Friends reunited (by Laura)

After 6 months of spending every day in each other's company and in a little bubble, Joe and I were pretty nervous in the run up to a two-week visit by our great friends, Tasha and Rick (who were coming such an incredibly long way to say 'hello'). See top - the four of us setting off on a biking trip with guide.

Of course, it wasn't them that we doubted, it was us. We worried whether we'd be able to handle proper conversations, whether we had become too insular or whether we´d developed strange and off-putting hygiene habits of which we were blissfully unaware.

But of course we needn´t have worried: the two weeks were fantastic. Among the highlights were five days trekking in Torres del Paine National Park in southern Chilean Patagonia (see Joe´s blog, above) and a boat trip towards the Argentinian border. Now that they've headed home, we're feeling really quite lonesome, but have some great memories of lots of cold, active days and cosy, red wine evenings. It was lovely to have them here.

So, reassured and reinvigorated, back to our bubble.

Laura