Week 4: Drink and Run

When we arrive at the end of the world it's snowing. A 13 hour bus journey has consumed most of the day and the majorioty of our enthusiasm. After almost a whole month of umm-ing and ahh-ing about whether or not to go, I arrived in Ushuaia. It was dark and wet and after a miserable bus journey I started to wonder whether I had made the right decision. However a new day brought... err... more rain! We managed to see past this and were able to witness what a beautiful setting it was. The mountains meeting the sea was truly dramatic, although we did not really have a clear sunny day until the morning we left. At 13,402km from England, I think this is as far away from home as I am going to make it on this trip

Ushuaia on the morning we left - sun at last!

On our last night in Ushuaia we decided to treat ourselves to a meal out. The obvious choice was of course fish. We each had a huge hunk of Sea Bass, whilst another girl called Laura who joined us had trout. All of our meals were delicious although we opted not to have pudding. In true British style we were one of the first to arrive at the restaurant, and finished just as all the Argentinians were having their starters. We visited the national park which I'm sure is absolutely stunning in the sun. As it was it was just a little eerie in the forest.

Slightly reminiscent of The Neverending Story

I wrote a hilarious (in my humble opinion) David Attenborough style piece about the Germans, however whilst we were in Ushuaia sadly a German girl went missing on the glacier, and as far as we know her body had still not been found when we left. In light of this sad news, I decided to save it for another week. Sometimes I think it can be easy to forget how dangerous adventures can be, and it really puts into perspective how trivial it was that my bag was stolen in Buenos Aires, as much worse things can and do happen.

In more cheerful news, prior to going to Ushuaia we spent a few days in Puerto Natales, where the Torres del Paine national park is, and Jen and I both had our first taste of Chile. We both decided we would rather not do the W trek which is "The" trek to do whilst there. We didn't particularly want to hire equipment or tramp up and down hills in the rain and obliterating wind for 5 days, for the privelage of I-don't-know-how-many pesos. Instead we did a day trek from the town, and a day excursion to the park.

This weeks chapter title "Drink and Run" is named in honour of Diego and Seb, two Chilean guys we met at the hostel/homestay in Puerto Natales who showed us a bit about their customs, and we taught them a bit about ours. (Playing ring of fire with only 4 people is NOT a good idea.) Although the weather in the park was pretty abysmal, we did see some stunning sights. (Through the clouds)

Despite the day getting off to something a rocky start (we woke up ten minutes before we had to leave and stuffed some toast down us) we were more than able to see the funny side of things...

Today we arrived back in Chile, in Punta Arenas, after a return bus journey from Ushuaia which was not nearly so awful as the one on the way there. We are treating ourselves to a flight tomorrow to Puerto Montt, about 2000km, the same flight time as Geneva to Edinburgh, although it is surreal that here it is such a little hop.

Despite my best efforts not to plan ahead too far, this week my friend Lou confirmed her flights to Rio at the beginning of December, which I wasn't planning on reaching until April or May! A slight detour may not be a bad thing as I hope to go through Paraguay to get there, which I don't think I would have done otherwise. If anybody else wants to spend their holiday in South America let me know! I was hoping to do a Spanish course in Bolivia soon after arriving in South America, however my plans keep changing and I am picking it all up very quickly anyway.

Apologies there aren't that many pictures this week - the conditions have not been the best! Fingers crossed for warmer climes this week, as it snowed again today when we arrived in Punta Arenas.