Patagonia

Hey Chicos!

After a couple of days in Santiago we took a plane to Punta Arenas, right at the southern tip of Chile. It was a complete shock to get off the plane to 6 degrees C (having spent the last 6 months in the heat!) We only spent a night there, and the following morning took a bus to Puerto Natales. The scenery was spectacular, and we got even closer to the action on a trip to the Torres Del Paine national park. It was a really lovely change to be in the mountains taking in the views of glaciers and waterfalls, although we were blown over by the fierce gusts of wind whirling through the valley (and suffered several AWOL hat incidents).

Next stop was El Calafate, so we hopped across the border into Argentina and after an hour of wandering around trying to find our hostel (and being chased by 5 large, stray dogs) we finally checked-in and took the backpacks off! The Marco Polo Inn was one of the better places we have stayed, and having an en-suite double with a tv including movie channels in English was a big result! When it poured with rain all day we had a great excuse to stay in and veg out with a Chilean cabernet sauvignon and Milka Easter egg. The town’s main attraction is its close proximity to the awesome Perito Moreno glacier and we had to take a look, signing up for an ice-hiking trip. The experience was fantastic! Having the crampons on required a bit of concentration (as most of you know, if anyone was going to fall over and break their nose it would be me…) The hike had a great ending - a table with a bottle of whiskey and glasses. Andre, our guide used his ice-pick to collect fresh ice, and we enjoyed warming up with a whiskey on the glacial rocks (you should have seen the smile on Si’s face!)

Heading south to the bottom of Argy we bussed to Rio Gallegos, spent the night then hopped straight on another early the next morning. It was a very long 12 hour journey to Ushuaia, although the last hour made it worthwhile as the red sky over the Tierra del Fuego mountains (which translates into the ‘land of fire’) was stunning.

Ushuaia is the world’s most southern city, and during the summer most people come here for a couple of days before boarding a boat to the Antarctic. We would have loved to do this but just missed the end of the season. Maybe another time…

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