"Ice Cold in Santiago"

Well, we strode in to Santiago, whistling to the tune of Colonel Bogey, walking poles held high, despite extreme tiredness. But, no way, would anybody in the square know that we had not just come from round the corner! We met another American friend, Ed, who showed us where to go to get our certificate. We had been advised that to receive this, spiritual questions had to be satisfactorily answered. We had practised for the last few kilometres our spiritual feelings. However we were greeted, not by an abbot as we expected, in a darkened room flavoured with incense, but by a row of young people behind computers, happily doling out certificates to those with the necessary stamps on the Credential.

As we were not booked in to the Parador Hotel until the following day, we accepted a room from a dubious looking lady, touting for business. The room turned out to be rather dingy and smelly, but it was only for one night and the luxurious Parador awaited.

The following morning we gathered our kit and set off for the Parador, where they agreed to let us into our room at 9am. The hotel turned out to be good not worth the hype.

Sadly the volcanic disturbance affected our enjoyment as our flight was cancelled the day after we left the Parador. We therefore had to find cheap rooms as the next flight was 5 days later. Unknowingly we organised this ourselves. It later turned out we were the resposiblity of the airline company. During this 5 days we visited museums and places of cultural interest, but were in no mood really to enjoy it, as we only wanted to go home.

Finally the day arrived to leave for England. We had slept in the airport all night so as to be sure nothing would prevent us from boarding the flight! Not an experience to be repeated.

Arriving home in England and seeing all the leaves and blossoms was truly a welcome in itself. Our taxi was on time at Stansted airport and we drove happily to Forest Row.

We would both to say a special thanks to our friends who gave such encouraging and insightful comments on our journey.

We have 2500 pictures which we will sort out over the next week or so and will post them on the blog shortly.

A special thanks to Terry Crosby who inspired us in the Peak District. Congratulations to Jon for his successful trek to Everest base camp and topping out on his climb, his trip looked fantastic. A very special thankyou to our neighbours, John and Sue, who kept an eye on our house and worldly goods and their encouraging comments. To Yvonne, thank you for following our route and your prayers to St.James did help as we had very little rain, you must finish it next year!

Until the next "Two Pensioners" adventure, goodbye for now.