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It's hard work being on holiday, I have been very busy

Wed - seeing all the historic areas of Valparaiso and Viña (including the street funiculars to get you to the high areas)

Thu - Exploring Viña Del Mar.

I walked past the congress building and asked if I could visit . Straight away the PRO offered to show me a round . He even showed me the empty seat reserved for Senator Pinochet.

Fri - I stayed at Scott's SCS Habitat hostel in Santiago (1798 San Vincente, Tel (56) (2) 683 3732, lots of good advice)  and had a look around the town , but all the museums were closed for 5 days because of the new year holiday. 

Tue - Then in San Javier I visited a vineyard and then went to a village festival (more cueca dancing)

Wed - Pellue

Thu - In Vilarica

Sat - I tried to go to Huequehue national park..In fact what happened is that the bus leaves very early at 6.15 no 6.30 as my hotel told me. So the first time I missed the bus and had to hitch hike then I got a ride with some locals (Max, Rodrigo and Jaime) who were coming back from the disco...so I ended up going to there house for a breakfast BBQ asadao, then rafting, then playing football on the beach...then fishing in the river etc. (3 hrs ....personally I would have gone to the supermarket to buy the fish !)

Sun -  I climbed the volcano and saw the lava erupting, Your are supposed to only go on a guided tour , but they cost 40 dollars, so we took a taxi to the base and followed the tracks of the guided groups. It was quite easy 1 hour up then 2 hours up on snow paths. As we got near the top  we were terrified to  hear the erupting sounds, but what happens is that the volcano belches every 5 minutes. 

You see a large crater with a small red hole 30 m down in the center. at the top we saw this and on one occassion it belched hot  lava 10m up and sent small rocks above head height, luckily the wind was blowing away from us.

But the best part was sliding down , the groups have made large snow slides , and you fly down them like bobsleigh runs. Of course my trousers now have holes in the back !

Mon - saw the beautiful lakes of the Huequehue national park. 

Tue - In Temuco , met up with Max and Rodrigo

Wed - I tried to find a Mapuche village, so I could marry a Mapuche woman with a poto grande, but I didn't find any ruca villages. (Ruca is a traditional tribal grass hut)

Fri - Yesterday in Valdivia I took the boat across the river cross to all the old historic forts.

Sat - Eventually I found my friend Dr Perez and visited him and his family in San Jose de Mariquina.

next south through..Osorno to Frutillar and then Chiloe Chaiten etc