Well where to begin..I´ll start with our busride into Santa Fe. It went well and we even had a stilted conversation with a young lad from Rafaela and his niece, Martine. Pulling into the outer suburbs of Santa Fe we were once again struck with the poverty. Tin shacks erected next to piles of rubbish, it´s sad to see. What I have noticed though is that the Argentines take great pride in their appearance and even in those living conditions they are relatively smartly turned out. I think travelling with the boys is a real curiousity to them but they are always helpful and courteous. It was dinner time by the time we got ourselves sorted and we decided to go local. I had gnocchi or nocqui with a bolognese sauce which was yummy, the boys shared with me while Paul had a hamburger. His face was a picture when he pulled a piece of brillo pad out of it. Santa Fe had some lovely churches and government buildings (for people who don´t actually go to church we have been inside an awful lot of them). We spent a cruisy morning exploring and then it all went to custard. Tired kids, a claustrophic hotel room and tickets booked for an overnight bus trip to Restencia the next night all added up to a mammoth headache. Our plan was to spend a few days in Restencia then push on to Posadas before hitting Igazu Falls. We are not the worlds most organised travellers and it wasn´t until late yesterday afternoon that the words MALARIA jumped out of the Lonley Planet book at me. It is apparently prevalent in Posadas and found around the whole region surrounding Igazu. The travel doctor we visited gave us all yellow fever vaccines but didn´t really say much about malaria. I don´t think there is much the boys could have taken medication wise anyway and the only thing we could do is cover them up from head to toe, easier said than done in tropical heat. Anyway the seed of doubt had been planted and we decided not to risk it. It´s a bummer but it just wouldn´t be fair on the boys if we or they got sick. Paul and I reckon we´ll be back - minus the kids one day so the falls will have to wait until then. It´s a long long way to go overland too so it was relief when the bus company refunded our tickets today and we had a gentle 2 and a half hour ride into Rosario. We´ll have a look round tomorrow and then we leave early the following morning for San Antonia(can´t wait sounds so cool, a proper Gaucho town. The bus station in Rosario was miles from our trusty lonley planet´s listed accommodation and I think we deserve a medal for catching a local bus with two under fives, two strollers, two backpacks and two daypacks! The first hotel we checked out was seedy city and I have a feeling it was one of Argentina´s hora hotels (room by the hour need I say more). Obviously we didn´t take it and now we are ensconsed in La Paz Hotel with a room with french doors and a balcony YAY! Things are looking up.

We needed Alta Gracia after the afternoon we had yesterday. The heavens opened up on us as we headed home from the food market. Water was shin deep in places as it rushed down the gutters and we were all totally soaked through by the time we got back to our hotel. Hence we spent a quiet afternoon with Paul and I lounging in our quarters while the boys watched Spanish cartoons in theirs. The food market was graphic with rows of whole pigs hanging outside butchers next to cafes where people were eating and drinking coffee as though it were perfectly normal to sit so close to a dead pig. Josh was morbidly fascinated though unimpressed when he was told that pigs are where we get bacon from. Our son may turn vegan. Anyway as I said we holed up in our hotel room until later that afternoon when the rain eventually went off and we ventured out for much needed fresh air and pizza. Today we woke to blue skies and magically the bus appeared at the station just as we wanted to catch it (this happened on our other excursion to El Volcan. It took about 40 minutes to arrive at Alta Gracia and when we did me and my camera went beserk snapping the Jesuit cathedral and picture perfect horse and carriage waiting outside it. Little girls were running around in their white communion dresses and a row of colourful market stalls completed the picture. The boys couldn´t wait to feed the ducks and geese at the nearby lake and luckily we had stashed left over croissant and rolls from brekky. I squeezed in my first spot of retail therapy by purchasing a small but colourful woven wall hanging. I have to go small because it is a mission carrying round what we already have let alone buying any of the gorgeous ceramics or ponchas. We bargained with the boys that they could have a play on the rocks by the lake if they were good boys when we carried on to visit Che Guevara´s house. They obliged and after a steep hike we arrived at Casa de Che´s. Paul and I took it in turns to wander round and look at all the photographic memorabilia while the boys played by a drain pipe. They were pretending to make long distance calls down it to their Nanas, very cute. I have seen that famous beret wearing photo of Che Guevara so many times that it was great to find out more about him and what he stood for. We caught the bus back without any drama and guess where we are heading for tea...Maccers!! x

Ps back from McDonalds and yet another healthy meal. Dan was a hit with some local girls who kept trying to get him to say hello in his accent to them. On the way there we passed by a market and managed to buy the Mama Mia DVD to watch one night when we are sick of reading our books. We also picked up another Dora the Explorer for the boys to watch on the bus to Santa Fe tomorrow. 5 and a half hours - a doddle.

The journey further inland to Cordoba went well. The buses are so comfortable and we have been lucky to date having most of the back to ourselves which means the boys can shriek and carry on without too much disturbance to our fellow passengers. The scenery was much greener with flat grassy farmlands stretching as far as we could
see on either side of the road. Cordoba is really hot and really fabulous - I love it. I said to Paul it feels like a compact and much more accessible version of Rome. All the sights are walking distance and yesterday we oohed and aahed over Jesuit buildings and magnificent Cathedrals. The detail in the workmanship is amazing, they really dont build em like that anymore. Negotiating the broken tiled or cobbled pavements is a mission with the two strollers but we are getting used to it as are the boys. Speaking of whom they love Cordoba because of the MCDonalds with the awesome playground. Paul and I are quite fond of it too as the boys played happily in it for 2 hours yesterday. Needless to say we will be visiting it again today. We are off to an indoor food market for lunch apparently it has everything from shell fish to whole pigs. Tomorrow we are going to catch a bus to Alta Gracia the small town where Che Guevara spent his teen years near here. x

Today has been lovely.We caught a local bus to El Volcan. Lonley Planet recommended it as a small village near the hills with rock pools cascading through the middle of it. We bought a picnic along and the boys had a great time splashing in the water while we actually got to kick back in the sun for an hour. Off to Cordoba tomorrow which will be another epic journey but I know we will look back and laugh at all those fractitious moments once we are home! Tea time bye for now x

The bus journey to Mendoza through the Andes Mountains was 8 hours long but the scenery was so spectacular that it felt like half the time. The boys were real troopers with Dan managing a little snooze and Josh being Mr Helpful himself insisting on carrying his own Bob the Builder backpack. It was strange going overland through a border and the Chilean / Argentine border was a bit surreal consisting of a big warehouse full of customs officials in the middle of the mountains. The whole process was a little intimidating because not speaking the lingo we weren´t sure what was going on but we just followed our fellow passengers lead. Well over an hour later after passport and luggage checks we were all herded back on the bus. An hour was quite quick as our Santiago tour guide told us that if we were to travel on a Friday or a public holiday it can take up to 8 hours to get through the border. It was another four hours to Mendoza and the first thing that hit us getting off the bus was the heat and how busy the place way. It was Saturday afternoon and the streets were teeming with people. Our hotel was average with the bonus being the boys room was separate to ours so it was kind of like being in a very small apartment. Gave us all a little breather from each other. That night the city was alive with music and people either out strolling, sitting outside cafes drinking beer or eating icecreams. The latter two being mine and Paul´s favourite. Sunday morning in Mendoza was like stepping out into a beautiful ghost town after th hub bub of the previous night all the locals were lying in. We have never seen a city with so many trees it was really beautiful. We spent a lot of time around the Plaza Independencia watching the street life which the boys charged round. We also visited this bizzare little aquarium which was a bigger hit with the boys than seaworld with it´s giant turtle and albino frogs. We desperately needed to do some laundry and buy some nappies but apart from food and wine bars everywhere was shut. Hence we improvised with a folded up towel for Dan that night instead of a nappy. He though he was quite cool and waddled around looking like a baby sumo. The next morning we headed off for the laundromats and looked a sight walking the streets with Josh pushing a stroller loaded with a huge bag of laundry. After dropping the washing off we visited Parque General San Martin which had a fabulous rose garden, lake and view of the mountains. The boys wound up having an unexpected swim in a massive puddle. They were having so much fun we left them to it even though we only had a change of tops with us. Dan had to go back to the hotel in his nappy and Josh had to sit in his stroller with Dan´s sheet draped over his lap. Good job English is not widely spoken or all the Mendozians would have heard on the way back to hotel was "Josh would you leave it alone!" I was sad to leave Mendoza but we had done our dash and sampled the wine if not the wineries so today we boarded the bus to San Luis. Four hours inland through scrubby desert with the odd small village dotted along the way.Paul and I were both struck by how poor parts of the country are much more so than we expected and pulling into San Luis with its crumbling buildings, graffiti and broken pavements wasn´t great but we are learning that you need to give places a chance. Once we´d off loaded our bags we wandered into the Plaza de Pringles which is postcard pretty. The boys were in their element running around singing songs and a Spanish Barney even came over and said hello to them. After a pretty basic dinner we went for icecream and then wandered through an evening market. We both felt a bit brighter by the time we got back to the hotel. Well I had better go and check on my boys I left Paul with them watching a DVD xox

We had a much better night last night. We put the boys to bed at 10.00pm and they slept through til 8.00am. We think it will work much better for them to go to bed later and get up round 8ish because breakfast isn´t usually available until then anyway. Everywhere is so lively of an evening, there´s always throngs of people and music blaring and it is nice to be out and about in it. We found a great little eaterie last night that did pizza and pasta on the cheap. Dan and Josh seem to be eating more here than they do at home. Today has been super busy with a long walk to the main station this morning to buy tickets for the bus into Argentina´s Mendoza tomorrow morning. I will be a bit sad to leave Chile as despite fractitious moments with the boys (to be expected) it has been great and the people are so courteous and friendly plus it is an 8 hour bus ride! After sorting our tickets we caught a local bus to Vin del Mar which is much more resorty. Nice to feel the sand between our toes and everywhere else cos Dan thought it was hillarious to chuck it at us. I feel like we have walked miles and miles today and can just about face going down the big hill to the main drag one more time but only if Paul springs for the cable car back up.

Last night was officially horrific. We got the boys off to sleep finally at 8.00pm then Paul and I enjoyed a few wines and some time minus the little people. We were in bed early ourselves and in a deep snooze until Josh woke with a wail wanting the loo which was of course at the end of the long hall. By the time I got back with him Dan had woken up and it was all on. PARTY TIME at 12am according to the boys who were literally jumping on the beds and yahooing. This went on for hours culminating in our neighbours banging on the wall. At this point we were tearing our hair out and the only thing we could do was bundle the boys up and throw our track pants on to take them out for a moonlight walk. So there we were pushing the strollers around in the middle of the night begging the boys to go to sleep. Evntually around 4am they dropped off and we didn´t get up until 11am this morning. The guest house owners kindly gave us a late breakfast and much needed coffee. Tonights plan of action is to have a really late dinner and try putting them to bed around 11pm. Hopefully if we get up at a normal time tomorrow they will start getting over the time difference. Fingers crossed. Valparaiso (correct spelling)is fantastic. It is a literal maze of vivid old houses on cobbled streets that sprawl up the hillsides. Wr ventured on the Ascensors which are like a wooden box you sit in, a cable then pulls them up the hillsides. The boys thought this was great fun. I have just apologised for their noise levels to the girl at the computer next to me as she was the poor thing in the room next to ours last night. She is probably thinking like we were last night ie: what the hell are they doing travelling with a couple of kids! I forgot to mention our city tour of Santiago. I have a feeling we paid too much for it as that and the airport transfers were the only things I prebooked from NZ. We did enjoy it though. Santiago is a real mix of the old and new. It has a fading elegance with the grand old buildings next to concrete office blocks. Stray docile dogs are everywhere and you just get used to them after awhile. There are lots of parks and art features everywhere. We were taken up a hill for an amazing view over all of the city and with the Andes in the background it was pretty spectacular. The Pre Columbian Musueum was interesting even if we did have to whizz past everything for the boys sake. A highlight was a Mummy two thousand years older than its Egyptian counterparts. The Chileans are very helpful and courteous and they love the boys (dont know why cos Dan scowls at anyone who says Hola or hello to him as those who know him will be able to picture).Apart from last nights debacle I think the boys are taking things in their stride and they did think it was pretty neat to be out in the dark last night!

We are feeling very intrepid today having made our own way on foot with packs and kids in strollers to the Metro which we rode to the Bus Station. We caught a bus to Vallapairaso which I have probably spelt wrong but have to type quick while Paul is reading the boys some books. It was a comfy two hour bus trip and upon disembarking we were greeted by a huddle of touts wanting to recommend accomodation. I had booked a room for us out of the Lonley Planet but before we knew it we were being swept away to see a cheap room by one of the touts. Half way there we decided to go with our original booking and caught a taxi. Glad we did because the house the tout was taking us to was miles out of the tourist centre which was why it was cheap. Our guest house is gorgeous as is Vallapairaso. Our room has heavy wooden timber boards and is huge with four beds in it and a sea view. There is a shared bathroom but it is clean and we get breakfast. Oh yes speaking of breakfast I dont know what was going on at that last place because this morning we all got rolls and only one piece of cheese between us. The boys have been grotty today as they were bopping around our room last night until 10.00pm and were up at 8.00am. It is now 5.30pm and we have bathed them so should be winding down for sleep now. As I said the floors in our room are wooden so I hope they settle down tonight because it sounds like a herd of wilderbeast are running around up there when you sit downstairs. The little we have seen this afternoon of the city looks fabulous. Cobbled winding lanes with brightly painted houses all tumbling down the hillside on top of each other. The wrought iron work and attention to detail on the buildings is wonderful. Cant wait to explore more tomorrow. Paul has a bottle of sav cooling in the fridge with our name on it for when the boys go off to sleep. Bye for now xox

Well here we are in Santiago it seems very surreal. We survived the flight without major mishap (if you don´t count the manic look and sharp tongue Paul always gets from lack of sleep) only for Danny to throw up in the queue for passport control. Luckily the officials didn´t hold it against us and we were allowed entry. We were so pleased we had booked airport transfers as when we stepped into arrivals we were bombarded with taxis drivers all wanting our business. I must admit once in the car on our way to the hotel I pondered the wisdom of this trip as we drove past shanty town slums. It was a grey day and first impressions were quite shocking as it was very third world.Our hotel is basic but clean and central. It also has the squeakiest double bed ever so no chance of any action or the whole hotel not to mention the boys would no about it. We were all tucked up by 8.00pm and apart from a few nocturnal wakings we pretty much crashed til 8.00am. Breakfast is served at the hotel or so we thought. We trooped down famished this morning only to look like right plonkers as breakfast consisted of coffee and some cheese and a roll each for the boys. Paul and I sat there for ages waiting for the Chilean version of bacon and eggs before we reaslized none would be forthcoming. After breakfast we ventured out and things looked much better in the sunshine after a good sleep. We discovered the Santiago of tour books, gorgeous architecture and leafy boulevards. We also discovered Starbucks and felt much better after a large latte. English is not widely spoken so it is going to be interesting. Off on a half day city tour shortly and then it will be another early night. xox

11/10/2008 DONT CRY FOR ME ARGENTINA

Flashback 3 years to driving down the motorway towards Auckland after attending my sister’s wedding in Tauranga. We were in a hired People Mover with Paul at the wheel, Mum, Dad, a five months gone heifer (me preggers with Dan) and a screaming Josh. He had the runs and was not a happy camper. Mum turned to me and said, “And you think you’re going to Argentina?” At that particular moment in time I must admit to thinking that I’d never leave Christchurch again let alone venture onto Evita’s home turf. Well guess what? We’re off and I have spent the last week warbling out Don’t Cry for Me Argentina each time I have gotten behind the wheel much to the boys delight.

Come Monday afternoon we wing our way out of Christchurch Airport via Auckland and then it is the dreaded long haul to Santiago. The flight is around 11 hours and I am relying on sweets and Magna-doodles to get us through it. Thanks to some advice from well travelled family friends, the Blighs, I have booked airport transfers and a hotel for our arrival as well as a half day city tour the following day. That’s as far as it goes though because for the rest of the trip we will be winging it. If the boys are enjoying themselves we will stay longer and if not move on. I am excited but at the same time apprehensive and under absolutely no illusion about the next 7 weeks being a holiday. Paul likes to describe it as a tour of duty and I am so very grateful that Argentina is a famous wine making country. Thank goodness for our Lonely Planet Guide Book because our Spanish is limited to the little gleaned from watching Dora Explorer episode. Hola!

Sadly I will miss the birth of my sis’s baby boy in November, not that I would have been at the foot of the bed anyway but it will be strange not being in the same country when my nephew Kaleb arrives. Rachel I will be thinking of you and raising a glass of red wine to you while crossing my legs in sympathy.

There is no chance of my power walking or jogging while in a foreign country (not that there was much chance of the latter anyway) so I plan on packing my Winsor Pilates DVD which I can play on our portable DVD player. From what I have read steak is the main fodder in that part of the world and the servings are enormous so if my Pilates doesn’t do the trick I shall do as Demi Moore has done (I read this headline in a supermarket queue last week and decided to adopt the phrase as my own) 'embrace my new curves'.

Now for those I haven’t told my slow living fantasy is going to realized on our return – no I have not been having fantasies about Paul as an old man - we have decided to stay in Oxford. The plan is to rent for a year to see how we settle in and how Paul finds the commute. While he's driving up and down the Tram Road I will be growing herbs, cooking slow foods in my crock-pot and allowing the red wine to breath – oh and looking after my children too of course - mind you Mum and Dad will only be five minutes away... Remind me to put my makeup on and get out of my trackies girls!

It has been lovely being back at Mum and Dads and with it only being for 11 days Mum has been more than happy to do our cooking, washing ironing etc. It’s fab though I think I might be out of luck when we set up base camp permanently. We have managed to catch up with friends and family and I finally got to give my friend Emily’s new baby boy, Charlie a big cuddle he is absolutely gorgeous.

Anyway I think I have exhausted all my news and I must dash. Copious amounts of body hair to remove with my epilator before our hols! And on that note I shall love you and leave you.