From the End Of The World back up to Buenos Aires

When I said "it's back into Argentina" at the end of my last blog, what I really meant was "back into Argentina but then through Chile again before re-entering Argentina and then crossing once more into Chile in order to get back into Argentina".

The reason for this is that we'd reached "Tierra Del Fuego" (literally translated the Land of Fire), the archipelago of islands at the tip of the continent whose southernmost part forms Cape Horn, long considered one of the most treacherous areas in the world to sail around because of its storms and gusting winds. Both Chile and Argentina laid claim to it until the late 19th century when the whole region, including the main island Isla Grande, was divided in two - as a result the only way to reach the Argentinian side by land is to cross through Chile.

Incidentally that meant on our already marathon bus journey we had to keep stopping and getting off to get an exit stamp on one side of the border and an entry stamp on the other: eight times in total! As a result I now have more Argentina stamps in my passport than all the others put together - a riigghhtt kerfuffle!

The archipelago gets its name from the Portuguese sailor Ferdinand Magellan who sailed around it in the early 16th century and spotted the fires of local natives... although they were more likely trying to keep warm than ambush his ship as he thought. Indeed the area is steeped in history - Cook sailed around here as did Sir Francis Drake, discovering an alternative passage to Magellan's; Charles Darwin explored the area as a young man on HMS Beagle from where the Beagle Channel gets its name.

Our destination was Ushuaia, also known as the Southernmost City In The World™, or El Fino Del Mundo®, literally the End of The World as from here there is nothing further south until you reach Antarctica. It sits on the northern edge of the Beagle Channel and, apart from its above claim to fame, is a fairly nondescript town.

We took the opportunity though to kick back for a few days after the trek in Chile and the preceeding busathon down from Mendoza in the north. Until now we hadn't really experienced eating in a Parilla, a typical Argentinian restaurant. After the trekking food and the junk we ended up eating on the bus, I can't tell you how rewarding it was to find several of these in town, in each main window a roaring fire licking away at sizzling beef or lamb - and I'm not talking about joints, usually at least three entire animals were stretched out on a special rack angled over the flames.

After briefly catching up for a drink with Heidi and Jane - two girls we'd travelled with in Peru who had made it down there at the same time - we took an afternoon trip on a sailing boat to see some islands in the Beagle Channel. Which would probably be even more exciting if you happen to be Bill Oddie... there are a lot of birds.

After a few days we left to head back north, this time our destination was a curious place called Trelew. Sounds a bit Welsh doesn't it? That's because it is. Unbelievably thousands of Welsh colonists came here in 1860 to escape English repression and set up a new settlement. The new arrivals irrigated an otherwise dry dusty area with great success and today it is a fertile valley of trees and fields. We also travelled to a smaller town a few kilometres west of Trelew called Gaiman (go on google it!) where we had a stroll about and managed to squeeze in a cream tea - very surreal suddenly finding yourself in a silent room with lace tablecloths and drinking tea out of teapots with knitted cosies!

While we stayed in Trelew we also spent an afternoon in a place called Punta Tombo, a 3-kilometre peninsula sticking out into the atlantic and home to a colony of Magellanic Penguins. We walked for a couple of miles and from quite early on - a good couple of miles before the water - we spotted several of these birds dotted around, statue-like, basking in the afternoon sun or peering out of their dug-out nests. From there on I also noticed that nearly every bush or shrub usually concealed a beady eye or two as well.

I had to keep reminding myself I was seeing these animals in the wild as they actually live - after all the penguin is an animal we're all familar with even if you've never travelled outside of Britain. Later we sat on a small cliff overlooking the water's edge, watching their comic and clumsy shuffling instantly transform into streamlined underwater gliding.

On our last day we drove to the Peninsula Valdes, a ginormous peninsula covering nearly 4,000km² and teeming with wildlife: Rheas (a South American variant of the Emu/Ostrich), Patagonian Hares (which look like an unholy cross between a rabbit and a dog), Elephant Seals and most importantly - Whales.

We took a boat tour a couple of miles out from shore and were lucky enough to spot two Southern Right whales - a mother (measuring about 15 metres) with her calf. I was thankful this wasn't a "Disney" style tour, the captain kept the boat a respectable distance from the two animals and had briefed everyone to keep the noise down so as not to disturb them. The calf in particular seemed curious though and swam beside us and then under our hull a couple of times, giving me the chance to see a barnacley close-up.

At times the calf would vanish beneath the surface, giving us the chance to take the classic tail-fin photo, before moments later breaching out of the water somewhere completely different and then crashing back with an explosion of foam. This is fairly typical whale behaviour, in particular for Right Whales although the reasons behind it are still not fully understood.

After the euphoria of seeing these amazing creatures we got back into our hire-car to discover we had less than half a tank of petrol - not enough to drive all the way around the peninsula and make it home. We had to decide between cutting the trip short or heading all the way back to the nearest town to fill up. We chose the second option but as another example of how easy it is to underestimate the size of this continent, we ended up doing the equivalent of driving from central London to Oxford to fill a tank and then of course driving all the way back to get back to where we were. You have to laff....

The last thing on our agenda before getting to Buenos Aires and leaving Argentina was to stay on an Estancia, an Argentinian version of a Ranch. I would never have thought about staying on one were it not for so many people who had travelled to Argentina before me saying it's a must-do. After a bit of research we found one only a nightbus-journey away and just a few hours south of BA.

Luck was on our side once again as it turned out to be everything we hoped it would be and more. Firstly we were welcomed with great energy and warmth by the owner, a lady called Viviane who had also grown up on the ranch. Secondly we were the only guests staying there that weekend so Bernard Sarah and I joined Viviane for breakfast lunch and dinner and found her to be great company - not only did she run a 2,000 hectare estate but she was also an author of two novels, a professional photographer, a fully qualified psychologist fluent in three languages and mother of three grown-up children. Added to this she had a great outlook on life and a sense of fun - over the two days we spent there we really felt like we were staying with family.

We went riding on both days, this time with better trained, calmer horses than we'd had in Bolivia - Bernard's horse in particular, which seemed to be a foot shorter than Sarah's or mine. I was also delighted to spot, whilst going for a run on the second day, an armadillo scurry into its burrow. Apparently they are considered a delicacy locally but I guess i wasn't fast enough...

On our last day it turned out Viviane was heading up to Buenos Aires and she was kind enough to give us a lift. We arrived in the city late that evening but I could already see it has a very different feel to most of the other South American capitals - very cosmopolitan and European in its atmosphere and style. Naturally over the last couple of days we have eaten some of the best steaks of our lives (there are certain members of the clan back home who are going to HAVE to come here!) and strangely enough the best sushi as well. It's just as well we're heading out of the city in a couple of days for a trip into neighbouring Uruguay before I blow my budget - and my waistline.

Hope you're all well back home - I'm back just before Christmas so hope to see some of you soon. It's goodbye from me for now, I'll write (one) more when I get to Uruguay!



p.s. if anyone is travelling in Argentina and keen to stay at the estancia, their website is: http://www.haraslaviviana.com.ar/english/index.html

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