Well, we fly tonight at 11:30 and we have time to fill before we leave. What would we do without free internet!?
So much to write about since our last entry...
The Mountains.
The mountains were fantastic, so quiet and serene, no traffic and very few people, just fresh running mountain streams, cows munching on the mountainsides, and wild horses roaming around, perfect. We were stopping in a little refugio, a mountain refuge, there were 6 of us staying there, so it was nice and quiet, no partying til late!
We went on a trek up one of the many mountains on our second day. It was so beautiful, you flet like you were the only people for miles, we could easily have been. The views were spectacular, the Andes surrounding us and clear blue skies. The water running from the streams was so clear and fresh that we were able to fill up our water bottles and drink it. A first for us both! The dog was from the refugio, he came with us on our trek and made friends with James!
Our next day was another horseriding trek. Unbelievable as it may seem we were not put off by our first horse riding experience! Riding through the Andes was definitely an experience we will not forget. Unfortunately, due to our lack of experience on a horse we were not able to take too many pictures of the spectacular views, we could only take pictures when we knew the horses were stopping for a while - they could be a little unpredictable! We spent 4 hours riding through the Andes and it was not enough, we now feel like proper horse riders, we even trotted up and down the mountains, our horses were even listening to us towards the end, stopping and starting when instructed. We were rather impressed with our improvement rate! Riding (trotting) without hanging on for our lives was pretty impressive! Donīt worry, we wonīt be taking up any equestrian past times when we get home, we will leave this new hobby in the Andes, riding anywhere else just wonīt compare.
The Bus Trip to Santiago.
The trip from Mendoza to Santiago was the most impressive one so far, we had to go through the Andes to get there. Some pretty impressive scenery and some very windy roads, one of them was a road which had about 20 switch backs on it. We got very close to the edge a few times, definitely not for the faint hearted!
Santiago.
We have only been in Santiago for a couple of days, but yesterday has to be the most traumatic day we have experienced so far... There is a hill you can go up called San Cristobal hill, where you get a great view of the city. You go up by fenicular or cable car, we decided to do both. What a mistake! The fenicular was fine, a rickety old cart being pulled up the hill by a couple of wires and pulleys, no problem. We stopped to admire the views and get some lunch, then go down the hill via the cable car. To get down the hill on the cable car, you went across the valley to another hill and then took another cable car down. These cable cars were tiny, 2 people could fit in comfortably, you wouldnīt have wanted many more! Well, we got in and as soon as we did, we regretted it, the cable car was very very very tiny and swingy and very very very high up. Hannah spent most of the time with her eyes tighthly shut, too afraid to look down! James wonīt admit it but he was also a little afraid! This was not the worst part of the ride, halfway across the valley at the highest point the cable cars stopped, and we were left dangling for 15 minutes, it seemed to be alot longer. Especially when the wind started to howl around the cable car and make it swing. It was the scariest thing we have ever done. We are not sure which was worse, dangling 150ft above ground, the jolt of the cable car as we started to move again, or the actual ride itself. Lets just say we wonīt be going on a cable car again in a hurry!
We really hope these pictures give you an idea of how bloody high up we were! Unfortunately no pictures were taken inside the cable car, Hannah would not allow me to move to get the camera out of my pocket, incase it rocked the car!
We have now recovered after a night of chilean red wine, and are now waiting for our flight this evening. So next time we write on the blog we will be in New Zealand, hopefully with our trusty old campervan!