Hoggers

I knew I was in for a long few days, to get from Punta Arenas in the far south of Chile to Boston in the north of the USA would require taking 5 flights. When I woke up early to go to the airport, the raging cramps in my tummy shouted that this was going to be one journey I would never l forget. After several trips to the bathroom, and having locked a guy out of the hostel by closing the front door on him, I thought all was well. I managed to eat the omlette breakfast that Sky Airlines had provided and had a sleep. My Sky Airline flight from Punta Arenas to Santiago was due to stop in Puerto Montt and Valdivia en route. It wasn’t until we were coming in to land ... read more

After my night on the Malbec, I woke up feeling pretty grotty the next day, it was 6.30 and I had to go and get the bus to El Chalten. Normally bus rides are simple affairs, you sit in the seat you have been assigned and the driver drives. But not today, apparently the people in the ticket office had told people, not everyone, that they can sit anywhere they wanted. So the bus was full of a mix of people who were sitting where they pleased coupled with those going by the ticket numbers and arguing with people who were “in their seats”. You would think all being adults it would be easily resolved, but for some reason it was like being back at primary school. To make matters worse, they had overbooked the bus ... read more

On 31 October 2009 the highlight of my trip to South America began. The much anticipated Parque Nacional Torres Del Paine was just a short plane and bus ride away. And after all the hassle of trying to book Sky Airline tickets, the airline came up trumps. Due to a brief stop over in Puerto Montt on the way from Santiago to Punta Arenas we were fed twice within the space of 2 hours and were even given extra leg room seats without asking, it was a life of luxury after all my bad nights on buses. The only down side to the flight was the landing in Punta Arenas. With Patagonia being mainly flat and exposed to extreme winds, the landing over the ocean was hair raising to say the least. The plane was being ... read more

The bus journey from Bariloche in Argentina to Pucon in Chile has to be one of the most beautiful trips in the world. For 2 hours wecruised around mountain roads going through lush forests, passing crystal clear blue lakes, past sheer granite mountains and finally through the snow covered mountain pass across the border. The small towns that lay on the Argentinian side of the border were just idyllic. They were all based around the amazing lakes, almost entirely made of log cabins in the forests and large birds of prey circled overhead. They were stunning. I cant quite say the same for the border control point. When we pulled into the Chilean passport control site the bus had to be striped and emptied of pretty much every content. All the luggage had to be sent ... read more

Its 4.50am, the silence is broken, the alarm going off signals it´s time to leave. Time to leave the paradise of Punta Del Diablo. Time to leave the friends I had made there. Time to leave SKye. Saying goodbye has never been a strong point of mine, but being half asleep still somehow made it less painful. SO I walked with Daniel in the pitch black to the bus stop to catch the 5.5 am bus. The wind is blowing a gale, typically the bus is late. Could have had 15 more minutes in bed. It doesn´t matter, I´m on my way. The first stop would be Motevideo, a mere 5 hours down the road. Here I would wait 4 hours for my Buque bus to take me to Colonia, here I will have my heart ... read more