TAFI DEL VALLE TO SALTA (ARGENTINA)

The early bus ride to Tafi del Valle was breathtaking but the archaeological site of "Los Menhires" rather disappointing. 125 standing stones with mainly no engraved designs left and collected from various sites around the area.

We would have been on an early bus to Cafayate the next day if we wouldn't have been drinking with a bunch of Argentinian hippies till 5am. We wasted a day under the roof because of rain and we avoided the Fernet+Coke (deadly addictive) that night.

In Cafayate we went to see the colourful Quebrada (rock formation), the ruins of Quilmes and unfortunately we didn't make it to the waterfall. We were more fond of going clubbing and ended up with a terrible hangover after dancing Cumbia, drinking with locals and "Phil from England" even got called on stage to drink a huge spirit cocktail.

The Salta trip was awful considering the state of us but did we learn? It was raining all day in Salta and the only solution to that was going to the pub carrying on drinking. Being in that habit for a few days we managed the day after far better.

CORDOBA AND AROUND (ARGENTINA)

We went to Alta Gracia to see Che Guevara's childhood residence and the building of the Jesuit Mission. Our next destination was Cosquin being the proud owners of a ticket to the Festival National de Folklore.

The campsites were packed. empty chairs in restaurants rare and the music was ,erm, different. We got literately soaked in our tent after a heavy rain at night not leaving anything dry. Luckily it was sunny all day after and by the end of the day everything was back to normal.

Next to our campsite was a river ideal for swimming and sun bathing. The water was really shallow and people just laid in there for refreshment. When a horse crossed the river and poohed, girls in their little bikinis jumped up screaming seeing horse shit floating all around them. It was rather amusing as you can imagine.

VALLE FERTIL (ARGENTINA)

We got nearly hit by a log at night in our tent and we didn't get away with paying either as campsite matey was up and running at 5am.

We arranged to visit 2 National Parks: Talampaya and Ischigualasto. At the end of our tour we got dropped of at a bus stop in LA Lorre and it turned out to be a shop + bar in the middle of nowhere. Everyone stopped talking and starred at us when we entered the shop and we felt more like aliens than gringos.

MENDOZA (ARGENTINA)

Our camp site in Mendoza was 6 km out of town and Phil wasn't to happy about it at first but having a swimming pool, BBQ area, table tennis and open air cinema at night didn't seem that bad after all.

Mendoza is full of beautiful young women or better we haven't seen any ugly ones. Instead we met a pretty repulsive English bloke who settled down in the paradise of women successfully (so he said).

The area is famous for its wine and we went to explore some of the wine yards. Of course we didn't know what there were trying to explain but what don't you do for some free glasses of wine?

SANTIAGO (CHILE)

Phil requested an en suite bathroom concerned about his illness. What he didn't expect was having a loo right in the room and the times of dignity were over.

We also decided to extend our travels for a further 2 months. Yeah, the girl in the travel agency was pretty but had a brain like a sieve. 6 visits it took us before we finally got our new airline tickets.

Phil nearly got himself a new Chilean girlfriend in one of the rock bars. While Petra was trying to improve her Spanish in a conversation, a girl was trying hard to rub her hand in Phil's groin. Not being very successful she still had the guts to pinch Phil's arse when we left the bar together. She was lucky Petra only heard about it afterwards.

VALPARAISO (CHILE)

Its suppose to be amazing to spend New Years Eve in Valparaiso. Therefore we were really disappointed that our online hostel booking went all terribly wrong. Everything was fully booked or ridiculously expensive. We were saved by the Chilean news seeing hundreds of people on TV camping for free on the beach. Not even knowing where exactly in Valparaiso that was, we were up for a new adventure. Arriving in town at night didn't make the situation any easier but we finally found the right bus to take us to the right beach. We weren't disappointed, the atmosphere was awesome. Next day and the last one of the year we started breakfast with a beer, carried on all day and enjoyed the firework with thousands of people. We passed out on the beach till we were surprised by a wave and we got absolutely soaked.

Phil's 3 day nightmare started the day after. FOOD POISONING! When there was finally no liquid left to come out either side we quickly packed up our tent and returned to Santiago.