11th December

Today we went south, and regrettably so did the quality of the women.

Started off with breakfast with Jitka in the hotel restaurant. I felt a bit sorry for her because she has been singled out by the group of late. I tried to talk to her about Mendoza versus BA but when she ranted about how disgustingly dirty Mendoza was I lost interest. Over the last few weeks she has been likened to ET and Yoda on looks and Darth Sidious on personality but I have to say the lookey-likey for me has to be a dementor from Harry Potter, not because she smells of rotting flesh or works at Azkaban but that she sucks out every happy thought you have ever had. Good job I like chocolate.

Today is the last trip on the truck - in many ways this is a sad thing but also I think the journeys could have been a bit more fun. Ian , Steve, Karen, Ruth and I had one last bumper quiz session. Fyodor Dostoevsky sadly didn't turn up for a final appearance.

Chilean customs. Dear God what a palaver. We were in imigración and Aduana for two and a half hours. They had the sniffer dogs on the truck to detect meat, fruit, drugs but thankfully not my dirty laundry. Andy had a panic when they asked him for some paperwork which he only had a fax of - the original being in BA, and we all had a panic when Shannon remembered we had salami on board after handing in the declaration forms stating we had nothing on board.

Finally got through the border and had lunch in a restaurant about 60 km into Chile. We arrived in Santiago at about 7pm. Seems ok, tomorrow will tell - a free day. Met one of the new gang - Kate, a fitness instructor from Sunningdale. She is very much like Kate Dobson if any of my friends are reading this - another confident, sexy blonde. She won't take any shite from the rest of the truck - hope she gets to share with Jitka at some point.

Dinner was CURRY. The hotel (Majestic) has a great Indian restaurant and a great way to remember being back home. Had Chicken Tikka Masala, Naan, Rice, a beer and shared a bottle of red with Charlotte. Baout 15 quid all in. Might seem like a lot for South America but well worth it.

Afterwards we went to a party for another set of trucks just up the road. Despite Shannon's dubious directions we eventually made it. Must have been nearly a hundred people there. Andy and Tubbs finally let their hair down and were both totally gone after an hour or so. Took some amusing photos of the latter. The most bizarre part of the evening was Ian, Steve, Jon and I played cricket in the nets that were part of the hotel which was such good fun - haven't played since school. Must have been 3 hours in total. We had a drinks break - lager and rum, you don't often see that at the MCC. Connor and Andy threw each other in the pool, Andy had his phone in the pocket, he was v unhappy about this, in fact stormed of with a comatose Tubbs. Connor remains the "aggressive drunk on tour". He muttered a few things to me under his breath during the evening which were incomprehensible.

When we got back, Rob, who had sensibly put his over-indulgent self to bed early was lying on his side with his jeans around his knees and otherwise totally clothed. I must have been drunk because I didn't take a photo.