Left Santiago at13.00 - The bus journey was good, but annoyingly they decided to close the curtains and shut out the view in order to watch 'die another day' with sound going on and off!! We arrived in Mendoza in the evening and it was raining. Got to the hostel we'd booked, and discovered that our' double room' was a converted bathroom with 2 bunk beds in that we had to go across a courtyard to get to! It was very hot and stuffy. We decided to leave our stuff, and head out to get some food - but the rain was too much so we left it a bit while we checked our e-mail. A bit later the rain had stopped, and we found a nice looking little cafe where we could eat. I had a chicken breast with vegetables (sweet potato, zapallo, carrot & potato) which was really nice and Laura had a salad - We swapped a bit of each and also shared a bottle of Mendozian wine. For desert I had a lovely almond ice cream with bits of almond on it, and Laura had lemon ice cream.

We met Alf Cooper - pastor of Trinity church in Santiago, who invited us to got to their newest church plant at Cantagallo for the service. What they have lots of different activities at the main church that bring in lots of people and they let it grow till it gets too big(700 is considered a reasonable size). Also alongside there are lots of ways of training up leaders, including theology courses run from the church. Once the church is too big, they'll take a group of people including leaders to form the new church plant. At Cantagallo - they normally have about 70 people, but they were expecting it to be less because it's holiday season - although it seemed to be near to that number anyway! Before the service, we helped to get things ready and convert the school hall into a church, and we prayed with a group in preparation for the service. They also prayed for us, the church in Uruguay, and the youth group that we'll be starting. After the service, we went to the bus station and got our tickets sorted out to travel to Mendoza and went for a look round Santiago. In the evening we had burgers and mashed potato, and watched Phone Booth with the others who were staying at the church

Travelled back to Santiago, the bus journey was fun!

Last day at the camp :( Was a fun day though - I played lots of table tennis! We had a nice chat with Tito (Bishop of Chile) at dinner.

At breakfast there was hot chocolate this morning, but I didn't like it much - probably should have had it with half milk - half water. The study on John today provoked some interesting thoughts on Judas - he was chosen to take the part he did, but did he have a choice? The teachers seemed to think he was evil and greedy anyway. I went for a nice walk round the block with Laura, then swam, played table tennis and table football. In the evening things went on a bit too late again! They want us all to go to the devotionals in the morning at8.30 - so why not finish a bit earlier that 00.30?

Slept really well! Had a coffee before going to the devotional on Galatians. There was scrambled egg at breakfast - really tasty! The study on John was interesting - particularly looking at the man by the pool - did he have faith? Not before being healed - it's not necessary to have faith in order to be healed - faith is a gift from God - it's not something you do. After lunch we went to the waterfall just a little way up the road - it was a bit of a climb up to it, but well worth it! Went swimming in the pool when we got back. The panoramic vision of the bible seemed to race through a bit for me today, but I still just about managed to follow it and get a lot from it. I tried to walk back to the cabin on my own at night - but I went the wrong way, heard wolves in the forest and saw bats flying past me.

First full day of the camp - woke up at 7.15 in plenty of time for the devotional at 8.30 which was on Galatians - the theme of Christ living in me. Then we had breakfast - which was really nice and consisted of yoghurt, hot bread and tea or coffee. Then we had the study on Johns gospel which was brilliant. In the afternoon we went up to view point where we could see mount Chillan. There were quite a few clouds, but it was brilliant. In the afternoon I went swimming. This evening I moved into the leaders cabin, as there was space there - It's huge and quite different to the others!!

Left Santiago later than had been planned -we arrived at Rucahue at about 3 and then had lunch - salad and pork steak. We attempted to get a room together, but in the end decided it was too much hassle for everyone. The evening worship was excellent, and the sermon was on Philippians 3 - about avoiding Legalism, and that knowing Christ is what is important. I had to move beds as the one I thought I'd found once already taken! In the end I slept on the floor -quite comfy! In the evening there was a session - panoramic vision of the bible, which was really interesting and I managed to follow it!

We now know a little bit more and actually a little bit less about our itinerary. After we arrive in Buenos Aires, we'll meet up with the others and then head to Jorge's friends house. We didn't manage to get on the direct bus from Buenos Aires to Santiago, so we don't have return tickets and are going on the way via Mendoza - so we'll leave Buenos Aires at 18.30 and arrive in Mendoza at 09.00. Then in the afternoon we'd get the 13.30 bus to Santiago. (Well something like that anyway!!) Don't know what time we'll arrive at the church now with this transport! The return journey is down to us - we'll have to sort it out in Santiago at some point!!! For what we're doing when we're there - you're best to look at Laura's Blog , cos she's got a lovely entrywith the programme translated! If you want to follow our route on the map, it may be right, or it may not, but it'll definitely have photos when we get back! Here's a site I found useful for city maps of the various places.

Well we've now got our tickets for the bus to Buenos Aires with a company called flechabus, It took us 4 attempts, but finally we got them - the first time we didn't have passports, the second they were closed and the third they don't take credit cards (unusually as both companies to Montevideo take credit cards!) We've also got the details by e-mail of when and where etc...We leave on Friday 2nd at 23.00 to arrive in Buenos Aires the next morning at 7.00, where we spend the morning and get the bus to Santiago via Mendoza - or it may be 2 buses!! Then we arrive in Santiago sometime on Sunday. We stay the night in La Trinidad church and then early the next morning we take the bus to Complejo Turístico Rucahue near the town of Chillán. Then we'll have lunch, and have the afternoon free before things start at 18.30. Then we're in for a busy week, until Saturday 10th when we head back to Santiago leaving at 13.30. We arrive at Santiago at 19.00 then stay the night again at the church (I think) before heading back to Buenos Aires - where we should arrive on the 14that some point. We're then going to have to spend a day in Buenos Aires before our bus to Salto leaves at 23.00 on the 15th.