Dear Jane and others, I have a 9 hour stop in Santiago, Chile from 12:15pm till 10:50 pm on 22nd Sept on my way home from Brazil. You mentioned a very good bookshop for plant books. Where is it? Also are there any gardens you have been to that you would recommend I visit? I imagine you will have already started your trek north by then. I hope I will see you when you come to Queensland to see the birds of which we have a large variety. Your idea of sharing accommodation across countries sounds great. Count me in. If I have enough notice to get leave from work I would be only too happy to show off our beautiful part of the world to fellow 'plant people' and follow it up with a trip to the North America. Have a great trip and I look forward to hearing about it through the forum. Shelley Gage