It was with great difficulty that I prised myself away from Nueva Zelandia, and more specifically from Amber, who I won´t see again until November…

The weather in Santiago didn´t lighten my mood, with heavy rain for the first two days, which combined with the jetlag (apparently the worst in the world!) meant that I didn´t get much done – although considering Tuesday 3rd June lasted about 40 hours for me, I did quite a lot that day!

Determined to make something of my Thursday, and discovering that it was the opening day of one of the ski resorts just out of town, I had arranged to go snowboarding with an Australian I´d met in the hostel. As well as being the first day of the season, it was the first clear day for a while – there had been heavy snowfall up on the hills for over a week before. So conditions were perfect, with untouched, soft, deep powder as far as the eye could see! After learning the basics at university on the Sheffield dry ski slope, and a couple of fairly icy weeks in the French Alps, this was bliss – the prospect of soft landings really boosting my confidence and it all came back to me quite quickly.

I´m pretty sure I had a fixed grin on my face for the whole day, and I had the best day of snowboarding ever, only my lack of leg muscle fitness letting me down by the end of the day!

While I´d been up on the slopes all day, two friends had jetted in from different places to meet in Santiago before we all travel around for a fortnight. Gordon, who I´ve known for years and is my usual travel buddy had come just for the two weeks, fresh from his University exams the day before, and his girlfriend Katherine, a medic who had been working up in Bolivia for a couple of months.

Tunnel Vision – now in Bottles! When now studying to become an Optician, Gordy works at the Box Steam Brewery producing fine ales like this one – so we all celebrated meeting in Santiago with a glass!

It was really nice to have some old friends to travel with, and great to catch up on all the gossip from back home as well as share travel stories. We spent the next day sightseeing in Santiago, ending with the funicular up to the top of Cerro San Cristobal for a spectacular view of the city at sunset. A beautiful sight, and our timing was so lucky with the weather clearing the day before especially since the bad weather had closed the mountain road to Mendoza for over a week.

But before we drove over the Andes to Argentina, we managed to squeeze in a day trip to the scenic coastal town of Valparaiso, driving past great swathes of vines on the way – I intend to return this way when I return to Chile in July. Valparaiso was beautiful, with steep hills surrounding the harbour, requiring funiculars to get to some parts of town, and lunch was complemented by a fantastic view of the town below.