a huge, colourful double room with a high ceiling for our first two nights of hostelling (www.lacasaroja.cl) with its three-course breakfasts for just under 3 pounds, expecting life to get considerably less comfortable from Monday onwards when we would leave Santiago for Valparaiso, a beautiful seaside town which covers six hills in a patchwork fabric of brightly coloured houses. Needless to say Carlos had other plans, and booked us into a 4* hotel on the sea front, "as a gift". The hilarity of walking into the smart, expensive-looking lobby in walking boots, Primark joggers and skiing fleeces (which we've worn since we arrived 5 days ago - FIT - as it's winter here and often below freezing), with our backpacks in front on gold trolleys with penguin porters and our jaws a metre from our noses, was a great gift in itself. Breakfast was another three courses including all sorts of fruits we'd never seen before, four kinds of cake and eggs and bacon (eggos and baconos). The following night compensated for the previous night's luxuary with a minus4* hostel (probably), where we stayed in a shed with no heating, peeling walls and odd smells from damp, and a loo which flooded the bathroom with tank water every time it was flushed. Had a great time! More on the places tomorrow - I can't keep my eyes open. Love to all xxxxxx