Hi there.

Well, we are in New Zealand now and South America is just a distant memory. Zoe wrote the lst blg frm San Juanin Argentina and I want to bring you right upto date. For those of you that were concerned about my apparent depression in the last blog I wrote, don't worry because I'm back on the wave!

We left San Juan at 5.15am on the Wednesday and caught a bus via Mendoza to San Rafael. On arrival we set off looking for a hostal described in the book as being a good one with a swimming pool, but on the outskirts of town. We walked for 20 minutes and then elected to leave Zoe in the park with the bags while I went on to find the place - 45 minute round trip to find a nice place that was beyond the outskirts of town and was fully booked! A suitable alternative was found and we went for pizza and planned the next days.

Activities in the area revolve around the Valle Grande, the dam across the river and the river itself so on Thursday, morning we got a bus up to the valley to see what we could see. On the bus we met Monika from Slovenia and she stayed with us for the day, good girl and excellent at translating for idiots like us! We walked part way round the resevoir and then headed down river to check out the rafting action - there was none. It was a tame grade 2 river so w decided to save our money for NZ perhaps. That night we went for a Parilla meal, essentially a BBQ restaurant. Plate after plate of succulent beef and they gave us some complementary chips a a bonus. Food was excellent but the waiter did himself out of a tip when he assumed the change was his tip - we put him straight and then went home to bed.

Friday we went to Malargue, this town is the jumping off point for trips to a number of national parks and for the Caverna Las Brujas. The caverna is the one we really wanted to see so having found ourselves accomodation (6 bed dorm to ourselves) we hit the trail of tour operators. All were much the same but our business went to the company who offered us an Englis speaking guide - would the deliver? To occupy us on the Saturday we arranged to hire some mountain bikes to go round the near by (27km away) beauty spots. We cooked dinner at the hostel and then retired for the night listening to a thunderstorm raging in the mountains.

Saturday dawned and the rain was over, cool(ish) and patchy cloud were perfect cycling conditions. When we had said to the bike hire guy that we were going to do a round trip of 54km to Castellena (wierd rock formation looks like a castle) followed by a 24km round trip to the dam he shook his head and said it was not possible, we assumed he doubted our limitless stamina and supreme fitness so set off with the intention of proving that it could be done. We quickly discovered that the local road builders had only done half a job and that there was not any tarmac on the road yet - it was slow going. After a couple of hours we stopped riding to have a bite to eat and Zoe's front gave a loud bang as the perished rubber allowed th rusted wires in the tyre to burst the inner tube. Turns out we were 26km down the road. We pushed on to see the Castellena and then turned ound and started pushing home. After 2 hours of walking we flagged down a pick up truck who gave us and the bikes a lift home. After an ordeal like that you need a beer, so we had some of that followed by some wine. We got some of our money back from the hire shop guy as there shoddy kit had spoilt our day but I was in a weak bargaining position as he had my passport as security. Never did see that dam!

We got up on Sunday, breakfasted and then waited for our Englsh speaking guide to arrive. The bus pulled up and a bloke got out and waffled to us in Spanish for a short while. At the sight of our pissed off lookin faces he laughed and apologised in English for the joke. The trip was ace. The Caverna is a 5km deep hole in the hillside. Soft rock washed away by underwater rivers leaving caverns and tunnels and the whole lot covered in a skin of calcium carbonate. Stalegtites and mites everywhere. If you look at the potos you will see some that look like t*** and one hat looks like a giant penis! The caverna trip was followed by a walk up past a series of Cascadas. Lots of marine fossils and interesting rock formations but nothing we hadn't seen before. On the return to Malargue we dropped a guy off at the Eco Hostel and this building has taken recycling to a new level - car windscreens and glass bottles set into the walls as windows, awesome.

From this point we were really on the road out of South America. On Monday we got a bus to San Rafael where we had a 3 hour wait for the next bus to Mendoza. Our wait was in the afternoon when everyone in town goes to sleep - no internet cafes, few shops, few restaurants, etc. How about nice sit down in the park? Bus to Mendoza and found a really nice hostel in the centre.

We had booked our bus to Santiago for Tuesday night, and so Tuesday was spent with Zoe taking a last walk around Mendoza centre and I went off into the hills outside of town. That evening we met up with Monika (from San Rafael) and went to a free concert in the park. We saw 3 different school bands play before we had to leave, hopefully Monika got to see the main event?!?

Now in Santiago we disembarked from our overnight bus at 5am on Wednesday. On this occasion we knew exactly where we were going to spend the night as we had booked a room following a recommendation in Valle De Fertil - the Casa Roja. The hostel was a good un but we couldn't check into our room until 2pm so we stashed our bags in the luggage room, had breakfast and then hit the town. It's a very nice city bulding wise and it is studded with a series of parks and plazas. On Wednesday we climbed the hill in one of the parks on foot and made plans for Thursday to get the Furnicular up the hill in the bigger of the two parks. As the hostel was so nice witha garden and a pool we went back there for the afternoon for beers and chilling out in the sunshine. Zoe signed up for a Thai Green Curry night organised by another resident and I arranged a McDonalds excursion with 2 other English guys. Our penultimate day ended pleasantly drunk and full of food.

Thursday, last day! Saw the remaining sights of Santiago. The Furnicular was a fun experince. Essentially 2-off carraiges on a slanted track connected by a thick steel cable. As one car goes up the other comes down with a bit of help from a pulley winch at the top. The view was amazing and was a fitting end to our South American oddysey. The trip to the airport was uneventful and we had a pleasant surprise when we discovered that airport tax had already been paid - makes a change from having peoples hands in your pockets all the time.

Now, here is where it gets a bit funny. We took off on Thursday night at 11.05, 4 hours behind the UK. We landed 13 hours later at 4.00 on Saturday morning. Where the f**k did Friday go? Still, makes the blog a bit quicker to write and there's no denying, Friday must have been a cheap day.

From Santiago we had pre-booked a hostel in Auckland. We got the shuttle bus to the hostel and were met there by a mad old bearded Aussie who filled us in on the comings and goings at the hostel. Things like the manager dying 2 days before and the place now being run by a group of about 6 or 7 Sri Lankens who didn't really know what was going on. Still keeps life interesting. Oh, and it was pissing down!

Saturday we spent walking round in the drying rain, checking out camper rental places and hostel notice boards looking for vans for sale. Rentals were all expensive as hell and this steered us towards buying, the Backpacker Car Market had been recommended to us and that was first on our to do list for Sunday. We also went round to see Zoe's friend Leah from Uni. She has been out in NZ for a good few years now and so it was a bit of a day of home comforts for us at her place with tea and coffee and a "Silly Hats Party" to round off the day.

Sunday we checked out of the disorgansed shambles of a hostel and checked into a much nicer more civilised place in town. Then breakfast and then off to the market. We selected a camper van, had it mechanically checked and paid a deposit. Extracting our money from the bank to pay for it would be Monday's worry. Dinner at Leah's house (where I was finally able to back up our pictures onto DVDs) was an unexpected and delicious bonus while we waited to see when we would be able to take delivery of our new home for the next 2 months.

To cut a long story short on Monday we did an about face. We were offered a really good deal on a rental that meant that even with te loss of our deposit and the fee for the safety check we are going to be quids in. As well as this we will not have the worry of trying to sell a vehicle in the off season. Shame we didn't get the rental offer (2 thirds the price of the rental prices we were quoted on Saturday fo a more suitable van) until after we had paid out the very much non-refundable deposit money. It's a jungle out there.

Here I leave you. We get our new home tomorrow morning. Who knows where we will be when Zoe resumes the story next.

Until next time.