Our time in gorgeous South America has come to an end and it seems impossible to summarize our Andes adventuring, urban exploring, jungle whacking and beach baking into a single post but we'll give it ago. For everybody who has had at least a vague interest in what we've been up to but who were perhaps too overwhelmed by the wordy blog entries to follow us week by week, here is a numbered list of the best and worst. Highlights: 1. Strolling the walkways in/over/...

Vern: We waited another day in Mendoza but when the Argentina/Chile border was still closed we reluctantly decided to fly. We found some discounted tickets, paíd for them in a supermarket because of an odd payment system and hopped over the Andes on a one hour up-down flight. The worst part of flying was that Americans are charged a $140 reciprocity fee when entering Chile by plane. So Andrea had avoided this fee on the four other times when we had entered Chile...

Vern: A night bus deposited us at a terminal in Santiago and after some confusion as to whether or not the border with Argentina was open, we bought a ticket to Mendoza, the heart of Argentina's wine region. The border crossing was magnificent. Thirty-five numbered hairpin bends took us up into the snow covered Andes, past waterfalls and under ski-lifts taking skiers up to the top of steep white slopes. It took us two hours of waiting to be allowed to pass throug...

Vern: We bussed down to another small town in the Elqui Valley called Vicuña. It's somewhat bigger than Pisco Elqui and has a grocery store (which excites us more than it should) and bizarrely a store called Canabis which sells children's party supplies. We found a family run hostel, checked in to a peach coloured room with a wooden chair painted peach too (which was almost invisible in poor light) and after a cup of coffee we went out to find activities to keep...

Vern: The night bus dropped us in a beach town called La Serena and from there we caught a bus into the Elqui Valley and to a tiny town called Pisco Elqui. The Elqui Valley is supposed to be one on the most picturesque parts of Chile, with lush vineyards draped over the hills, fed by a rampant river, and it's the number one spot to observe the stars and planets: there is a famous domed observatory here and a few of the hotels on the valley slopes have installed s...