Tango standing ovation in Santiago!

A back pedal to start. Well done Gayle for having a stab at picking Ancongagua. It is actually photo c) slightly obscured by cloud unfortunately! Post card is on the way for effort-we love someone who is willing to have a go.

Speaking of which....with the courage provided by a litre of lager we stunned the septugenarian dancing club of Santiago with a passionate rendition of a tango classic. It didn´t really matter how we danced it, the sight of two, white, under 70 gringos giving it a whirl was enough to bring the house to its feet. We were pretty stoked when a few locals came over to shake our hands despite having squashed a few of their toes...Our salsa performance put a few pacemakers in overdrive too. We've decided it´s good to entertain the locals and will endeavour to continue to do so-shouldn't be too hard :-)

We have really enjoyed Santiago although feel cruelly mislead by Lonely Planet´s description of snow capped Andes towering over the city. This blog´s task: spot the Andes through the smog! (top photo). Broadened our knowledge of South America´s precolumbian history with a trip to the grown up´s museum. All very thought provoking but maybe one clay pot too many. Much more educational (and fun!) was the kiddies interactive museum. We tried to borrow a kid for the day but our spanish doesn´t quite stretch to explaining to the police.....discovered, however, that there is enough kid in both of us to compensate. Stu particularly enjoyed making giant bubbles and Kaz got to stand inside a bubble (nice to put the shoe on the other foot). It did get a bit embarrassing when Stu wouldn´t part with his bubble wand to the local kiddies but was easily distracted by the balance wheel (below centre). The wheel had a metal ball that you had to jiggle into a small centre hole (aka the Christmas cracker puzzle on a large scale). Meanwhile Kaz was happy hoisting herself on a chair pulley proving she´s not only lost weight but gained strength. Yee Hah!

Continuing on our cultural immersion, we took in the mighty clash between Universidad Catholica (Chilean league champions) and Puerto Montt. The champions had a raucous fan base who didn´t stop playing the drums and chanting for the full 90 minutes. Riot police were kept busy removing some over excited fans. The underdogs with a fan base of two lonely fellas sporting orange, separated/protected by 20 crowd controllers despite being at the other end of the pitch. The umpires here obviously need protection too. Riot police, at the ready, escorted them on and off the pitch (see photo, below right). A quality match with the favourites scoring early and the duffers equalising in injury time after 1/2 of the crowd had gone home smiling-SCORE! The highlight of the match however was when a player booted the ball into the crowd and Stu "golden hands" Wales lept over (well, no one-it came straight at him) to catch the ball then embarrassingly passed it to a local to return for fear of failing to return it over the fence in one foul swoop himself. (see bargain of the week for gate prices which would bring the AFL to its knees).













Have splurged and booked ourselves a cama privada (private bed) on an overnight bus tonight heading south to Pucon-the outdoor hub of Chile. (what happened to lazing on the beach!!) Take care out there-especially our friends carrying little people in their tummies!

Kaz & Stu xox

Bargain of The Week: $7 entry to the footy.

Meal of The Week: breakfast fit for an Australian princess-special mention to Miss Wood for being such a thoughtful friend and providing the vital ingredient!

Linguistic Gaffe of The Week: try ordering this beer quickly!