Buenos dias amigos! Todavia estoy vos pensando mucho! Mi gusta me dicen como todos estan en Inglaterra..... Se que Forest esta muy muy bueno y Derby esta malo..... Y que todavia es frio! Alga mas para mi saber?

Hoy, voy a Santiago de Valparaiso. Manana pienso viajar Norte a La Serena y San Pedro antes voy a Bolivia. No puedo esperar! Primera, tengo un ultimo dia con mi amigos en Santiago. Y, nesesito decirvos de Valparaiso......

En Espanol o Ingles? Ingles si vos preferan:

So, Valparaiso. If I remember correctly the last time I wrote I was on the way to Mendoza. So what happened then? Well, as you know, I've been before so wasn't fussed about hanging around. However, we were worried about heading to Chile since the rumours flying around about the Earthquake, aftershocks etc and the lack of information put us off. However, after a couple of days in Mendoza drinking wine, hanging around the pool and generally just killing time we made a midnight decision to get the bus to Valparaiso at 9.30am the following morning. Holly and Katie were to follow the day after and Marianne decided to head to Buenos Aires to fly to La Paz, (and no doubt to catch up with me at a later date).

We're so glad we did! Valparaiso was brilliant. An incredible place built on around 40 hills right on the coast. There is a serious lack of town planning as houses of all shapes, sizes and colours have been built on every available piece of slope on every hill. It is an old Port City which has now become the Bohemian heart of Chile with what seems like every resident displaying some form of artistic talent. There are murals and street art on most walls, doors, steps etc and the views from the top of the Cerros of the City are impressive. Each Cerro has several Ascensors, (outdoor elevators / lifts resembling funicular railways) which are a cool way of getting up high! Lots of great seafood, wine, beer, a fantastic pub with loads of different local brews, a cool Hotel and Bar overlooking the City called Brighton, a lovely homely hostel with some great people, and a cool little fishing village called Quintay where we spent the day exploring the secluded bays before heading to one of the local restaurants overlooking the Caleta. The ostiones a pil pil and congrio were amazing, (scallops in paremsan and eel). And then there was the terremoto and tsunami warning! A very strange day yesterday...... We felt a small tremor and assumed it was another aftershock, (there was about 4 a day still occurring). However, when locals started running up the hill past the hostel we thought we should see what was going on. Janak, (English guy who ran the hostel), explained there had been a 7.2 quake about 90 miles South of Valparaiso near Pichelmu, (cool Surfing beach I had originally planned on going to!). This was the strongest of all the aftershocks and, concerned they would f**k up again like 2 weeks ago, (a few sackings of Officials have happened following much criticism of the handling of the crisis), the Chilean Government issued a tsunami warning prompting hundreds of locals to run up every hill in Valparaiso searching for higher ground. Our hostel was pretty high so we felt pretty safe but our plans to head to the beach were put on hold! Instead we headed out to found out what was going on. Cerro Alegre, (our hill), and all the cafes, bars etc were rammed and every street corner had lots of people milling around on mobiles etc. There were a few guys in Uniforms with walkie talkies. We headed to Brighton to look down on the main square etc and it was like a ghost town. People had literally dropped everything and run for the hills! No tsunami arrived of course but the rest of the day had a very strange ambience. Despite this and effectively being stuck in the hostel for our last day, (what else was there to do but drink with everyone!), it's sad to leave today for Santiago. It's a very very cool place and I recommend going there if you are ever in Santiago.

Anyways, I have a final night with friends before venturing off on my own again. La Serena for some beach action followed by San Pedro and the headache inducing Atacama Desert and crossing into Bolivia beckons. I doubt I will have much opportunity to get in touch, (a relief you might think), until La Paz and even then and beyond things might not be so easy...... But I will try! So, until I can write again, take care, keep the messages coming and be good! I hope it starts to get warmer soon, the days will certainly be longer in a few weeks and then it's downhill to the summer. I'm looking forward to catching up with you all over a few beers in the sun to really bore you.......!

Be safe people!

Ciao para ahora!

Matt.

P.S. RE: The Beard - some people have commented, mainly negatively and Andy has promised to bring his trimmmer with him if need be! So, making this blog and my trip a little more interactive, do I:

a) Shave it off

b) Trim it

c) Let it grow wild......

d) You don't care