Absolutely amazing coming in to land as the view was breathtaking, snow covered mountains and dramatic landscape, then you saw the smog! it was a thick blanket of brown hazey muck above the city which i hadn't seen since China.

We came into land at about 5pm local time then got ourselves into a taxi with Emma, Toby gave the driver the wrong address so we took quite along time to finally work out where our hostel was. It was such a superb place to stay and was done out like a house in London- really funky and bright. Catherine who we bump into all the time was sitting in on the couch so we had a natter to her for a while whilst waiting for someone to sort out our room.

We dumped our bags in the 4bed dorm and found that we had lovely new mattress and big duvets, absolutely wonderful. After making up our beds we went straight out to get something to eat at a Tappas restaurant right next door. It had been quite a while since we had eaten anything nice and tasty so it was with great gusto we ate our salads (that's what me and Emma had) they were really fresh and full of flavour, lots of bread and dips and then we were brought out lots of wonderful different Tappas, what with all the good wine, beer and cocktails, we just couldn't get enough.

After we all couldn't move because we had eaten so much we just went back to the hostel and went to bed.

We decided to go out for a walk and get some bearings on the area. First of all we went to find the Spanish Schools to see if they were open to find out about the whole set-up but they were both shut because it was a holiday.

Thought we should go and get some shopping instead of going out for something to eat so walked for hours and hours all around the City trying to find a supermarket and another hostel which we had tried to get in before but it had been full. The area was amazing and full of character and the buildings were rambling old mansion type places with turrets and balconies etc. They were all different colours and i just loved the whole atmosphere of street performers and painters, rather like London. We found a huge indoor market selling everything including the biggest fish i have ever seen. We bought some fruit then went and had a quick lunch before going into a huge supermarket to get some food. It was there Toby realised he had given the fruit man too much money so we walked back to try and explain, we obviously didn't get the money back, Toby keeps getting the notes mixed up and giving out too much.

We then walked about for another hour and finally found the hostel which turned out to be an old family home, must have been a huge family as the place was bloody huge. It was like a massive run down french chateau with tall ceilings and tall skinny doors - oodles and oodles of character. After a quick look around we put ourselves down for the next night for 3 people but they couldn't tell us until some people checked out the next day if we could there was going to be any room.

I put my foot down and said we would get a taxi back to our hostel as i was so tired so Toby had to conseed even though he wanted to walk all the back again. Spent the evening sat up on the deck at the back of the building eating fresh cooked chicken and tomato's and olives accompanied by 90p wine then just dossed out for the rest of the evening.

Had b'fast then packed our stuff whilst Toby phoned up the hostel to see if they had any room for us, which they did so we all got in a taxi and scooted over to the new hostel. We were now in a 8 bed dorm which still had someone asleep in it so we just dumped our bags and went to investigate. There seemed to be quite a few people walking around with hangovers so they had obviously had a good night.

I went out for little walk leaving to other two to their own devises then came back to make dinner for the both of us finding lots of free food left over in the fridge. We thought it would be nice to go out for a drink so Me emma and Toby went out to find a bar thinking there would be loads but couldn't find anything apart from one place which was just closing so we just had one large bottle between us and got chatting to an Ozzy bloke.

We decided to get a couple of takeaway bottle and go back to the hostel only to find ourselves walking past a few really funky bars which we hadn't seen as they were all tucked away. Spent the rest of the evening playing cards with loads of others who were also staying in the hostel getting through lots of beer and wine. I left them to it and went to bed at midnight.

Didn't get up until 10am which was so late for me, had a quick shower then didn't do much for the rest of the day as i was feeling pretty rough. I did want to go for a walk around the park but just ended up sitting on the couch and writing my diary.

Didn't do much in the evening but did get an answer from the Spanish School saying it would be ok for me to start first thing in the morning, how exciting is that!..

Got up at 7am and whilst Toby made us some lovely porridge which i thought most healthy but Toby had once again woken up in a foul mood and ended up breaking someone else's dish which fell out of the fridge......... he then proceeded to moan because all the chocolate cereal had been eaten (it was a very small box) even though he had always said he hated chocolate cereal for b'fast and couldn't understand why would people eat that crap? ........ needless to say by the time we left the hostel and were walking to school, (Toby thought he would try out one around the corner) he had got himself into a right mare and proceeded to really upset me on my first day of School.

When i arrived, an hour later, that will keep me fit everyday! i found i was the only one in the class and you would usually have to pay extra for personal tuition. I met my lovely teacher called Paola who is 28 and very very nice, so proceeded to introduce me to the wonderful world of Spanish which i enjoyed a lot more than i thought.

At 1pm I said goodbye and took myself and my new folder full of notes and homework and walked all the way back to the hostel which seemed to take me an hour and a half this time? very weird walking back though as the people really stare at you if you have lighter hair and different coloured eyes, you really begin to feel self conscious. I loved walking around the City though and was just like London with all the fantastic buildings and large open Squares with parks etc, very very cosmopolitan.

Went back to the hostel and had some lunch and met up with Toby who grunted a few words, i couldn't be arsed with him so sat and did all my homework then sat up till late watching Tomb Raider.

Another early morning but this time Toby woke up in a better mood so there were no tantrums. I checked my email as i am still waiting to hear from Clare about when they are going to get to Chile but still haven't had word. Walked to School which took only 40mins and had a great day ( still the only one in the class) finding it a little harder today and just cant soak up the information, my brain has never retained anything even though i try sooooo hard - really annoys me.

Finished School at 1pm and walked back again on my own stopping off to look around a huge Cathedral, took my breath away going in as it was just so beautiful - proper Catholic grand thing with all the trimmings. I then went to find the museum so that we could both go for look around another day then walked back to the hostel.

Took all afternoon and evening to do all my homework then had a glass of wine and an early night.

Still nothing from Clare so starting to worry now.......

Walking to school was pretty hard because of the pollution, really made my chest burn.

School was great and we went for an outing to the supermarket so that she could teach me how to purchase and what the names of the veggies and fruit were etc, all very interesting but we did manage to filter towards the chocolate isle and purchase some large bars of chocy to take back to school to consume in the afternoon

Met Toby after lessons back at the old Hostel we first stayed at so that we could hopefully meet up with Rob ( ditty man whom we met in Tahiti. But he had gone down the beach for the day, so we went out for some lunch in a lovely little place suggested by Paola (my teacher).

Didn't walk back today but caught the Metro on my own whilst Toby went off to look for some second hand trousers.

Didn't do much in the evening but spent the whole afternoon doing my homework and then had a beer in the evening. Emma managed to purchase herself a pair of second hand boots which have to be the funniest things I have ever seen! They seem to be made from some kind of animal - probably labrador, and are just Emma all over.

Yep up for School and looking forward to the weekend!

lessons were really good as usual but still struggling!

Had lots of laughs and have really made friends with Paola which is nice, hope to go out for a few drinks with her at the end of the course. I met up with Toby again and caught the metro home. I wanted to post a card for my dads birthday so thought there would be a post box near our hostel but when we got back it seems there are no post boxes due to kids setting fire to them...... so the only way i could post it would be to go all the way back into town to the Post Office and send it from there - bugger have to do it in the morning on the way to School.

Spent all afternoon doing my homework as usual whilst Toby didn't seem to have any... bastard. Didn't do much in the evening but did have good news from Clare and Beau telling us they are flying out on the 8th Sep!!!!!! i am soooo excited.

Emma and Toby went and got some beers which seemed to escalate by the evening, turned into a bit of a girls session with Emma being the funniest one out of the gathered group. I have to try and explain about Emma - i think there should be an 'Emma' in every household as she is like a ray of sunshine bringing joy and light everywhere she goes. She is open and honest, kind, generous and has the funniest sweetest nature you could ever wish to meet - how are we going to travel without her? got so used to her being around now........

Anyway whilst we were drinking and having a laugh Toby got approached by Simon the owner and asked if we would like to move to a twin room, for only 5,000pesos - £5 each a night as apposed to the £4 we were paying each for a dorm bed. So of course we jumped at the idea and were soon moving all our gear into the room next door. Problem was leaving Emma, felt so guilty seeing her little face ( she was also in our dorm).

Almost forgot to mention that our Colin came by the Hostel to say hello, the same Colin from Easter Island who helped our poor Emma when she got her foot bit by the dog, very nice guy. It was great to see him again so made arrangements to meet up Friday afternoon for some drinkies.

It was nice getting up in the morning and being able to turn on the light for a change! after our regular bowl of porridge we raced to school stopping of at the post office to send dads card. Then went our separate ways for the day and i spent my day getting boggled by some more Spanish !! good thing was it was Friday which meant it was the WEEKEND............... oh how fantastic is that! felt just like the old days when we had weekends to look forward to, oh so long ago when we were working and all that malarkey.

After School i met up with Toby and we went to a bar where we met up with Emma and Rob and a guy called ........... from Switzerland, had a great afternoon drinking our way through copious amounts of beer and gaining more people all the time from various hostels and different nationalities. LIsa and ..... also joined us who were in the same class as Toby learning Spanish - LIsa is really nice. So by the end of the afternoon we had ourselves a right old gang of people having a laugh. Problem was, it was bloody cold and i didn't have any jumpers with me as they were both in the launderette for the day. So Rob very kindly went and got me one of his which saved my life cause at that point i had turned blue!

................ proceeded to tell us how he had all his things stolen a couple of days before, only telling us half the story at fist then as the night went on he told us how he had got drunk and then took a lady back to his hotel room and managed to have a good time with her then wake up the next morning to find her and his things gone. His bag contained his flight tickets, passport,visa,money - oh dear....

She did have a conscience though as she handed back in the flight tickets,passport and visa !!! Toby went and called Colin to see if he was out and about but didn't manage to catch up with him in the end. We all started to get really cold so decided to back to Robs hostel (our old one) to sit in the reception and get warm before heading elsewhere. So off we all went, sat around for a bit and chatted but Toby was tired and wanted to get back so we left them all to it and caught the metro home, Toby went straight to bed whilst i stayed up and watched TV for a bit.

So looking forward to a lie in but managed to get up early and then sit around for a good few hours putting off doing my Spanish homework and to put all my notes in my lovely new note book i had purchased. I did have a shower at around 11am then put some moisturiser on my body because for some reason i have turned reptilian? i have never seen anything like it, my legs are white with scales....... could it be the pollution and the water?

Anyway after lunch i sat down for hours and hours and hours re doing all my notes whilst Toby went off to do his own thing-he didn't have any homework. Gave up at 8pm and then just pottered around chatting to different people and looking for Catherine's (she works at the hostel) mobile phone - seems it had been stolen some time in the day. Have to say there are a lot of thefts going on, whether it be food or other, mostly food. Some bugger stole our loaf of bread whilst others have had loads of food stuff taken. A girl also came back to the hostel saying how she had had a bloke run past her in the street earlier on in the day and he had try to grab her bag but she luckily had a tight hold on it so he just stole her sunnies from the top of her head.........lot of that going on around these parts. That's why i worry cause it was only yesterday when Toby got up to go in the restaurant to order some food whilst we were sat out on the outdoor table, he just left his bag on the floor and his wallet on the table ( a table away from us) The others couldn't believe it whilst i just nodded in desperation - when will he learn!

Toby went to bed at 10pm as he had the beginnings of a cold again

Had a bit of a lie-in and then went up the shop to get some b'fast then spent the whole day sitting in the sun doing my Spanish and trying to make some sense out of all my notes whilst Toby and Emma buggered off for the day. In the evening Simon ( the owner) hung a wall hanging on our bedroom wall whilst i did my diary, he said we could have a double room tomorrow. Seems though the couple who's room we were taking over weren't leaving the next day so we couldn't move in yet. I studied all day until 8.30 in the evening but just couldn't do anymore so did some of my diary then sat down to watch some TV. Toby and Emma came back at 9pm and were both knackered from walking around all day and Toby seemed to be feeling pretty rough by now with his cold.

The couple next door were moving all their stuff out so we chucked our bags in and left for school. Feeling pretty tired but being good students, we hauled our asses into school and went to our lessons. Didn't go so well as i was just not getting into the whole learning thing and just feeling tired. Poula, my teacher just said it was because it was Monday but i think i'm trying too hard. I set myself such high goals sometimes that i get frustrated when i can't reach them. Didn't meet up with Toby after School as i wanted to have a look around and get a red pen and some hair stuff which turned out to be quite expensive as usual - why to they charge so much to stop your hair from going frizzy? I had a walk around the second hand shops for a bit then walked home. Toby was already back after catching the metro home but he was doing some computer stuff for Simon so i left him to it and did my homework for the rest of the day. Toby went out and got a takeaway pizza and came back with some free garlic bread, bottle of Sprite. chicken wings and a big pot of Carte Dor ice-cream - can't be bad! Emma helped us eat some of the ice-cream but we left most of the pizza for the rest of the week, yeah right.......Had an early night in our new double room which was really nice especially as we had a window, the rest of the rooms were pretty dark and dingy due to not having windows.

Woke up feeling a lot more enthusiastic today and school was really good fun, still the only one in the class so Poula and i have formed a really good relationship and laugh all day. We went for a walk around the palestinian area which was full of market stalls and clothes shops so we walked slowly around whilst i learned all the colours and clothes in Spanish. Met up with Toby after School then went over to phone my dad as it was his b'day. He was really pleased to hear from me and it was o good to speak to him. I then phoned Beau and Clare and spoke to Beau just to confirm what they wanted to do when they flew over on the 9th of September. All very exciting!!!

We then caught the metro home and did our homework for the rest of the day - well i did mine and Toby helped me as he didn't have any, as usual. Toby went off later in the evening to do some more work for Simon and seemed to be in his element, answering the phone and helping out on reception - looked like one of the family. Catherine was on reception for the evening shift and said we should go down and keep her company. So after dinner i grabbed the box of red and went down to reception area only to find a little party gong on. Emma and Toby were already into the wine and were joined by quite a few others, all of whom were getting very merry on the red wine. Toby linked his MP3 player up to the stereo so we had music, good crowd and drink. Ended up sitting up till quite late chatting and finding out all the other travel stories.

I went to bed at quite a respectable time leaving everyone else to it. Toby didn't come to bed till a few hours after me and a little worse for wear.......

Woke up feeling a little low and Toby feeling a little hung over so we caught the Metro in giving us an extra 30mins at the hostel. Had another good day at school and ended up watching a Tom and Jerry cartoon then had to answer questions about what i had seen - my favourite cartoon.

I then went and met up with Toby for some lunch as he had to hang around the area because he was going to a School outing at 3.30pm

I then caught the metro back to the hostel and spent all afternoon doing my homework and chatting to Emma who was leaving first thing in the morning.

Had a quite evening just chilling out in front of the TV, Toby didn't get back until 5ish but didn't tell me a thing about what he had seen.

Had to say our goodbyes to little Emma first thing and i was really upset to see her go, she had become a really good mate and was just a bundle of loveliness to have around. Had another good day at School and couldn't believe my week was nearly over- have i even learnt anything? Got back home and studied for a few hours then just vegged out in front of the TV watching the MTV awards with the crowd and was once again bowled over at just how cringy the whole American - looks are everything attitude, the whole show was just an unbelievable pile of poo and was only made worse by watching Madonna snog Brittany Spears and Christina Aguilara (with tongues) just for affect ...... seems it worked though cause all the blokes thought it was great!

Last day at School! feeling quite sad about my last day as i will miss little Poula and her funny stories as well as not learning anymore. I stopped off to buy some cakes before class for our tea break for a treat. Lessons were cool and we did a run through all the stuff we had covered which to my surprise i had remembered quite a lot - maybe i'm not such a waste of space as previously thought.....

We had lots of laughs and ate cakes all day accompanied by the other Poula who also runs the School. At the end of the day they presented me with a certificate and took my photo then gave me a book to write my opinion of the course which of course was all good - both girls were just fab. I asked Poula if she wanted to come to the BBQ and band the hostel was doing on Saturday night but she was having a bit of a shin dig at her place that she invited us to, which i said i would love to go. We all had lots of hugs and kisses then i said goodbye and went to meet Toby who was waiting for me on the corner. He said that his school mates were all having lunch together so we walked up to find them, then went for some grub which wasn't so good - not very good at doing food over these parts.

We then went back home then i studied for a few hours but ended up talking to a lovely girl and her brother from the UK who were so extremely nice. They were both really talented and could sing brilliantly, he also played the guitar and harmonica - very clever family. Clive is a doctor and Nicole is a speech therapist and get on so well which is strange for a brother and sister, i ended up listening to the iPod with Nicole sharing the earphones and sang our hearts out much to the dismay of everyone else. Clive also played me a few tunes which they both sang along to, so it was a lovely afternoon of making new friends and singing. The hallway seems to be a great place to sit down as people who walk past just come and sit down to talk and chill - way cool. A another couple came and joined us, he was just about to leave to go back to the UK whilst she carried on traveling for a bit so they came and had a chat then went off. Later on whilst i was in the kitchen i noticed to girl come in - she looked so sad so i went and found her a little later on to see if she was ok - i found her in the dorm room looking so forlorn and when i went and asked if she was ok she just started crying. Bless her heart, so i went and made her a nice cuppa tea and asked if she wanted to go out for the evening, but she declined saying she would be ok, it was just a bit of a shock coming back to the hostel without him. Anyway back in the kitchen Simon asked if we wanted to go out to a bar with him at about 10.30 so we said we would give it a go. Don't know if i have mentioned the people over here don't go out until 11pm then stay out all night - bars stay open till 9am. So in the end a group of us got together including Emma and James a Kiwi couple who have been staying in the hostel for a couple of months and were really good fun as well as some other people who worked at the hostel. The bar was also a restaurant and seemed to be a real popular place - it was packed so we squeezed ourselves into a corner and proceeded to drink beer and have a really good laugh. Some more guys joined us a bit later on so in the end there was about 10 of us. At some point in the morning we decided to go back to the hostel so we all bundled in taxis and went back. The rest of the group then went back out again whilst Toby and i didn't but did go to bed at 4am which wasn't bad going for us.

Seems the rest of the group didn't get in till 7am which was a fantastic effort.. Mind you i saw Emma that afternoon and she looked bloody awful! I spent the afternoon just studying whilst Toby went out to find someone to mend his now split boots, i had told him for 2 yrs to waterproof and clean them so they would last him - need to look after your boots! but he didn't listen and the darn things have now bust. The rest of the hostel family were all busy making salads and preparing for the BBQ that evening. Toby came back later on not achieving a thing, but did buy some glue.

The BBQ turned out to be a great success and the food was bloody wonderful - so much meat. It is so cheap over here and so good thanks to no chemicals etc so it's all really really tasty. We all had such a good time and the band were very good, before we knew it, it was 11pm and time to go to Poula's house. We jumped in a taxi and found her place, she was really pleased to see us and introduced me to her mates - some were German and could all speak fluent Spanish. We got talking to ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,who is Poula's friend and wanted to try out his English on us which was very good. he even had a proper accent and sounded just like the Queen, which everyone thought was hilarious when i said this out loud, it turned out he was gay.....

We all then buggered off to another party where we greeted by the other Poula and then spent the whole evening drinking and dancing Salsa and Tango. The whole group of people were good fun and we all just got mixing and talking to everyone. As it turned out ..............mate was his boyfriend which i hadn't realised and we all got on brilliantly - i seem to attract gay guys? he thought it was amazing that i didn't even blink when he told me. It seems gays get an awful time over these parts and are not accepted which is a shame. That's why he seemed shocked that i wasn't disgusted with him and his boyfriend, no skin off my nose.

Had a fab time dancing and drinking, drinking and dancing then decided to go home seeing as it was about 5.30am, so the gang walked us to a taxi and we had lots of hugs goodbye and promises to meet again when Beau and Clare get here, then we went home - didn't get to bed till after 6ish.

Didn't get up till the early afternoon which was a waste but i did feel pretty groggy. Just sort of lounged around for the afternoon We had another chat about whether he should go away for a few days whilst i did my own thing around Santiago and Toby thought it would be a good idea - we just haven't been communicating as well as we should so thought it would do us good.

Stayed up to watch a film and didn't go to bed till late.

Woke up feeling pretty rough again - feel like i'm coming down with something, my glands are swollen and i'm full of gloopy stuff.

The pollution certainly doesn't help and everyone seems to coughing and feeling a little ill, but then everyone burns the candle both ends! Toby went off to find some boots and other bit and pieces but came back empty handed apart from some glue for his split boots. I tried to do some Spanish but just have the energy so ended up chatting to people and milling around. Woke up in the early hours because some guys had come back from a night out and decided to watch TV full blast then shout to each other over the top. I sleep in my loose see through top and baggy trousers at night time, and my bikini top. I got up to got and shut the lounge door and tell them to keep it down so in i stropped and said my piece then crawled back into bed again, it was only when i did this did i realise my bikini to had come off and was around my neck exposing my boobs to all the world through my see through top. How bloody embarrassed was I !!!!! explains why they all just looked at me and went very quiet - i thought it was my angry face........

Toby is definitely going tomorrow and i think he is looking forward to getting away from the area and probably from me. Made lots of arrangement to do things for the rest of the week which was cool then just chilled out with some of the crowd for the rest of the evening. Didn't sleep well as i kept forgetting to breath all night and wake up gasping - very much like when i did the Everest climb and the altitude had the same affect.

Well today is the day i'm left on my own! i emailed mother to let her know the plans and of course she sent me back an email panicking telling me not to go out on my own or to do anything stupid etc, honestly i think she thinks i'm going to walk out with a mini skirt in the early hours.......i might not be a clever chick but i have always had good common sense.

Ole Emma is traveling around South America on her own so i'm really not being brave by staying in Casa Roja on my tod........We packed up all our stuff from the double room as i now had to move into a dorm room - bummer. Toby left at 2pm so we said our goodbyes - seemed very strange to watch him walking away down the road with his backpack on - hope he stays safe.

I went and got my bag and headed off to Saint Lucia which is a big hill in town that has been made into a big sort of folly and reminded me of a big enchanted castle with lots of steps and secret paths leading onto patio's and fountains and little grotto's etc I had a lovely time walking around there for a few hours but was always aware of who was around me especially when i got out my camera - Emma had told me about all the men that come up to you and try to sell poetry and don't leave you alone, but i didn't have one person come up to me - i seems to only attract gays and dogs, still i had my penknife in my pocket just incase. I had decided on having a quiet evening just spending some time on my own and reflecting bla bla. But within minutes of me sitting down outside in the courtyard i had people come up and sit with me wanting to chat. Just sometimes it's nice to have some space but it wasn't looking like i was going to get any....... ended up having a really good evening though and played table tennis with a big crowd of people One of the blokes who i had told off in the night and had seen my boobs was one of the guys who was chatting to me the most and i just couldn't look him in the eye, i wish he would have just said something to make me feel less stupid but he didn't. Simon the owner came out to join us and i ended up drinking a lot of red wine with him then watched Mad Max 1 till the early hours of the morning until i could no longer see the TV so went to bed. Merlin and a few other guys wanted to come along for the walk i was doing then next morning but they had turned the whole thing into a camping expedition and wanted to borrow the van and load it up with meat and beer - it was escalating into a full blown trip, i just wanted to go for a walk?

I had made arrangement previously to go out to a national park walking for the day with Catherine and Edith, so i crawled out of my pit after having a very fitful sleep due to having a throat full of gloop and stopping breathing all night again, strange thing is i could feel my self doing it? i felt i would relax then gasp awake constantly forgetting to breathe, now how the hell can you do that? my chest felt like it was full of asbestos and my throat was full of custard...

Got up at 9am and felt like shite so had a quick shower and b'fast, i was really looking forward to getting out of the city for the day. The rest of the crowd that had wanted to come and stay camping had all pulled out due to something or other which i was relieved about but as i was about to walk out the door to catch the train i got a phone call from Catherine who had gone teaching that morning and i was going to meet. Anyway she said the weather was shit and should we do the wine tour instead, i agreed not wanting to really drink any more wine but the weather did look groggy. Edith went off and met her friend and went for another walk so i just caught the metro to the end of the line to meet up with Catherine as she said the winery was in that area. Turned out it was nowhere near that area so had to catch the metro back to the bus station and find out what other trips they had. It was quite funny cause Catherine worked at the hostel and should have known where the wine tour was as she had to give out information to people! It was now lunch time and getting a bit late to do anything, problem was the weather had turned nice and the sun was shining down so we could have done the walk after all...... Catherine suggested the cinema and i thought that was a great idea so we hopped on a bus to take up to a huge shopping mall Catherine had suggested, this had a really big cinema. The bus journey took bloody ages and took us right the other side of town miles away from the hostel, funny thing is we passed so many cinemas on the way.......... We found the darned shopping mall which was bloody huge and got ourselves a couple of tickets to watch the Johnny Depp - Pirate film. We had a little while to kill so split up and she went to have a look at clothes shops whilst i went down to get some sweets for the cinema and have a look for some camping shops to look for some boots for Toby. There were some very rich people walking around dripping in diamonds and designer outfits, the shops were all very posh which made me feel very scruffy as i had on my walking gear thinking that was what i was going to do for the day. I met up with Catherine a little later and went to watch the film which we both thought was really very good, i really really like Johny Depp specially as a pirate!

Afterwards we caught the bus back home which took over an hour, i was knackered and now feeling very rough, don't know if it is a cold or what? had something to eat then went to bed very early. Didn't sleep again due to my throat closing up all night and forgetting to breathe again.....

God what the hell is wrong with me? i now feel like a have a slight temperature and my chest is like a cheese grater....... how interesting, i'm going to look very healthy when i see Beau and Clare! Spent the morning looking very pathetic whilst sitting outside doing my diary. I had offered to help dig in the garden but just couldn't bring myself to do it. Made a mental note to call Clare and Beau in the afternoon so after lunch i went down to the telephone office and went and called them - luckily Clare answered the phone so we had a lovely little chat, she is so excited about coming over! I had asked mother to pack up a few things to give to Clare and Beau to bring over ie chocolate, hair product and marmite.... most important things in the world. Didn't do much in the afternoon but paid a quick visit to the pre columbian Museum up in town which turned out to be really good. Still missing Toby a lot so that is good news! everyone went out for the night time but i just stayed in and and an early night - people have stopped asking me if i want to go out now!

I wanted to go out for the day so checked my emails in the morning then caught the train up val pariso and went up to look at the giant virgin on top of the huge hill called St Christabella. I caught the tram up to the top and had a lovely walk around but spent most of the time in the church which was beautiful and empty which was just how i wanted it. Hadn't had any time to my self for so long as the hostel was just so busy and loud so the complete piece and quiet of the church was wonderful. I sat in there for quite a while then went up to the top of the hill to look at the giant virgin then caught the tram back down the hill again and home. Had another quiet evening in as i was still feeling pretty rotten and my chest was wheezing like a trooper.

Went out for the day with NIcole and Clive to Valperaso so i got up early and waited for the others to get up, seems they both had a heavy night! We all caught the Metro to the bus stop then caught the coach for the 2hr drive to Valpereso. We met 2 dutch girls that we had made friends with before and a German guy who they new but i didn't. He was a real sweetheart and had the bestist blue eyes i have ever seen, even had a good sense of humour for a German. The bus journey was really good and we saw lots of country side which is something we hadn't seen for a while! green grass and trees......fantastic. When we got there we all walked around for hours being shown around the place by a Chilean guy who is a friend of the German guy - all very nice but it was cold and after a little while we wanted to sit and have some beer and nosh. The rest of them all wanted fish so i just opted for some beer whilst they chowed down on some shell fish soup and some other fishy stuff. We all had a really good day and the view from the top of the hill was really good apart from it being a bit cloudy. The buildings were amazing and we spent most of the time just wandering around the tiny streets looking at the brightly coloured houses and churches - fantastic. We all decided to call it a day by about 6pm so traipsed back to the bus station. I had a great day and it was good to get out of the city but i really did want to go somewhere for some fresh air and some space but it turned out to be a smaller version of Santiago unfortunately, never mind. We didn't get back until 8ish so went to the supermarket and got some food for dinner then went back to the hostel. Everyone was getting drunk in the kitchen as it was Jesus (said as hisuz) who worked at the hostels, birthday. So it was a huge piss up then a going out round the bars thang, but i we weren't up for going out so just sat down in the lounge. Nicole went to bed and Clive ended up going out with his female friend whilst i went to bed about an hour later.

Didn't get up till 10am which is quite late but then the sods in my dorm room didn't stop packing up their backpacks and snow boarding stuff until 3.30am in the morning, then had the light on and were making a right old noise. I had made the decision to not do much for the whole day so it was a nice feeling knowing i had a day to veg. Had a lovely b'fast o porridge with some left over condensed milk then watched TV with NIcole and Clive for a couple of hours just drinking tea and chatting. Simon was outside still doing his building and had been up all night drinking and playing cards, still doing well.

Checked my emails but didn't get any - bummer. went down the shops to get some stuff for veggie soup then the rest of the gang went out down the park to watch the 30 yr celebration of the kick ass of pinochet but couldn't be assed to move off the couch.

Woke up early and went to sit in the kitchen for some B'fast and piece and quiet which is the good thing about getting up early in the morning. Toby walked in as i was just about to dive into my porridge so we had a huge hug and i told him there were a few of us going on a wine tour that morning if he wanted to come along. Of course he did! so i gave him my porridge for some stamina then we met up with Hamish to catch the train. NIcole and Clive were supposed to come but declined as NIcole wasn't feeling so hot and Clive wanted to look after her. I went and checked my emails quickly before we went and found one from Clare saying they weren't coming and to give them a ring!!!!!! shit panic what do they mean they aren't coming, they have to...........So we ran around town for 20mins looking for phone cards and then a telephone to give them a ring but they weren't in so just left a message that we would call them later. I was completely shocked, we were supposed to be seeing them tomorrow!!

So off we truddled to the Metro to the last stop on the line, on the way we saw Catherine who we were also meeting for the wine trip. We then all caught the bus which turned out to be a marathon trip. The bus traveled to the foot of the Alpes where we disembarked to the Winery, we were dipensed with glasses and the found a croud of people who had already started the wine tour so we helped ourselves to a large glass of white and listed to the very interesting commentry on the Winery and the wine etc. The whole setting was wonderful and it was like a huge country Estate park that you would get back in the UK, very beautiful. I decided to drink as much as possible to try and make me feel better as i was feeling very confused and worried about why Beau and Clare weren't coming, maybe someone was ill?

Walked around for a couple of hours looking at the cellar and tasting the vino then went and had some lunch in a very expencive place opposite the winery - turned out to be a shit lunch so Toby and I went off to find a telephone - no answer again. We caught the bus and the train back to the hostel where i once again went and found a phone - finally got throiugh to find out it wasn't a joke and they really were coming. Seems Beau has had a long term problem that has got worse and just couldn't travel, Clare was so upset and kept saying sorry. Of course i was gutted but told her it couln't be helped and to get him sorted out and healthy again. I put the phone down and burst into tears in the street and just couldn' believe they weren't coming, we had planned so many things around this moment and had stayed in Santiago just to meet them - i was wetting my pants with excitement for that one big moment of meeting them at the airport and now it wasn't happening - i can't explain how bad i felt for them and for us..... ......we walked back to the hostel and i just couldn't bring myself to talk or do anything, all i new is that i just wanted to go home, all the heart had been taken out of traveling just like that. I new my mate needed me, she has had such a shit time of it lately, she has also found out her other sister has now got cancer, Jesus what other crap is going to be thrown her way? i just told Toby i wanted to go home the next day and didn't want to travel anymore. He was so lovely and so supportive, just like the old Toby i used to know and told me we can do whatever i think but to wait until tomorrow before making any decisions. Didn't talk to anyone for the rest of the day but sat in the garden and kept crying, i think what with the problems between Toby and I and now this i just fest very very low.

Felt just as bad today and still felt like a wanted to go home so i went up to the phone centre and gave Clare another call to find out how she was. She sounded alot better than the previous day and started to explain to me about all the shit that has been happening to her of late - stuff i i didn't know. But she told me she was ok and that they were going to concentrate on getting Beau sorted out.

I left feeling a little better and went back to chat with Toby to sort out what we were going to do.

South America is the one place i really wanted to see out of all of our travels and it would be a shame not to see some of it now we are here, so desided to carry on with the travel plan but take it a day at a time and see how we feel.

Toby also felt confused about going home as he was worried about his mum, his family have been going through a huge crises so thats something else for him to think about.......... all these things to worry about.

Toby went out for the rest of the day looking aroud the City at all the bits he hadn't seen whilst i just moped around the hostel feeling very sorry for myself.

It was our 2yr celebration tomorrow and neither of us had the heart to do anything as we had planned for a big celebration with Clare and Beau so decided to go out just for a couple of drinks with a few others from the hostel some of whom were leaving soon. We had decided to go out the night before because of all the troubles expected on September the 11th day, it's the 30yr aniversary of Pinochet getting his arse kicked out of power and alot of the locals demonstrate and just use it as a good excuse to vandel and get tear gas thrown at them which is supposed to start on the evening of Sept 10th

There were a huge group of us who gathered for an impromtue party down in the reception area to sing along to Clive and Garath playing the guitar and Edith playing the accordian, Taggart and his lovely girlfriend were also sat with us keeping us entertained and singing along, have to say he is the nicest American person i have met and puts my faith back in the Yanks! he actually can't stand the American culture -anyway it was all very travely and good fun but kept thinking how Clare would love to be doing this........ I collected a group of people- ended up as about 15 of us in the end who caught a taxi into town to find us a bar. Definatly something brewing amongst the locals as you could feel it in the air. On the way to the bar, one of the guys who had to be over 6ft tall got jumped on by a chilean guy who must have been about 4ft tall - extremely funny to watch as the tall guy just kept walking whilst the little guy ran around him like a terrior dog. At one point he just started running up behind the tall guy and tried to kick him in the arse but i intervined and got kicked instead which made me frickin mad! We all had few drinks in a bar then just went back to the hostel.

Had a day of rest and moping.................... didn't want to think or do anything so just packed up the box to send home and mooched around the hostel.

Went out for dinner to celebrate our anniversary so went to a cool restaurant called the fat cow, had a fantastic steak and a lovely bottle of vino - We actually got on really well and enjoyed each others company... Toby seems to making an effort and is talking to me.

Well it's the big day for the Chile people so I decided to stay off of the streets and leave them all to it. Toby went off with Taggart to see if the could take any photos and see the demonstrations - Pinochet was a bad bastard and had killed a lot of people so the atmosphere and bad feeling were running high.

Taggart ended up taking Toby to the Coffee bars where the women wear nothing but thongs (so i hear) and wiggle around serving coffee - yeah right... Obviously made Toby feel better as he came back with a big grin on his face but he had bought me a Spanish comic for me to try and relearn my Spanish again. Taggart you are a bad influence on Mr Jones!

Spent the evening drinking a bottle of white whilst Toby went and did some work then i went to bed.

Well its our last whole day in this joint and then we are out of here! so looking forward to leaving Santiago, had a fantastic time and made some great friends though. Didn't do much in the morning but did go out to a shopping Mall in the afternoon with Taggart, Helena and Emma, turned out to be a huge ordeal though. I went looking for a new top to try and cheer me up and some lip stuff. It took frickin ages to get to the Mall and then i couldn't find a single cheap top, they were all soooo expensive. So i gave up and went and had some lunch with the rest of the gang and that turned out to be another ordeal as Taggarts chicken wasn't cooked and Helena had a huge hair in her food. I only ordered soup and it was very nice but not a lot of it, luckily Emma had got herself the 'eat as much as you want salad' so kept going back up for more and more helped by me by eating it with her. Taggart then went to look for some walking boots as he was off to Easter Island Saturday morning but i talked him out of buying some that he was nearly going to purchase because they were so expensive and the shop assistant was really crap and unhelpful, a bit like most of the shop assistants in Chile. We didn't get back home until 8pm and were all knackered, i checked my email and found out that Poula was coming over to Casa Roja for some drinkies. So i rushed around trying to make myself look half decent and was given a top by Emma - can't believe i looked for hours for one at the Mall and then got back to the hostel and got given one. We sat down with Taggart and Helena and a blokey called Peter who was also off to Easter Island and had some drinks. Poula and Rodrigo and Claudio turned up at about 10.30 and we all went out to a local bar and had a blast. The only sad thing was saying goodbye to Taggart as he was off early in the morning so we had lots of kisses and hugs then i went to bed.

Slept like a baby but it was soon time to get out of bed and pack up my bag which only took 5mins as opposed to Toby's bag packing! he had all his stuff thrown around the dorm as usual......I finished my diary then made a big salad to take on the bus with us and waited for Toby to get ready. We said our goodbyes to people but couldn't find Merlin as he was still in bed with a lady friend so didn't want to disturb the little tinker. Said a huge thanks to Simon for being such a fantastic host and promised to come back and see him again next year.- thanks mate.

We walked down to the metro which took us to the bus terminal, couldn't get a ticket from the tur-bus people so Toby went off to find another group to purchase a ticket then waited to 2.30pm to board. The bus was like an oven when we got on but i thought he would stick the air conditioning on pretty soon, but the bus didn't leave to near on 3pm and by that time i was feeling like a boiled lobster and getting pretty irate. When we did finally move he still didn't put the aircon on but just opened the roof windows which made no difference. I asked so many times but it fell on deaf ears or the air con just didn't work even though it was blazened on the side of the bus as a reason to use their transport. The journey just went on and on and on and was a pretty horrible trip due to the heat and the usual 6-7hr journey taking 9hrs for some reason. The views were wonderful though especially whist climbing the snowy mountains whilst the sun was just setting.

We hit the border and had to get out of the bus and que up to show them our passports etc which again took ages then had to go over the other side of the terminal to do the same process again. They then checked the bus for food before we could get back on and finish the journey.