It´s been a while since we updated but rest assured there are plenty of stories to tell this time!!
So from Pucon we caught the bus North to Valparasio where a few people had recommeded we visit. Unfortunately this is a party town and we were there at the start of the week so I think we missed the essence of the place and didn´t really take a liking to it... There were lovely ´cerros´surrounding the port town which are basically big hills overlooking the water with colourful houses and chairlifts up the hill but that was the extent of it.
We then headed East to Santiago, and blissfully short bus trip of only 2hrs! Here we looked at a few sights, but only saw the famous virgin statue from a distance crawling home from Bellavista in the morning after a local bar girl who used to work at Hooters be-friended us for the night!! It was a pretty crazy night. We started out on Concepcion street at about 12am (as no-one starts partying until at least midnight, if not 2am). Of course the only good bar was an Irish one called the Dublin so we settled in for the bevvies here. As we did, Annaka decided she liked the look of us and told us where to go next which was a club. She met up with us here later, and as we were feeling sorry for ourselves and ready to go home, she managed to drag us to a private áfter hours´ party. We were of course the ´gringo´s´here and our friends looked after us well when everyone was staring and pointing at the ´mochillas´(backpackers).
Needless to say we were a bit tired and hungover to site see the next day! And we had to get the bus to Mendoza. With the tickets all ready and paid for all we had to do was turn up. Or so we thought... Tim found out he had lost his departure card for Chile and the bus driver wouldn´t let us on!! So we spent a few hours at the International Police and thankfully got the bus that afternoon.
This was supposed to be a leisurely 6hr trip with a quick border crossing, however the bus decided to make funny noises for a while, then break down in the middle of the Andes for over 2hrs! After 2 trucks tried to tow the bus unsucessfully we finally got a replacement and arrived in Mendoza at midnight...
Mendoza is a lovely town, with a very relaxed feel and is the centre of the wine industry. Needless to say, we were compelled to take the bus to Maipu and hire bikes to ride between the wineries.
This was great fun! Although we weren´t sure how far the first winery was but we found some other lost backpackers and after 1.2hr of riding we were well and truly ready for the first tasting... Yummo. Lots of Malbec wine here, its their specialty, quite nice. So wobbling along we did about 5 wineries and managed to ride home ok!
Another event that we will never forget occurred in Mendoza. All we wanted was to buy bus tickets to Iquique! However only a few companies did this trip and we went to a dodgy little shop with an old lady smoking away... as we were trying our best in Spanish to enquire about the price, we ended up in a little cofuffle with the nasty lady behind the counter holding our passports and money as she thought we agreed on the ticket... She was getting very nasty, so the police had to get involved in order to get our belongings off the lady, and not pay a $200 cancellation fee for the tickets we didn´t need!! Phew... that was close.
So we opted out of the long 30hr bus trip to Iquiuqe and looked into flights. Thankfully we got some at the last minute from Santiago, on the same night as our bus trip back to Santiago... All was looking good.
The bus started out well, however when we arrived at the border there appeared to be a huge backlog of buses to check. Chile are careful with their customs as they do not have fruit flies (borded by the Andes, desert and the ocean they cannot get in the country). We thought it might take a couple of hours and we would be OK to get our flight that night.. No, our luck was still running low and we were at customs for 4hrs. We left slightly anxious about squeezing in our flight that night...
We arrived at the bus station and ran for a taxi, then ran for our flight, and just got on with a sigh of relief..
The flights here are funny as they stop along the way, so a flight from sth to nth Chile might stop 4-5 times. We only stopped once, then finally arrived in the beautiful coastal town of Iquique in Northern Chile.
Now we have spent a well deserved day on the beach with surfies everywhere. August managed to body board the waves but has skun her knees for proof of the big waves and a decent dunking!!
Next we´re off further North to Peru where we will go to Arequipa and look at the Colca Canyon which will be a 4day walk. We would have loved for more time to work up the coast but we´re booked in for the Inca Trail the first week in March, and what a better place that Cuzco to party the night away for Tims birthday!
We´ll keep you posted. Hopefully no more police or customs stories to follow!!
