Only a few more weeks until Europe 2012... and we are really looking forward to it! Here is our plan – it's a bit less crammed than last year, so we can unpack our suitcases every now and then, and still see lots of friends en route:

That's possible in Chile! Theoretically. In real life it's lots of driving, and you better make it two trips - one up to the mountains, and the other down to the beach. Like we did last weekend! We needed to get out of Santiago's winter smog, breathe fresh air for a change. A great destination for that is the Valle Nevado ski resort, at 3000m altitude. The season had just started, and since Valle Nevado is only 90min away, the place was packed with day trippers. We didn't ski though, just enjoyed the sun deck of the lodge, together with our friend Lars. The other day we went to check out Quintay beach, which too is 90min away. Unlike Valle Nevado, the beach was completely deserted, despite a pleasant 20 degrees outside. Chilenos... We loved it anyway. Countdown till Europe 2012: 27 days!