Argentina, part one

Buenos Aires

Finally on my own now which is a bit bewildering after being surrounded by so many people for such a long time (well 4 weeks but it seems a long time!). Had a bit of an adventure trying to meet Russ at the airport - decided to do the old local bus things as it sounded quite simple - sit on a bus for 1 1/2hrs and then you're there. But things never are that easy over here for some reason!! Had to wait 40 mins for a #86 bus that actually goes to the airport as even though that is the route the #86 does, apparently not all of them like going there! Fortunately some locals took it upon themselves to find me the right bus so that was nice!!! Then I was worried I might miss it so kept asking random people if we were near the airport, and seeing as there were no planes in sight the answer was always no! And then we rocked up to this big building with planes and I got the idea we were there! The airport is quite small - only 2 terminals - but I still managed to sit in the wrong one for nearly an hour until I realised that something wasn't quite right.... I rushed over to the other one which was a lot busier and were lots of foreign looking people around and there was Russ sitting waiting (and had been for an hour!), opps!

Introduced Russ to Parilla, basically lots of meat cooked on a grill type thing. Went to this 'restaurant' by the bus station and ordered one and weren't quite sure what to make of what we got... We could identify some normal bits of meat, although I wouldn't class them as steak, a sausage, what we think was a black pudding, a piece of chicken, and then some intestines, kidney, possibly heart and maybe some liver.... Well what doesn't kill you makes you stronger so we tried it all and even managed to swallow and not spit out the chewy intestines with some dubious gunge inside!! But I wouldn't recommend it to anyone in case you were thinking of trying some for yourself!!!! I'm sure the locals must've been laughing at us as we were the only foreign people in there but never mind, it's all part of the experience!!!

Went to Tanguera, a tango musical one evening which was brilliant. The dancers were just amazing, it's mesmerising to watch them spin around and kick their legs all over the place. There was an old woman in it, Maria Nieves I think, who everyone kept applauding any time she did anything. Not sure if she was some famous Tango dancer when she was younger, but she was pretty bloody good aswell!

San Telmo market is one of the things to do on a Sunday - it was great, loads of stalls down the sides of this really long road selling all sorts of things - jewellery, clothes, antiques etc.. Some things people were trying to sell looked suspiciously like general old tat from their houses but there was a lot of nice stuff there aswell. In the street there was also people dancing the tango and lots of different bands playing. It was such a good atmosphere walking down there, just really chilled out with lots to see and listen to.

Walked to Boca, a slightly dodgy area of BA. The guide book said to look like you know where you're going and you should be OK. Well we tried this tactic but don't think we fooled anyone as we kept getting lost and had to keep pulling out a map to work out where to go! Walked to Caminito which is the famous street in this area as it is full of lots of colourful buildings. It's a tad touristy but a really nice little area with a bit of hustle and bustle as a lot of tourists go there (although probably by taxi to reduce the chances of muggings!). then went to the Boca stadium, home of the Boca Juniors. Got a tour round the stadium - went down by the pitch (which is not in that good a condition considering some of the world's greatest football players have played here!), into the dressing rooms, up to the area where they have to press conferences, and then sat at various points around the stadium. I imagine the atmosphere there is amazing when there's a match on, as there's lots of standing areas so they can squeeze lots of people in!

Buenos Aires to San Ignacio

Went for the Coche Cama overnight bus experience for this 12 hour journey and have to say it was great! You get these really big seats that recline back, and a foot rest thing that folds out. You get a pillow and a blanket each. There was some in bus entertainment in the form of Spanish music and then a film. We were served coffee and a 3 course meal in the evening and breakfast in the morning. What more can a girl ask for?!! So we were both a bit loathe to get off!

Had a bit of a shock when the attendant guy woke me up and told me to get off the bus as we were in San Ignacio! I kept telling him we weren't there yet (like I would know!) but apparently we were so we got off the bus with our bags sitting by the side of this dirt track road, the bus sped off and we were left, dazed and slightly confused, in the middle of nowhere!

San Ignacio

After an interesting entry to the town we managed to find ourselves a hotel. Went to the Jesuit ruins which is what this town is famous for and wandered round there for a while. It was quite interesting but didn't really know too much of what had been going on there so probably didn't fully appreciate it...!

After a siesta (we had to, honestly!, as the whole town shut down!) we went out for a wander in the evening. The place had completely transformed and as it was slightly cooler we could walk around and not lose half our body weight sweating (not that that would be a bad thing though!!)! There was a group of kids practising on the drums, which may sound like hell but it was actually really good to listen to - we think it was like a band practice as they had a teacher out there teaching them new rhythms. This is probably the smallest town Russ and I are going to see in Argentina so am really glad we made the effort to come here and experience it all.

Puerto Iguazú

After reading all this stuff about what a crap town Iguazú is we've actually found it to be quite a nice little place and haven't come across any of the alcoholics or beggars we were promised by the Rough Guide!

Went to the Waterfalls (Argentinian side first) which were just spectacular. There's so many of them and it's just amazing to see. We went for some walks round on the trails to take in all the views and then did the touristy thing of going on a boat where the mad driver takes great delight in going right up to some of the bigger ones so you get absolutely drenched! It was so hot though that being soaked was actually quite nice! We then got a jeep through the forest which was pretty cool aswell. Got the train over to the greatest waterfall - el Garguanta del Diablo - and it was an amazing sight. Then got on a raft and floated back down the river! So an excellent day all in all!

Went to the Brazilian side the next day. Got a bus over the border and even though we got an exit stamp from Argentina the bus driver said we didn't need an entry stamp into Brazil. I didn't believe him and so we had to have a debate amongst everyone in the bus as to whether we needed one or not and the general consensus was not so we didn't bother!! So I felt like we were illegal immigrants for the day!

We then got kicked off the bus soon after the border as apparently the town was in a different direction to the waterfalls! So yet again we were stranded in the middle of nowhere!!! Fortunately someone who worked at the park got off there aswell and so pointed us in the right direction and we hopped on a bus to the waterfalls with no problem!!!

We saw the same waterfalls but from a different angle and they were still just as amazing!!! There wasn't as much to see from this side though so just wandered around the trails and took in all the views!!! Bumped into some of the people from my Kumuka truck which was pretty cool - feels like I haven't seen them for ages, so had to have a good goss and catch up on all the news!! Saw a temperature gauge thing showing 41 degrees - no wonder I was feeling slightly warm!!! The mozzies have also taken a great liking to me so am collecting bites which is fun and not at all irritating!!!

Got the bus back to Argentina and even though I had visions of being interrogated for not having any Brazilian stamps in my passport, no one battered an eyelid and got stamped back into Argentina with no problems!! There was a great moment on the bus when we got on to the road towards the border and there was this huge line of traffic so I figured we'd be there for a while... But no the bus driver didn't fancy waiting so he hopped over to the other side of the road and just drove down that instead so we got to the border a lot quicker which was good, if not slightly scary in case we collided with an on-coming car!!!

Puerto Iguazú to Salta

27 hour journey! Very unimpressed by the FlechaBus company as all we had during that time was 3 cheese and ham sandwiches at about 22.00 and then they put a film on at 23.00 which is when everyone was going to sleep! Why they didn't put any films on during the afternoon is anyone's guess! And no breakfast either so as you can imagine we were wasting away!!!

Salta

Initial impressions, apart from everything being shut on a Sunday is that this is a really lovely place. It's a lot bigger than I initially thought - we went up the teleférico to a viewpoint and then town is huge! There are lots of really nice plazas and parks where you can just chill out and relax! The weather is also slightly cooler than Iguazú which is nice, although have still managed to collect a few more bites, after being outdoors for about 5 mins - this repellent stuff clearly doesn't work that well, or they are just finding the bits of skin I missed!!

Went out for dinner in the evening which was an amusing experience... We found a place recommended in the guidebook as it had folk music going on in the evenings which we thought would be good to hear. But when we got there all the tables outside were taken so I asked if we could sit outside and they put a table up for us, but it was in the road in between two stalls!! So we felt slightly on show during our dinner, and were half expecting people to come up and see what they could buy from us, but instead we just got lots of stares as we were trying to eat these huge slabs of steak we were given!!

Went on a day long excursion to see the sights of northern Argentina and I have to say they were pretty bloody impressive!! The day didn't get off to a good start as when the guide turned up we found out that he didn't speak English and the only two other people on the trip didn't really speak English either!! So it was up to me then to step up to the job of interpreter!!! It didn't go very well at first as I couldn't understand a word he was saying but after some introductions (Heidi and Russ don't seem to be the easiest names to pronounce over here!) and me asking him to speak slower I could understand most of what he was saying and then the whole atmosphere in the van changed and everyone was all happy and friendly so that was good!!!

We drove up to Jujuy first and then over to Purmamarca. the scenery was spectacular - lots of mountains and the scenery changed from very green and lush to desert like condition with lots of cacti. In Purmamarca there was the Cerro de los Siete Colores (mountain of seven colours) - basically rocks that were made up of lots of different colours - very impressive!! There was also a little market in this town which was exactly like the ones I had been to in Peru and Bolivia, but as we were quite near the Bolivian border I guess that makes sense!

We climbed up to 4,170m which was pretty high really and Russ chomped on some coca leaves to combat any effects of the altitude!! Went round lots of hairpin bends to get up this high which with a crazy driver was an interesting experience, although he did slow down slightly so didn't feel like we could plummet to our death at any point!!!

We then went onto the Salinas Grandes (salt flats). It was similar to the Salar de Uyuni that I visited in Bolivia but it was still pretty cool to walk around on the salt and see nothing but an expanse of white salt for as far as you can see. Then we drove around stopping for lunch and at little villages. The views were just amazing and we had to keep stopping for photo opportunities as the mountains kept changing colour and shape, it was great to see. We didn't really see many other English speaking tourists so presume we are a bit off the beaten track, but it was a brilliant day trip and glad we survived the 27hr bus trip to get up here!!!

Salta to Mendoza

An uninteresting 16 hour bus journey is what I was imagining... Unfortunately it wasn't quite that easy! At least this time we were prepared for the no food thing so had enough food to rival the young kids that come onto the bus every time you stop trying to sell you something! But after only an hour or so we were given some snacks which we thought was very generous! But something had to compensate and this time it was the air conditioning - seeing as it's pretty bloody hot over here, air con is quite nice on the buses, but we just had to sweat for the first 4 hours which was lovely! They then decided to get us another bus for the rest of the journey so had to wait in a bus station for about 1 1/2hrs until another bus came along and then had to watch the little men transfer all the bags to make sure mine was going to the same destination as I was! They have this great system of tipping over here - every time someone takes your bag, puts a label on it and puts it in the hold they expect money from you, but the thing is you can't do it yourself as they have the tickets for the baggage!! So you're buggered really and can't do anything except pay up! They're not shy in asking either - the first time it took me a while to cotton onto what was happening and why we had to pay but then if in doubt follow what the locals do and so we had to cough up!!

The new bus was fantastic - freezing cold air con, a half decent meal and blankets too! And also a very random film of Spartacus, dubbed in Spanish, with Ross Kemp (Grant from Eastenders) and Dr Kovac from ER - all very wierd!!

And then when we got to Mendoza I had to phone the hostel and use a mixture of Spanish and English to get the guy to come and pick us up! Somehow I managed to get him to understand so my language skills must be improving (or I'm just worrying less about looking stupid!!)...

Pure Patagonia trip - Week Four

Day 22, Ushuaia

Can't believe this is the last week of the trip, it's going so quickly! Had a hangover for most of the day so even though the weather was better none of us had much energy to do anything except sleep, eat and wander round the town!!

Day 23, Ushuaia to Free Camp

We have got to drive all the way up to Buenos Aires from Ushuaia, which is quite a long way (3,200kms, gulp!) so off at 5am this morning to get 2 border crossings, a ferry and lots of miles under our belts!! What fun!! Out of the 17 of us only 10 hardcore people are doing this trip (me, Tracy, Vivi, Jayne, Martin, James, Ollie, Rob, Nat and Alan) , everyone else is flying up over the next few days. That's good in a way as it means we have lots more space in the truck to stretch out and sleep!!! It was so cold, we were all in the truck (which has no heating which is useful!) wrapped in sleeping bags and blankets! Will be so glad when we get to BA as it will be pretty hot (although will then probably be moaning that it's too hot!!)...

Slight problem with the truck though - one flat tyre and issues with the starter motor and some blockage in the fuel pipe. So spent quite a bit of time at the side of the road with all the men gathered round the truck trying to help (?!) and the women just watching and laughing at how useless some of the men were when it came to these things!!!

Managed to find a campsite instead of free camping at the side of the road, where there were toilets and everything!!!! I suddenly have turned into a women with an obsession for cooking and cleaning!! We have decided that I'm getting in practice to be a housewife as clearly that is where my talents lie! Stopped about 9pm so had a late dinner then just went to bed as being in the middle of nowhere meant there was bugger all to do!

Day 24, Free Camp to Free Camp

Had a lie in - up at 6am! Just drove all day, for about 14 hours. Couldn´t find anywhere to camp so literally pulled up at the side of the road down a little dirt track, and set up camp on lots of prickly bushes, although it wasn't as uncomfortable as I thought it might be!

Another late dinner at about 10pm and there was a comet - Comet McNaught apparently, in the sky which was amazing as it had a really long tail so we couldn't quite work out what it was. Once the clouds moved there were loads of stars in the sky aswell, it just looked amazing. Sometimes I feel really lucky to be here experiencing all this as it's just fantastic. Weather has turned - it's getting warm! It's so nice too not to be freezing all the time! Were walking around in t shirts until nearly 11pm.

Day 25, Free Camp to Puerto Madryn

Up again at 6am, fortunately for us a lorry drove past just after 6 and beeped his horn for ages, just to make sure we were all awake, so that was nice! Only had half a day driving then we arrived in Puerto Madryn at the campsite.

Wandered into town via the beach, which wasn't overly nice but it was great to feel the sand under my feet! There's a surprising number of people who i) are pregnant, ii) are fat (especially kids which as you know is a pet hate of mine!!) and iii) have really bad haircuts!! They mullet is particularly fashionable over here for some unknown reason...!!! And it is getting hotter the further north we go so that's great news too!! Watched the Arsenal vs Man Utd match and very pleased to see the two goals to give us a win! Even better when you're watching it with a Man Utd fan (sorry James!!)!!!!

Day 26, Puerto Madryn

Went to the Valdes Peninsula to see a few Sea Lions and Elephant Seals. There are also whales there but we were out of season so didn't get to see any. Was quite cool to see the animals but they were pretty far away from where we were allowed to go, so all photos just look like blobs on the beach, which is not great!!!

Had an interesting shower situation... Basically the shower block is just a curtained off section with a few shower cubicles and then a dressing area. It was the same in Ushuaia and when I used it there I had teenage girls watching me getting undressed which was not particularly pleasant!!! Anyway, I decided that I needed to over come my Britishness and not worry about people staring at me and just get on with it... So after a beer I went for a shower, and after queueing for half an hour I realised that somehow all these women somehow emerged from the shower cubicles fully dressed and there was no need to parade around butt naked!!! Not sure how as surely all their clothes would get wet in the shower but they all managed it!!! So although I didn't take my clothes in with me, I found a way to have a shower and not get stared at too much...!!! All quite amusing really!!!

Was raining for a while in the evening, so opted for some in truck entertainment, i.e. Tracy, Vivi and I having a bit of wine and singing and dancing in a very confined space to some classic 90s dance music which was brilliant!!! When we got kicked out as Drew wanted to go to bed we decided to go to the local bar for one drink before bed as we had to be up at 5am... Well one drink turned into a few, as they do, and then as we were the only ones in the place we turned the restaurant into our own dance floor and as the DJ was putting some good tunes on the decks we were obliged to dance around like loons!!!! Were considering staying out the whole night but I only managed to make it until about 3.30am, and James, Vivi and Tracy came back at 4am!! Great night though!!!!

Day 27, Puerto Madryn to Free Camp

Up at 5am after 1 1/2hrs sleep! Had brekkie and packed the truck and then just slept until lunch time!! Fortunately didn't have a hangover as didn't drink much so was just tired which I could cope with!! Drove until about 8pm and then set up camp at the side of the road. Watched an amazing sunset and could still see the comet whilst we were having dinner. It was a bit sad to think this was my last proper night on the tour as I 've made some really good friends and have had such a wicked time over the last month, but I wasn't too upset at the thought of it being my last night in a tent!!!!

Day 28, Free Camp to Buenos Aires

Last day on the road. Up at 6am and drove to Buenos Aires, arriving around midday and then driving around for ages trying to find the hotel! Met up with Lou and Lisa and it was really good to see them again!

After a shower, headed to the Eva Perón museum which was really interesting. Didn't really know much about her before but the museum was really good and gave a good account of her life, although didn't quite understand why so many people hated her when she did so much for the poor, so will have to read up on that at some point.

Went out for an all you can eat meal in the evening with the rest of the group, and then onto a bar. Am looking forward to checking out some clubs (we were too tired to go tonight!) although apparently there's no point getting there until at least after 1am!!! Although they then go on until 7am or later.... So am now beginning to understand the importance of siestas, to ensure we can party all night long!!!!

BA seems a really good city, has a nice, relaxed feel to it. Am looking forward to exploring it over the next few days.

Day 29, Buenos Aires

Had a fairly relaxed day wandering round BA. Had a haircut seeing as it's been a while and it was a lot less traumatic than I expected!! Was only in there about 15 mins, a wash and a few inches off and I was done so quite simple really!!

Went to the Plaza de Mayo in the afternoon as this is where there is a protest each week by the Asociación Madres de Plaza de Mayo (mothers of men that disappeared in the Dirty War in the 1970s). It's quite sad to these these women marching round the Plaza with banners as they're all pretty old now and have been doing this for over 30 years.

Went to the San Telmo area which has lots of antique shops and has a nice feel to the place. Then went back to the hotel in preparation for the evening's activities...!!

Went to a tango show which was really good but totally not what I was expecting. I was thinking more along the lines of Strictly Come Dancing, sitting around a ballroom watching a few people dance. Instead they did the history of tango through dancing with some really good drummers as well (although not sure of the significance of them!). These people are so talented, they flick their legs up and move around so quickly, it was excellent to watch.

Went over to Palermo with possibly the craziest taxi driver I have ever encountered! He turned up the radio so we could dance in the back, and then when Erasure came on he decided to dance too, so no hands on the steering wheel then!!! And some of the others were in another taxi so he kept racing them and coming up right close before slamming on the brakes, so it's nothing short of a miracle that we all survived the whole journey!!!

Went into a couple of bars and then onto Club 69 which was apparently THE place to go on a Thursday (in a city of this size I find this hard to believe that everyone only goes to one place!!!). It had a transvestite show on the stage which was interesting!!! The music wasn't really my thing but it would've been rude not to dance so managed to bust some moves until about 4.30am, by which time I was ready for bed!! The place was so packed it was really hard to dance, move or even breathe sometimes and it was really hot in there! They also had this great system at the bar where it was a complete free for all to buy a ticket for whatever you wanted to drink and then you had to go to the bar to get it, very bizarre and very time consuming!!! But it was a great night and it was definitely an experience...!!!

Pure Patagonia trip - Week Three

Day 15, El Calafate to Torres

Another early start as had to cross the border back into Chile. Apparently there had been quite a few problems at this border and so thought it might be quite painful, but apart from lots of queuing (they love paperwork and bureaucracy over here) it was quite painless.

Had a slight hangover from a few too many beers the night before so got to Puerto Natales to stock up on food, money etc I had to eat! Which you might think would be quite simple, as I did. But unfortunately, after ordering and waiting fo 40 minutes a burger, a piece of chicken, and some other random stuff (not all for me!) still weren´t cooked!! By which time I was in a reasonable bad mood and then had to ask them if we could have it as take away. They looked at me as if i was mad (no change there then!) and then about 10 minutes later they managed to put the food in a bag! It was actually quite good and just what I needed, but trying to eat this on a truck without any forks or anything was interesting...!!

Got to Torres and set up camp, and then Linda, our guide, did a massive BBQ so we could have our last decent meal for 3 days before our long trek. Then spent the evening trying to work out how exactly we were going to manage to carry a tent, mats, sleeping bags, clothes, food, water etc etc between 3 of us that were going to share a tent and walk together. I somehow managed to get enough fruit to open a small shop and so with my sleeping bag, clothes, more food and water, my bag was quite heavy!! Tracy volunteered to carry the tent, and as she had the big bag a lot of other stuff went into it aswell, and then Vivi carried some more food and her sleeping bag etc. This walk was going to be interesting, if not quite tough and soul destroying at times...!!! So we were all really looking forward to it!! Linda had told us it was going to be tough but that didn´t really mean anything as it´s all relative and so I had no idea what I was letting myself in for.....

Day 16, Torres del Paine National Park

Start of the W walk. 28kms. We figured the W stood for Weightwatchers and were all hoping to lose a pound or two over the next couple of days!!! It was an early start as it was going to be a long day! Got driven to the start of the walk and then off we went. There was 11 of us doing the 3 day walk and 5 people doing just the first day. The weather wasn´t great, it was raining when we woke up, but I wasn´t too disheartened as it meant I got to wear my waterproof trousers for the first time which I was quite excited about! Only problem is that they match my jacket so it looks like I´m wearing a shellsuit!!! But it kept me dry so am not complaining and everyone else was jealous!!

Walked for about 10.5 hours, with only a few short stops and a quick hot chocolate at a Refugio. It was a really tough walk, and as I was carrying a lot more than I was used to, balancing and my centre of gravity started to become an issue! The weather got worse during the day and was sleeting and snowing for a good few hours whilst we were climbing the hardest bit, and it was bloody steep at times - we were scrambling over rocks to get to the top which was fun! We managed to climb up to Mount Torres, where there was a lake at the foot of the mountain, but the weather was so bad we couldn´t see anything when we got there!!! It was so cold and windy too that we just about managed a sandwich and then had to make the journey back down!! Got back down to the Refugio where we decided to stop for a drink and try and dry out a bit before we carried on for another couple of hours to the campsite. Normally after about 7 hours walking I´m done so the thought of another few hours was not great!!! But then it stopped raining and brightened up a bit so we carried on.

The walk to the campsite was by the lake and supposedly quite easy, but unfortunately it was very undulating which none of us were expecting!!! Got to the campsite just after 7pm and then had to pitch our tent, and we managed to pick a great place with lots of rocks to lie on and in a windtrap! So that was good!, but as we arrived so late we weren´t left with much choice. Then we needed to cook some dinner - another seemingly simple thing that became quite traumatic! The place was really there for rich people who had lots of money and could buy the ridiculously expensive food, rather than bringing their own. So all the plebs had a tiny little 4 ring hob in the corner of a room and we had to wait our turn to make some rather lovely packet risotto!!!

We're already down to 9 people, the others turned back! And the boys are all quite broken after today's little adventure!! But us girls are obviously made of tougher stuff and could think of nothing we'd rather do more than get up at 6am the next morning and walk another 20 odd kms...!!!

Day 17, Torres del Paine National Park

Day 2. 26kms. After a slightly windy night the weather was so much better today, which made the walking a tad easier!!! Packed up all our stuff and then were in immense amounts of pain when I first put the rucksack on - am building up a lot of muscles in my shoulders which will look very attractive I'm sure!!!

Walked for a couple of hours to another campsite and then Steve and Rachel put up their tent and we stashed all our gear in there so we didn't have to carry it for a while. I still had my pack with me (although a slightly lighter one!) as just couldn't bare to be parted from it for 5 hours (and we still had all the fruit to eat!!)! It also meant it was a great excuse to be able to walk slow, although being my usual bloody minded self I also couldn't let anyone else carry it as if I saw then run off whilst carrying it I would've found that quite soul destroying!!!

We walked up the Valle de Frances to another campsite and then went a bit further to a viewpoint. The walk wasn't as demanding as yesterday and it was nice scenery as we walked through woods and over rocks so it was quite varied. Had a great view of a glacier and then at the viewpoint we had a 360 degree view of the galcier and lots of snow capped mountains which was spectacular. It was quite sunny aswell, although bloody windy at times, I was wondering how many people get blown of these mountains sometimes whilst fighting to stay standing up!!!

Walked back to the tent, loaded ourselves up again like packhorses and then trundled off for another 2 hours supposedly. Although by this time I was in so much pain, every step was agony and so it took nearer to three hours and towards the end I was a broken woman!! The boys could see us coming in from their viewpoint at the bar and they said I looked particularly pitiful, which was just what I needed to hear!!! I decided the thing I wanted most was my Prince Charming to come along on a horse then he could carry my bag and I wouldn't have to walk any longer. Although as someone pointed out, I'm so stubborn I still wouldn't give anyone my bag and would insist that I was just fine carrying it myself, which was a fair point I guess!!!

Finally got to the campsite sometime after 7pm and then had to go through the whole putting up the tent process (and the wind was really strong!) which was great! At least this time there was a hut thing that all the plebs could go into to cook, bad news was that there was only 4 rings again so had to queue to use them, and then fight to get a seat, although I was so tired I was prepared to eat my dinner on the floor!!! We were so knackered that after dinner we just went straight to bed at 9.30, although it was so windy that I thought the tent poles were going to snap as the sides kept blowing in!!! I was then having panic attacks that our boots were going to fly off (we had to leave them outside the tent due to the smell!!), so none of us felt like we had got any sleep!!!

Day 18, Torres del Paine National Park

Day 3. A mere 22kms. Weather was really good again today, although really, really windy again! Left all our stuff in the tent and I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders - I was almost skipping down the trails!!! The trail took us up to Lago Grey and to the Grey Glacier. The lake had loads of mini icebergs in which looked really bizarre to see these big chunks of ice floating, I imagine the lake must be pretty bloody cold for the ice not to melt!

Sat by the glacier for lunch and chilled out for a while before walking all the way back. But the thought that it was our last leg of the journey gave me renewed enthusiasm and I was literally running up some of the really steep bits, ignoring the pain in my feet as every step was a step closer to finishing!!! It was a really lovely day and a really nice walk, so a good way to round off the three days. I felt so proud of myself by the end, it was such bloody hard work but we kept going and we did it! I think it has to be one of the hardest things physically that I have ever done, and apparently you're supposed to do this walk over 5 days, which would've been so much more enjoyable but nevermind we did it!!! Whilst I was on a roll I packed up the tent, packed up the bags and then treated ourselves to a celebratory drink!!!

Caught the ferry back and then Drew our truck driver came to pick us up and take us back to camp. We got a heroes welcome from everyone else which was really nice and it felt like we hadn't seen everyone for months, rather than days. Linda then cooked us a feast of soup, curry and chocolate cake which was soooo nice after our rations! I think everyone did lose a fair amount of weight too so would definately recommend this weightwatchers programme, although it might be a bit extreme for some!! It also feels like my calves and shoulders have bulked up too which is always nice, so Tracy and I are considering entering the next women's bodybuilding competitions!!!

Just about managed a beer with everyone in the bar and then went back to the tent and passed out! A hotel would've been nicer after all our antics over the last few days but I was so tired I was past caring!!!!

Day 19, Torres to Puento Arenas

No rest for the wicked, up at about 5.30am! Drove to Puento Arenas, got to stay in a hostel which was fantastic!! Was still pretty knackered though so just about managed a wander round the town and some food and then went back to the hostel to take full advantage of the hot showers, letting my hair dry indoors, and a lovely comfortable bed!!

Day 20, Puento Arenas to Ushuaia

Up again at 5am for a long drive day. Drove, got on a ferry, went over the border again in to Argentina (passport is getting full of Argentina and Chile entry and exit stamps!). Stopped off at a penguin colony which felt like a bit of a school trip to start with and no one was really that fussed about seeing a few penguins, until we got up close to them and they were actually pretty cute so was worthwhile seeing them in the end!!!

Arrived in Ushuaia, where it was pissing with rain and was freezing cold aswell so not too impressed!!! Well I guess that's what you get at the end of the world (this is the southern most town in the world apparently!)!! Really not happy about camping in this, so just praying that the tents don't leak!! Five of us girls decided that we would go into town and find a hostel but every man and his dog had the same idea!! They found room for four people so I decided I would be brave and go for the tent option!!! Had a great indoor BBQ with big slabs of meat and a few beers and then went to bed in the freezing cold!! Oh the joys of camping!!

Day 21, Ushuaia

Really crap weather for most of today so just wandered into town and pottered around there. Went to the Maritime museum for a bit of culture!!

We all decided to go to a club in the evening as it stays open so you can watch the sunrise there. Nice idea so thought we'd give it a try! Was so cold and wet though I really couldn't be arsed to go, but then figured that at least we would be in the warm if we went into a bar, so that was enough to convince me!!! Had a few drinks in an Irish bar and then went to this club... It was pretty bad music and even though we stayed until about 4.30am there was no sign of the sun! But we had a fab time, was grooving away to lots of really bad Spanish music, wowing everyone with my moves!!! Have really missed dancing, not that I do it much in the UK, so regardless of what was playing I was up on the dance floor for most of the night!!! Definately an interesting experience!!!!

Pure Patagonia trip - Week Two

Day 8, Bariloche

Day trip to Cerro Tronador por Lago Mascardi. Lou, Vivi, Steve, Rachel, Rob and I had a little day trip out to a glacier but it wasn´t as spectacular as I thought it would be! In fact one glacier (Ventisquero Negro) we made a special stop for I would (and did!) describe as a dirty puddle with dirty ice! Not quite what I was expecting!!! But we had a very scenic drive through the Parque Nacional Naheul Huapi and then had a little trip on a boat on Lago Mascardi which was really nice, being surrounded by lots of mountains and then saw some waterfalls (Saltillo de los Nalcas and Garganta del Diablo) which were quite impressive. Although I decided to climb up on a rock to strike a pose next to the waterfall and managed to headbutt the rock which was not too clever! So now I have a small cut on my head to add to my ever expanding list of ailments!!!

Day 9, Bariloche to Free Camp

Up again at 6am as had a long drive day of over 12 hours. We are basically driving 1,500 kms in 2 days and just camped in the middle of nowhere once Drew the driver was completely knackered! Had to do my first public wee in Argentina which was quite an experience (weeing behind a bush, not using public toilets by the way!) and managed to avoid splashback and wet trainers which I thought was quite impressive!!! Everyone else are pros already though as they´ve been doing it for so long (travelling in a truck , not weeing!)!!! Free camping was fantastic - we were going to sleep out under the stars but it was a bit cold for that so just put up a few tents, got a fire going, had a few beers (I thought it might help me sleep better...!) and then Ollie started playing the guitar so we (well just me really!) were singing along!!!

Day 10, Free Camp to El Chaltén

Just another long day of driving really. Woke up with a cold so that was nice as felt crappy all day! On the way to El Chaltén the mountains suddenly appeared out of nowhere (the scenery was just really flat and boring for most of the journey) and it was just amazing. We´re in the real Patagonia now and it´s so exciting to be here as it´s just fantastic! And the best bit is that we have proper beds for the next 3 nights which is going to be sooo nice! It´s amazing the things you appreciate! I got excited about clean clothes the other day when I picked them up from the laundry, very sad yes I know!!!

Day 11, El Chaltén

Mount Fitzroy climb, 28km. Weather was lovely - really hot and lovely blue skies so we decided to go for a little hike up a mountain to Lagos de los Tres which was at the base of Mount Fitzroy where the really hard core people go ice climbing and things! Was a really great walk, steep at first, then flattened out for ages which was nice on the legs! Scenery was really nice and varied - lots of mountain views obviously but walked through woods, up steps and over rocks. Then the last bit was very steep and went on for ages - one of those where you think you´re just about at the top and then you get over the ridge and the path keeps going!!! You had to navigate yourself over lots of little rocks as well as there wasn´t a proper path so that just made life even more interesting!!! But the pain was well worth it as at the top there were two lakes, one in front of Mount Fitzroy and the glacier and it was just amazing. The colour of the lakes was a really bright blue, it was fantastic.

We sat up there for a couple of hours, mainly because we were too knackered to move, but as the weather was so lovely we decided to take full advantage of it! There were a couple of times we heard bits of the glacier crack but couldn´t really see where, but the noise of it was so loud, it felt like the whole world was going to crumble around us! But obviously it didn´t so that was good!!!

Coming down was slightly easier, but it took bloody ages and we were all tired and hungry! So once we finally got down we rewarded ourselves with a beer and some nice food, and then were so knackered we fell into bed! El Chaltén is not exactly known for it´s great night life so don´t think we missed anything!!

Day 12, El Chaltén

Glacier walk, 20km. Seeing as there was nothing better to do we thought we might as well treat our legs to another long hike! Weather wasn´t so good today, really windy and quite cloudy. Tried to rain a couple of times but didn´t really come to anything fortunately... Walk wasn´t as interesting as yesterday and the views weren´t as good as there was so much cloud around (quite rude really to spoil my photos!). Walked to Laguna Torre but when we got there it was so windy we just about managed to take a couple of photos without being blown off into the lake and then managed to hide behind a big rock to have some lunch!! But it was good to get out, even if it was hard work on the legs - feel like I have shin splints now after yesterday so yet another thing to add to my list of ailments, people are starting to think I moan a lot, I don´t know where they get this idea though...!!!

Day 13, El Chaltén to El Calafate

Up early (again!) to beat all the other trucks to get to El Calafate so we could get better rooms in the hostel! (There´s a few other trucks from different companies that are basically doing the same thing as us so we keep bumping into them quite a lot, although generally we are the first to get anywhere which is good!!). Nice idea in theory but when we got there our rooms weren´t ready so a few hours more in bed would´ve been nice!!! Didn´t really do much for the rest of the day - bit of shopping, eating, laundry etc etc - what a crazy life I lead!!!

Day 14, El Calafate Perito

Moreno Glacier trip. Did the proper tourist thing today of getting on a lovely comfortable air conditioned bus (sooo much nicer than our truck!) and going to the Moreno Glacier. I think it is the third biggest glacier in the Los Glaciares National Park, but it´s the most famous one as there´s more activity there than the others, i.e. bits fall off it more often so it´s a bit of a tourist trap!!!

The Perito Moreno Glacier is one of only three Patagonian glaciers that are not retreating. Periodically the glacier advances over the L-shaped Lago Argentino forming a natural dam which separates the two halves of the lake when it reaches the opposite shore. With no escape route, the water-level on the Brazo Rico side of the lake can rise by up to 30 meters above the level of the main lake. The enormous pressure produced by this mass of waters finally breaks the ice barrier holding it back, in a spectacular rupture event (I got this from Wikipedia, I´m not that knowledgeable!!).

Walked down to the Glacier and then got on a boat for nearly an hour which sails up to the end of the Glacier and back again so you can get quite close to it (but not too close obviously!!). Then we spent a couple of hours walking round all the viewing points just watching it. It may sound quite boring but it is really fascinating - everyone is really quiet just watching the Glacier and every now and then bits break off it and it makes a noise almost like thunder as just the smallest bits break off and fall into the water. Whilst we were there a really large chunk fell off and it was amazing. I was in a really good spot to see it and watched it almost in slow motion as it started to move and then fell forward into the water. It was fantastic. The Glacier was an amazing blue colour as well in places, where the ice was really thick I think, and it was in really wierd shapes, quite spikey. Apparently there was a bit that was supposed to look like Snoopy´s head but I couldn´t see it! It was also a bit dirty in places (but not as bad as the other one we saw!) and there have been suggestions of a new career when I get bored of accountancy - glacier cleaning!!! It seems there would be plenty of work to keep me busy, but it could be slightly dangerous...!!!