Last Tuesday the border pass between Santiago (Chile) and Mendoza (Argentina) was finally reopened after 5 days closing due to snow falls. We started hitchhiking around 10:30am, hoping to get in one of the 3000 trucks waiting on the Chilean side to pass to Argentina. All truck drivers passing us would just rise their shoulders, shake their head, or tip with their right hand on top of their left shoulder, which meant police checkpoints ahead. We finally got about 25 km before the border, but at that point there were no trucks left. The road was empty, but we were lucky. Two military officers brought us right to the border, showing us "el caracol" (the snail) - a road with 32 curves leading up to the border packed with all the trucks we had missed. With a Pax form, which we got at the police department, we were let to hitchhike, and surprisingly fast we found two Argentinians who brought us right in front of our friend's door in Mendoza. At 6:30 pm we arrived, and an hour later entered Bernardo's and Sol's house, who are brother and sister of our friend Cristobal from Santiago. We feel great here, and are currently looking for a place to stay a bit longer. We need a rest, time to work, and a plan of how to arrange our work and private life during traveling. A new big challenge.

Two weeks ago we took a bus from Valparaiso to Santiago, where we stayed with Felizpe, whom we met in Horcon, Valle de Elqui. We had fun with his hard hearing grandmother (84), and enjoyed the beautiful tones of his flute sounds. Four days later we stayed again with CouchSurfing member Karina, who introduced us to famous Pocho, a hamster.
For the necessary biomagnetism treatment I found Dr. Tognarelli. It was a special experience, since he found not only inactive malaria, a bacterial infection caused by bat excrements, a stomach infection, sinusitis, bronchitis and a fungal infection (sounds all worse than it was), but also treated me with hipnosis. He found an event in my life which caused paralyzing fear, occurring in the age of 8. He deparalyzed me, and promised that it will hold significant changes for my life. Second biomagnetism treatment was scheduled after 1 week, so we went for 2 days to Paine - small village 40 km South from Santiago. On our way to Paine, our bus driver was attacked with knifes by two young fellows, who cut his right palm and stole most of the coins from his ticket box. We were surprised to see that bus continued the journey without interruption, without calling police or any other actions. Terribly passive passengers as well: "Why call police? Such robberies happens all the time"... Some of them got into shock though. In Paine occurred a big chain of destiny. We met father Pedro and sister Sol of our friend Cristobal from Copiapo (they identified us by feeling). We found out that Pedro is a good friend of our Hospitalityclub host Eliana for this night, and that the place, to which Eliana's son Ricardo invited us for a stay, was actually Pedro's house, where his family used to live for 7 years. We came back to Santiago by train, which right on our departure returned to work after 1 week of strike.
The second biomagnetism treatment confirmed me absolute health (besides asthmatic bronchitis caused by Santiago's smog) and I learned a bit more about my past. The following Tuesday evening we found ourselves in front of Rodolfo's kitchen chimney in San Felipe, a small town 90km North of Santiago. We enjoy the surroundings a lot, breath deep the fresh countryside air, and look forward to the end of the rain, which most likely means our trip to Mendoza, Argentina.

Our visit to the sand dunes in Concon last Thursday was great. It was a wonderful sunny day, and once on top we felt like in Sahara. Big, yellow, wavy sand dunes. From the top of them opens wonderful view at the sea, the beautiful city of Viña del Mar, and Concon town. As if we were angels appearing at the right time, we helped the police officers with finding checkpoints during their competition of orientation. Some of the runners got lost with maps, but we could easily see the checkpoints from the top of the sand dunes, so we acted against the rules and guided them there. The following day (Friday) we planned a visit to Laguna Verde, a small town surrounded by breathtaking nature a bit South of Valparaiso. Unfortunately, the night before it started raining, and it stopped only on Saturday around midday. Since we were not equipped well for the rainy days, we enjoyed a lazy day inside house. Since Saturday afternoon we are back in Santiago, what we actually did not want, but there are so many wonderful people here, we could not resist. We stay with musician Feli(z)pe, whom we met couple of weeks ago in Elqui Valley.

We never had guessed that our trip to Valparaiso would cost us five hours waiting for our first ride in Coquimbo/La Serena. Finally we were brought 40km, and after a short waiting period we got our ride directly to Valparaiso (450 km). Our truck driver Christian made a night stop, which we used to camp ride in front of his truck on a paytoll. We arrived finally in the morning to this wonderful city - Valparaiso. When we got out to explore it, we felt like back in Peru. The streets jamed with small private sellers, trying to make gold out of anything they find. The houses and the atmosphere is very creative, alternative, and thus reminds us a lot the life in Berlin. We enjoy Valparaiso, having found its special way of existence after only half a day! Here we stay with a CouchSurferFelipe.

We spent two wonderful days in Elqui Valley (Valle de Elqui) in the small village of Horcon. Sergio and Lucy, whom we met in a handicraft village, invited us to camp in their garden. They live with their daughters (7 and 9) completely ecologicaly oriented in a house made of recycled material (old bottles, cartoon, wood). Sergio and Lucy grow their own vegetables and fruits 100% natural, live from the sale of herbs, honey, propoleum, soap etc. and are spiritually concerned.
Elqui Valley is fascinating, truly beautiful, but in the short time of our visit we either were not able to find the magic everybody is talking about or it simply does not exist. We felt very good here though and we hope to visit Horcon a second time. Since Friday we are back in La Serena, and today I finally managed to sell the first pieces of my handicraft - not on the streets, but in the living room of our hosts ;)

Long time no news... We have noticed looong time ago that continiously writing full detailed stories about our trip in 3 languages (German, Lithuanian, English) and still to travel at the same time is almost impossible. Meanwhile a quick short notices from the road never found a place on our website. From today on we are introducing something new on our page - Quick news from the road. Now we will have a space to give at least a short notice about what's going on with us.
Currently we are staying with CouchSurfing family few kilometers away from La Serena town in Chile. It is a really nice company with open minded parents, 3 daughters and future Chilean Navy office - Julio. Wednesday morning we will be traveling towards Elqui Valley (Valle de Elqui), which is located about 100 km from La Serena and is known as a magical place. We will see :)