Well I made it and I can´t believe the weather - its glorious sunshine and about 20C! Sorry to rub in that its summer here!! Toulouse made it through the bowls of all the aeroplanes in one piece and I was greatly releaved to see him in Temuco. I had a very friendly policeman guarding him while I put him back together and got some info on where to stay in Temuco. (Juan will look after all my packing until I return to Temuco in Feb). I opted for Casa de Juanita (which even has its own website!) at 10000peso (about 10pounds) per night, which I thought was pretty good. The room is very spacious and I get breakfast too. Juanita herself is very friendly and can just about understand my terrible Spanish. The local accent is quite peculiar and I´m having a few problems!! Walking about today (Thursday) I recon I am staying in the better part of town as the area near the station has lots of hospedajes (hostels) but seems to be very noisy. There is a fabulous market selling buckets of veg - including at least 5 types of chilli pepper and loads of garlic and coriander. There are lots of flowers too. I have seem my first nalca (gunnera chilensis) growing in someones front garden - it was enormous, nearly blocking the door. Its quite dry here so I´m quite surprised to see it but it does rain a lot too. I shall leave tomorrow to go west to the coast - hope the weather stays fine and I´ll be breezing along!

Thank you all for you good luck wishes

I´ll write when I next find an internet cafe (probably Valdivia in about a week)

rosa, juanita and javier

Adios Amigos – Hasta Marzo

So today is the big day. I am finally off on my Chilean adventure. I shall be away for three months cycling in the Chilean Lake District with my trusty steed Toulouse (a Trek bicycle!). Mum, Dad and Dougal will be joining me for Christmas and New Year.

Best wishes for Christmas and I hope to see you next year (when I can bore you all with my 40 films of photos!!) An here are a couple of photos to show you my equipment!

toulouse loaded

my gear