"One is just never enough is it......"

Well our little luxurious bubble popped on Sunday morning marking the end of Abby's birthday celebrations and our time to leave Boutique behind and head back to a world of B&B's and hostels.

We had such a lovely time at The Aubrey, it was so nice to shower and to be able to blow dry my hair for the first time in two months - and to get dressed up (well as dressed up as it's possible for me to do with the contents of my rucksack!). 

On Friday night we had dinner in The Dining Room at the Aubrey which was excellent. Our evening started sitting outside in the sun (at 8:15pm!), a real treat just 10 days before Christmas, drinking G&T aperitifs which were followed by a pisco sour and then another.... to use the words of a good friend "one is just never enough is it...."

Our Wagyu beef and Boar casserole main courses were washed down with a very good Limited Edition Malbec and after dinner we moved to the bar area where we enjoyed a few drinks, including a bottle of sparkling wine which was sent over at midnight to celebrate Abby's birthday (now that definitely wouldn't happen in a hostel... God I love boutique hotels....).

The Dining Room at The Aubrey

Cheers!

Abby treated us to dinner at Astrid Y Gaston on Saturday night, a top end restaurant in South America and we were not disappointed. Maracuya Pisco's to start and then I had the mixed seafood ceviche followed by the Lomo Saltado which is a traditional Peruvian dish of steak and vegetables.

Saturday was our designated Christmas shopping day and so we were up and out early, it was the first time in almost three months that we had been somewhere with designer stores and the first 30 minutes were spent grinning and saying thinks like "ah, shoes..." and "ah, Clarins...." to each other. Then it was down to business, with a set budget and one and a half hours we split up to make sure that Father Christmas doesn't disappoint either of us too much next week.

After breakfast it was time for another bus trip, this time to cross the border into Argentina and then head to Mendoza to meet Phoebe and Ben who we became friends with in Bolivia - they were fellow members of the UN  Peacekeeping Mission.

Mendoza is the largest wine producing region in Latin America and so you can probably imagine that Abs and I are hoping for good things and  so whilst I'm sorry that our Boutique bubble has popped I am very much looking forward to the cork of our first bottle of Argentinian Mallbec popping.

See you there.

Raine x 

Welcome to The Aubrey

Not wanting to linger longer than necessary on the experience of our last night in Valparaiso allow me to welcome you to Santiago and more specifically The Aubrey in Santiago.

I booked us into this beautiful Boutique Hotel which is owned by a friend of a friend as a birthday surprise for Abs (she'll be a year older than she is today tomorrow).

It's a beautiful hotel and I may struggle to leave when the time comes on Sunday morning.

Can you see that it's 30C?

Beautiful (sunny) outside area.

Tonight we've reserved a table at the restaurant in the hotel, tomorrow night we're going to Astrid Y Gaston to celebrate Abby's birthday.

Looking forward to updating you on our gastronomic two days.

Raine x 

Heyalp! Heyalp!

Unfortunately our final day in Valparaiso didn't end well, due to a 'school boy' error on our part.

After dark when we were on our way back to the hostel we decided to get off the main drag which was incredibly busy.... can you see where this is going?

We took one of the really sweet narrow stairways up the hill, we stepped over the young couple who were snogging at the bottom, walked inbetween the two boys who were smoking halfway up and when we got to the top Abs asked a very smartly dressed man if he knew the way to Concepcion..... 

He moved and gestured for us to follow and the next moment he started shouting "BAG!" at Abby and grabbed her bag which she was wearing across her body. He pulled and pulled and after a short tussle the bag strap broke, Abs was on the floor and he ran off.... and then he ran back.... gave the bag back and disappeared.

I have, in idle moments, wondered how I would react in this kind of situation and whether I would be able to scream, (which is the recommended action to take if you are mugged or attacked) turns out I absolutely can I was screaming "Heyalp, Heyalp!" like Penelope Pitstop, and when Abby shouted "Run!" I ran and screamed "Heyalp!".

I'm glad to say that two people did help they called the police who arrived within five minutes and gave us a lift back to our hostel, not a hope of catching the mugger - who incidentally I hope gets better at his chosen profession.

Apart from Abby having a grazed elbow and a broken bag everything's fine - we're just angry that we made a bad decision one that could have had a worse outcome that it did.

Lesson learnt......

Raine x

Oh Christmas tree! Oh Christmas tree!

Christmas Tree at Caleta Portales

If Carlsberg did graffiti.....

We arrived in Valparaiso at 10pm on Tuesday, it's always hard to get your bearings when you arrive in a city at night and so we just walked a couple of blocks to a bar for a couple of beers and some salmon ceviche before hitting the hay.

Valparaiso is a crazy labyrinth of streets and passageways with houses of a  hundred different colours stacked on top of each other high in to the hills. Between 1883 and 1915 a number of 'ascensores' or funiculars were installed to help people up the steep gradients - without our 'wasp waisted' dresses, full skirts and delicate dispositions Abby and I were easily able to walk up, though we did take a ride on the oldest one just for the experience.

One of the 15 'Ascensores de Valparaiso'

In 1906 there was a huge earthquake and a tsunami here which reportedly killed 5000 people and resulted in the vast majority of Valparaiso's buildings being destroyed which I guess explains the apparently random approach to construction here, it really is a higgledy piggledy city and I really like it.

We're staying in an area called Conception on Cerro Alegre in the bohemian quarter, it is jam packed with cool little bars, restaurants, cafes and shops. Almost every wall you walk past is covered in graffiti some of it basic and ill thought through but a lot of it really is art and I apologise to the purists out there but it definitely adds to the charm of this city.

Not just graffiti

Today we took the metro to Caleta Portales a small fishing village where we watched Seagulls, pelicans and seal lions fighting over the fish gut scraps that the Fishermen threw to them.

Food Fight......

Afterwards we went on to Vina del Mar, supposedly a relaxing seaside town but in my opinion it was dull and over developed so we hopped back on the metro to Valparaiso where our walk to the hostel was made all the more pleasurable by a Chocolate & Churros stop. 

However I try and describe this sweet treat I will not be able to do it justice...... Imagine the very best hot chocolate that you have ever dreamt of but have probably never had, thick and creamy and sweet but not too sweet and then into this sweet treat fantasy add the finest lightest fried sticks of doughnutty deliciousness, not heavy or greasy but light on the inside and crispy and sugar dusted on the outside...... I can only imagine that if they had a 'wheel of health' on them they would be 'so red they'd be purple' but fortunately the south Americans have sweet teeth and no food police.

Tomorrow morning we'll be taking the relatively short bus ride to Santiago where we'll be celebrating Abby's birthday on Saturday and Christmas shopping before heading in to Argentina.

See you there.

Raine x

I think we're going to get Piscoed!

We arrived in La Serena just before mid day after our epic 16 hour bus journey where we passed the time by watching Four Weddings and a Funeral and eating Avocado, Cheese and Crisp rolls - the journey was fine and uneventful for us but unfortunately not for the guy sat behind us who had his bag stolen at the first stop. 

La Serena is Chile's second oldest city and we arrived to blue skies and 30 degrees. The B&B was great but La Serena is definitely only a one night stop for us. 

We went for lunch at a great little organic cafe and then walked down to the beach it was so nice to see and hear the sea but it is not an attractive place so we headed back in to the city in time for beer o'clock. An immediate difference that we both noticed is that there are no indigenous people here, everyone is dressed in western clothes with lots of people carrying bags full of Christmas presents and wrapping paper.

After a fairly lazy start to the day on Saturday we checked out of the B&B and walked to the bus station via the organic cafe (Ayawasi) where we stopped for a coffee and a piece of apple pie. 

Our destination, Pisco Elqui was only a two hour bus ride away and we'd been warned that without the sea breeze we should expect a 10 degree increase in the temperature in the valley.

Wahoo! Guess what, we arrived in Pisco Elqui and it was 35C and guess what else, we've booked another night.

 

We have a small cabin, a big pool and access to locally produced ice cold Sauvignon Blanc (Vina Falernia), we're a very short walk from the tiny village which, after last night we know has at least one very good restaurant we shared: bean ceviche (beans, olives and Heart of Palm marinated in lime juice), Squeaky cheese (like Halloumi) served with sun dried tomatoes and a bitter sweet honey dressing and lamb chops with mashed broad beans (how is it that people can not like broad beans) all washed down with a few Pisco's.....

For those of you not on Twitter here's a picture of the garden in our hotel.

It's like an English country garden

Right, I must away as it's almost time for our tour of the Pisco Distilliery - expect either a completely nonsensical blog update later or radio silence for the next 24 hours.

Raine x 

Diego, wake up it's time to go......

On Tuesday we decided to have a slow start to the day..... 

When we'd confirmed our Star Gazing Tour the previous day Ben and I had booked us all on a trip to go Sand Boarding and then on to visit Moon Valley and it wasn't starting until 2pm so it was lie-ins and late breakfasts all round.

We all met up at the pick up point for our tour, unfortunately the one person who didn't turn up was our guide but after an hour or so the agent that we'd booked through managed to find a reserve in Diego who looked about 15 with smashed glasses and the most peculiar beard, grown I imagine to make him look 15.

Whilst he was quite possibly the least effective guide and low energy person I've met we had a great day. 

Sand Boarding was hard work, so much so that Abs and I only did it once - walking up hill on sand, madness! Ben and Anthony went a few times before we called time and decided to wake Diego up to take us to Moon Valley.

Natural!

Naturals!

Moon Valley is a strange barren landscape with sand and stone formations that have been shaped over time by the wind - there hasn't been a single drop of rain in Atacama for over 400 years... It's credited as being the driest place in the world after Antarctica. These are facts that I found out before we arrived I don't get the impression that Diego had got to this part of his studies, or perhaps he fell asleep in that class......

The walk to the Great Sand Dune

At each point of interest Diego dropped us off and told us to be back in 10 minutes, it was very funny and not a problem he'll never know it but he pretty much made the day for me and to be fair when we asked to go to watch the sunset he pulled it out of the bag.

Sun setting Moon Valley

Sunset Moon Valley

After drinking our Cristal (remember it's a beer) sundowner it was pack to town for dinner and then Abs, Phoebe and I sat outside a bar close to our hostels and drank too many too strong Caipirinhas which resulted in my first hangover of the trip, I wasn't in a fit state to do anything other than drink fruit juice and eat ice cream the next day and can only imagine how Phoebe got through her 13 hour bus journey to Salta in Argentina.

Last supper....

Next is our first 16 hour bus journey which is to La Serena it will break the back of our trip to Santiago which is where we need to cross over in to Mendoza in Argentina.

Raine x