VALPARAISO / VINA DEL MAR - CHILE
Ok, I cheated with the dates, we got to Valparaiso yesterday (Wed 25) after another entertaining night in a bus. At 6 am, after having sprinkled coffee everywhere because of the flatness of the road, Cristian and I sat patiently whilst other passengers got out at what did not look like a bus stop. Realising that we were the only ones left on the bus, we asked the driver who kindly told us that no, they no longer use one of the four terminals in the capital because they prefer to let people out in the middle of nowhere so they dont have to do u-turns. Great. So we got out in the middle of a pitch black park, somewhere in Santiago, by the side of a big road... Thankfully a taxi driver turned up and took us to one of the bus stations, from where we caught another bus to Valparaiso.

Valparaiso has just been added to the World Heritage List because of its colourful houses, spread over two hills. It's a charming place, with hidden alleyways, stairs and beautiful houses mixed in with decrepit sheds, and great views over the port. Its also very arty with street paintings and little shops and museums. Today we visited the old house of Pablo Neruda before going to VINA DEL MAR - not as interesting a place, although it has a better beach and a pier, like Brighton!
On our way back, we caught the Formula One combi. It took 30 minutes on the old Fiat train to get there, but only 5 on the combi to get back, the driver was an AlainProstwanabe!
Back in Valparaiso, I suddenly thought I had sunstroke because we were standing in front of a number 3 orange bus that said TG on the side and was going to Bel-Air et Rive!!! In case you ever wondered where Geneva's old buses go to...
:-)

Valparaiso

TPG bus from Geneva.

PUCON / VULCAN VILLARICA - CHILE
WE ARE ALIVE!!!! HURRAY!!!
Cristian did not stumble over his ice crampons (because we did not wear them in the end, otherwise we all know he would have) and i did not kill anybody with the ice pick (a Brazilian girl in our group took charge of that, she nobbled one of the guides over the head, he had blood pouring out, had to have one of the other guides sprint up the mountain. In doing so, the second guide lost his radio, so the third guide had to go looking for that...). I tell you, nothing is ever quite straight forwards, but everyone came back alive, even the radio.

So, we made it right to the top and got close enough to sniff the sulfur fumes and have a picnic on the smoking green and yellow rocks near the crater. The lava down below sounded like my tummy before the food.

After having consumed, and supposedly put more padding on our well-rounded bottoms - amazing what long bus rides do to the behind - we started the descent, not on crampons, or shoes, but in our sledge suits. The idea here was to slide all the way down, using the ice axe to brake (the guide must have looked like a good sturdy place to plant the pick axe). It seemed like madness at first, knowing that we could litterally slide off the side of the mountain, but we all got completely carried away and bombed down. I giggled all the way back to base camp, fantastic, well worth the wrinkles!!

View from the top, the other volcano is on the border with Argentina

On the top of the world

The crater

On the way down

PUCON / A VOLCANO / ANOTHER LAKE - STILL CHILE:
A quick blogg to let you know that we survived the Noche Valdiviana and did not die of frost bite (yep, it got cold, despite the thermals, and we ended up sitting on the bbq to warm up).
The floats on the lake were nice - our favorites being a swan one, and one with a river, bear and seagull, both eating fish (blurred pics, taken at a distance, to be loaded soon). This was followed by a firework display, not quite as extravagant as the fetes de geneve, but still.
Now we are in Pucon, some three hours away, and it is, again, really hot and sunny. Completely umpredictable, but behind the length and tone of this entry, because my feet are boiling and desperate to get out of these boots.
Tomorrow we will climb the volcano, with ice picks, crampons, snow gear, the lot. The decision was clearly taken during a moment of madness!!
more soon and much hugs

This is what the volcano looks like from down here... big monster... gahgahghg

Soothing flowers to calm the nerves - made of wood and stuck in real bushes

CHILE/LAKE DISTRICT/VALDIVIA:
We have now crossed the ANDES for the first time and we are in CHILE. After having waited 1 hour at each border they allowed us in! Believe it or not, they x rayed the all bus. Today we went to see the Pacific Ocean that was waiting for Olivia and I with a cool breeze (f@*¡?¨cold indeed). We are in Valdivia, a town south of Santiago, 10hrs by bus, in the middle on the valdivian rainforest, of what is left of it. WWF is working here to protect it. We met the nice staff of the office yesterday and they invited us for a BBQ tonight. In Valdivia there is the famous NOCHE VALDIVIANA festival - we had never heard of it. So we were verry happy to be passing by here at this specific point in time, until we reached the Hostel were we had booked. The lady had not kept our booking and had given our room away. We then realised that the festival meant that no rooms were available anywere. We walked around this small, hot (30 degrees) town, with no local currency to get a taxy, stopping at any hostel/hotel we could spot until we finally went back to the bus station. There for the first time, we actually wanted to find one of these dodgy blokes that always stop you offering the worst accomodation of your life. It didn't take long, I am heary and dark skinned but I look still look like a tourist. Local Gabriel took us to a small house with 4 rooms and a kitchen for 8 people. Resanable 20 chf for the room. Got it. Tonight is indeed the Festival night and we really hope it will be good.

In Valdivia you have 2 big rivers meeting and forming an island, the town is on both shores, joined by a bridge. The seaside is about 30m. by bus, 3 spanish fortress are still there. The curious thing about this place are the sealions. They live on the river next to the fish market (know why) and so they are pretty fat bastards. hope to share the pics with you guys once we find an USB port unknown in their Mundo Internet place.

Valdivia

Fish market in Valdivia, where the sealions were

PATAGONIA/PARCO NATURALE LLAO-LLAO:
Una altra scalata er tonificare il fisico. Dopo la pessima esperienza del Tour organizzato ci siamo decisi a fare da soli. Bus per llao llao, 1 franco, e gita alla ricerca dei sentieri ufficiali. Beh, una bella passeggiata e' il bilancio della giornata ... ma durante il percorso... abbiamo scoperto che la segnaletica non e' il pezzo forte dei guarda parco a llao-llao, i segnali sono spesso solo in una direzione su incroci a tre vie, meglio ancora non ci sono segnali del tutto, oppure sono inutili. Carta della zona completamente sbagliata, insomma come sempre ci siamo arrangiati e potete vedere la proud olivia in cima al CERRO (monte).
Oggi giornata di relax per smaltire la ennesima sconfitta del Perugia 2 a 0 in casa col Chievo. Ciao.

Olivia on the top of Cerro llao-llao.

Incrocio, a sx per "Fogones"' e a dx "non accendere fuochi" molto utile.

PATAGONIA/SAN CARLOS DE BARILOCHE:
Technically still in Patagonia but there are mountains and lakes and it all looks very different from the usual lunar landscape, so different in fact that we feel like we are back in Switzerland. Think chocolate shops, chalets, st bernard dogs (yes), and fondues. Cristian was thrilled with the later part of this place as he naively thought kirch would not have made it all the way here; he was wrong!!
But let me take you back a second and tell you about our day on Peninsula Valdez (adjacent to Puerto Madryn) a World Heritage Site - great expectations of thriving wildlife were later to be shattered by the discovery that it was in fact nominated for its marine properties as a breeding site for the Ballena Franca (southern wright whale). As it is not the right season, Franca was not around, so we had to make do with more hours of desert-like landscapes.
The loveliest part of the trip however was going in a very run down minibus that let all the dust in. so we bumped over dirt roads for hours, inhaling fumes and most of what detached from the road. this led to the best part: the complaining-to-the-travel-agent part. one of the two Argentineans on the bus took up the challenge and provided the rest of the group with a magnificent spectacle of latin character. sparks flew, sweat poured, the audience quivered as the drama unfolded. this lass had the fit of a lifetime, it was quite something and will definitely be remembered as one of the highlights of the trip so far!
unfortunately we had to leave before the end of the last act as we had to catch a night bus to Neuquen followed by a day bus to Bariloche. It nice and long, and made even longer by the brakes over heating and the tyre exploding as we waited for the brakes to cool down. Some had asked for more details about transport, was this what you were asking for?
We are going to have a hot chocolate now to celebrate our second day in Bariloche.

Centro Civico.

PATAGONIA/PUERTO PIRAMIDE:

Our rented car, is a french one.

PATAGONIA/PENINSULA VALDES:

Group of guanaco at Peninsula Valdes.

PATAGONIA/COMODORO RIVADAVIA:

LADE "Linea Aerea de Estado", aereo a pedali.

Sealions in the harbour.

PATAGONIA/RIO GALLEGOS:

Boat on the shore at low tide.

PATAGONIA/EL CALAFATE:
Hello from the moon! We have just spent the last week wondering what planet we were on; it is so dry and wind-swept down here, it is a wonder the clouds are not sheep - or maybe they are. the grass grows horizontal so the animals here all have skewed heads and lopsided mouths - sort of.
it is also lomito paradise. i have never seen so many full carcasses on spits on log fires. i should have known that this was the year of the meat after the pig episode in italy right after new year. anyhow, they have mastered the art of pasta in three forms, namely with tomato, with white sauce, with a mix of both. so there is no lack of variety.
Patagonia is a bit like that. the bus takes you for hours (we no longer do bus rides of under one hour, far too short) and yet the scenery is still the same (were we actually moving??), but we spotted a guanaco and got very excited about that. we also saw some big walking bird (no, that was not me or some local). Cristian also spotted the glacier Perito Moreno from the parque los Glaciares - it is the third largest ice field in the world and this year is the first time in 16yrs that it has frozen over again and cut the Lago Argentino in half. At some stage in a couple of years the pressure of the water will be so great that the ice will give way and collapse. all very amazing.
pictures below for your enjoyment.
we are now on our way up to Puerto Madryn, from Rio Gallegos, via a propellar plane to Comodores Rivadavia. we will be pedalling again, as with these computers!
ok, so lots of hugs from here

Steppa Patagonica.

Perito Moreno Glacier views from Mirador.

Perito Moreno Glacier views from Lago Argentino.

Perito Moreno Glacier vews from the boat.

TIERRA DEL FUEGO/USHUAIA (Fin del mundo):
Ciao, ci stiamo rilassando e ingrassando un po' prima di andare a EL CALAFATE, vedere per credere ... (foto per la mamma)

Cafe Fin del Mundo.

TIERRA DEL FUEGO/USHUAIA:
Hey... we pass by Buenos Aires to get the connection flight to Ushuaia, last Saturday, a nightmare, 3 hours of delay + a technical stop because the fuel was not enough to reach the destinations. It was not scary it was just very long. We left at 13.30 to arrive at 22.30.
Finally we are down here on the land of "Magellan" and Cape Horns. From here you can do an excursion to Antartica without problem. Yesterday we went for a walk at the National Parks of TIERRA DEL FUEGO, (you know how much I love walking) but it was actually pretty nice and I am thinking to do it again. We walk long the shore, then in the middle of the forest up to a lake... a bit windy though. Today after a bit of rest we hicked the local CERRO MARTILES to touch the Glacier. But the good one has to come we will go soon to see a bigger Glacier that expand on top of a lake ... Cool, first 18h of bus a stop and others 5h, not that nice but if you count the you cross Chile, change to bus twice and get a ferry then the 18h are passing quite fast.
Ah I was forgotting we learnt how to play Backgammon thanks Emma for the gift it is helpfull to kill the time ... Unfortunately this crap Win98 is not accepting my USB reader so no pictures today. I'll try to find the drivers now. Chao Besotes... Shall we go for a beer?

National Park Terra del Fuego.

View of Ushuaia Bay.

Olivia on top of the Cerro Martial (followed by 2 days of stiff legs).