Advice for potential travellers

1. Before walking up a volcano, try not to have badly sprained your ankle a few weeks before and have more than a glass of milk for breakfast.
2. Dont base a decision to go rafting in Pucon on memories of a leasurely outing in the Jordan river on Tour when you were 16...they are not the same
3. Just because a guidebook describes a hotel as friendly, clean and with English speaking owners does not mean it is necessarily true (although they were quite friendly)
4. Just because somewhere might be the only veggie (and fish) place in town, doesnt mean they dont have chicken or squid and crab on the menu
5. When getting emergency safety instructions for a guide before rafting, try to make sure you can completely understand what he is saying.
6. Snow burn is not an oxymoron - if you slide down a volcano too quickly and tumble off the track, you can get it...and it hurts
7. If getting in a normal sized car with 7 other people (one of who may be a largish girl) doesnt necessarily appeal to you, you may want to think twice about getting in a cab in Chile
8. If your idea of fun is twiddling your thumbs and waiting in queues for long periods of time, may i recommend trying out the Argentine-Chilean border.
9. The Lake District is not just a place in England near Newcastle...it is also a very beautiful area in Argentina and Chile
10. And finally, Maradona is very popular in Argentina...it is inadvisable to forget where you are and call him a fat bastard or that druggy who cheated us out of the World Cup in 1986.
    
    Shavua Tov Calev