Our last stop in South America was Santiago, the capital of Chile. We fly out on the 18th December from here so it was an obvious choice. We are staying at Che Lagartos which we highly recommend, which is located in the more bohemian, studenty part of town. The city itself is gigantic, some of the photos kind of capture the endless houses as far as the eye can see, but seeing is believing. We took a walking tour to a different part of the city every day and Cerro San Cristobal provided the most spectacular views, as well as the most spectacular cable car ride in this little 2 seater pod. The door didn`t have any lock on it and was by now means air tight, hence Alex´s rather worried expression (see photos). We also went up Cerro Santa Lucia, which is an ancient castle built on another hill closer to the centre, which was a beautiful oasis in this extremely busy city.

It is probably the most expensive place we have stayed in South America, closely followed by Rio. We`re surviving on a local delicacy called a Completo, which ranges from 40p to a pound. It`s basically a hot dog (frankfurter made of mystery meat) with a tonne of avocado on top, then fresh tomato and then mayo (chilli sauce if you wish). The weird thing is that every ingredient is pretty much cold but they toast the bun at the last minute to create quite an odd little meal. There are served literally everywhere though and i`m kinda fond of them. I think Alex is yet to be convinced.

Santiago is a lot better than we have heard many people describe it, it is one of the few places in the whole of South America where we have been offered help from English speaking locals (being Gringos this is extremely rare, usually the best we get is a whistle or blank stare). The climate is hot but the smog is no worse than Buenos Aires or Rio, and the beer is just as cheap. As a little reminder of England and home comforts we spent an afternoon watching Michael Clayton (it was in English before anyone asks how), which wasn`t something either of us thought we`d be able to do.

For the next two days we are going to a tiny fishing town called Matanzas on the coast 2 hours South of Santiago to stay with friends from Uni who have rented a villa there.

Right, this will be our last blog for South America (my Spanglish just about held up), and we don`t know what the internet situation will be like at the New Zealand campsites. So a premature Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone! It`s crazy to think we`re nearly a third of the way through this whole trip, but then i suppose we have done quite a bit, thanks for all your comments and messages on our wall.

Buenas tardes amigos,

Tom and Alex