28.01.2008 (Chillan):

We are in Chile and it is hot here! 
Fedor and Cristina from Bariloche, Argentinia, took us on a tour through the 7 lakes area before leaving us at the border to Chile. We spent a night there, close to a vulcano. The broder crossing Mamuil Malal was easy, but took some time due to busload ahead of us. On the chiliean side the vet asked straight away for the SENASA  (argentinian agriculture agency) document, he wasnt interested in Tarmos passport. 
After 30km of bad gravel road we reached the rich town Pucon. Right next to a lake and close to a smoking (!) vulcano!
Since then we have cycled along the Panamerica, a big motorway with a wide shoulder that we can use. The scenery reminds us of home, a lot of big patches of farmed land, some firests ad hills. We could jsut as well be cycling along the motorway close to Freiburg if it wasnt for the odd vulcano in the background. 
We had some nice encounters with the Chilean people, even though they are at first more reserved than what we experienced from the argentinians. 
Two nights ago we camped next to a family on a riverside. After a few friendly smiles back and forth they all piled over and we were engaged in great conversation. Unfortunately they left a few hours later, but left us with beer, melons, peaches, a bottleof rum, a new cartrich of gas and wood and coal for the fire. Wow!
 We will be heading up the coast to Santiago from here.

4.02.2008 (El Tabo):

We have arrived at the coast and the sun has gone!
We followed the ´fruit route´ to the harbour town San Antonio. It is the main harbour for fruits, the ships leave from here to all parts of the world. The last few days we cycled alongside plantations with all kinds of fruits. Oranges, kiwis, melons, strawberries, etc and also a lot of winards.
In San Antonio we watched pelicans glide over the water, very impressive how elegant they glide despite their weight. 
The coastal line so far has been a bit disappointing. The area has been declining since a few decades. Whilst it was THE place to be for the rich in the 20s, other places are favoured now and the buildings and streets are falling apart. 
Although the weekend crowds still pile to the beaches, noone wants to move here anymore.
It is a great difference to the area we first saw after crossing into Chile.
Tarmo on the other hand is living up. We have increased his food rations after being ticked off by some friends. So he is now looking more like a teddybear than a runner again. He is also starting to bark now, something he would only do to encourage another dog to play with him. The other night he barked when he heard strange noises nearby (some young people in the next plot of land playing terrible music). Not exactly the watchdog behaviour we are hoping for, but he does have an impressive deep bark.

18.02.2008 (San Felipe):

We are close to our first pretty high Anden pass back to Argentinia.
The last two weeks we spent in a nice hostel in a small laguna, 12km south of the UNESCO world heritage town Valparaiso. The laguna was surrounded by high mountains, a steep 7km road leads alongside the cliffs down to the village Laguna Verde.
Whilst looking for a campsite we found the german run hostel and decided to stay a few days. The long nearly empty beach was only 2 minutes away, the small village was really quiet and there were plenty of buses to the nearby big town Valparaiso. 
In the evenings the hostel owner Wolfgang would tell us entertaining stories from his life, the adventure tourist guide Udo would join us for a few beers. Basically we had a nice holiday, even Tarmo enjoyed the big garden he could roam free in and the bitches that would visit him. 
We also had a visitor, our friend Jeff from Freiburg stayed with us for 4 days and we had a look at Valparaiso and Santiago together. 
Valparaiso is stretched over 12 steep hills, there are a lot of windy streets with colourful houses and a lot of murals. And of course the famous 'ascensors', steep train-like lifts, similar to the ones you can find in Switzerland. Next to them there are always very steep steps up to the next level of houses.
Now we are north of Santiago on our way back to Argentinia over a 3.185 meters high pass. 

21.02.2008 (argentinian border - pass to Aconcagua):

We climbed our first real Anden pass. The road was pretty steep for the last 15km when it turned into serpentine with 29 narrow curves. Once we arrived at the top a special transfer service drove us through the 3km long tunnel - and we were back in Argentinia!