Arrived OK in Santiago but the rucksack didn’t!

I was soooo knacked after mi Belize 4 hours cab, 2 hours check in, 4 hour Miami flight, 2 hour T/F and then 8 or something to Santiago. Then when I got there no bag...it was still in Miami! It turned up later on in the day but you know when you’ve been on the move and all you want is a shower and clean clothes, doh!  I must be jinxed as they left my snowboard behind when I went at NY too!

That night I passed out in a deep coma of a sleep only to be woken at about 1am as the Chileans started to go out. I went to shut the double glazing window and it fell out on top of me. It was a mere 3x2 meter piece of glass and I was lucky it didn’t smash on my head. Now this is where the difference between North and South America comes in. In North the front desk would apologies profoundly and ask me not to call my lawyer and offer my stay for free. In South America they accuse you of getting a friend into your room and vandalsing it!! What a little Hitler the hotel manager was. It took Rod, the trip leader, a lot of shouting Spanish and arm waving to explain this to them.

As a city I wasn’t bowled over with Santiago but still a nice place to hang out for a few days. I got there a day before my trip started and met a few girls that were on the some tour. We went off exploring the city, up cable cars to see the smog and then stumbled across a great public pool set into the mountain. Two of the girls had cossies but me and one girl didn’t....so we went in our under trollies...good start to the tour I thought and set the tone for the next 3 weeks together.

Vulans in Pucon (that’s Spanish for volcano don’t you know)

This was a great wee town on Lake Villarrica where you can see Villarrica Volcano from pretty much every where on account of it’s bleeding huge.

Spent the first day a short mountain bike ride in the surrounding country side with the genius idea of going to a waterfall as a way of limbering up with the volcano climb the next morning. Well this soon turned into a 6 hour adventure and I was buggered!

Next day came and I was surprised how well my legs survived. But now the biggy, the climb. This is in my top 3 of highlights so far and maybe No.1 We started at the crack of dawn and mini bused into the foot of the volcano and got a chair lift the first 300 meters...this was to be our only easy ride all day. We were donned out with crampons, ice axes, special rucksack and loads of kendel mint cake (well local chocolate at least). We then spent the next 4 hours climbing up volcanic rock, stopping after about 300 paces to removed 6 of our layers of clothing. We then hit the ice. Out came the chocolate and the crampons. Both were needed at this stage. The next 2 hours was all ice and you need the ice ace to balance and the crampons worked a treat. The final 30 mins was back on rock. If your wondering where the ice went at the top, well there isn’t any coz the volcano is active and bloody hot. On conquering the summit and catching my breathe a mere 30 mins later we were rewarded with a beautiful view and the unique spectacle of seeing inside the live volcano. I saw lava being spat out only 50 meters away (not convinced about the safety of all this btw) and if the wind changed the sulphur gas was choking!  So 3 bars of choco later we are ready to come down again. Coming down was a totally different game, tobogganing in fact. Over the years the tours have worn a run into the ice and you sit down, with legs crossed and upright and use you ice axe as a brake. Now I have a little more momentum than most and the ice axe may as well have been a hanky out the back of the space shuttle when landing. As a lovely Dutch woman found out as I steam rollered her...twice. I learnt some new Dutch words that day and a few hand signals too.

That evening I went straight to a thermal spring with hot bath, perfect for my now v v weakened limbs

The next night we celebrated our Chris Bonnington type status with mucho beer and tapas. I was rewarded with a smashing bout of the squits the next morning. Perfect for a 12 hour bus trip and no loos on board.

Bye Bye Chile and hello Argi Bargi. Bariloche - Perito Moreno

To most Bariloche = chocolate central for Argentina. Me too. The weather was a bit ropy but you could still seethe v picturesque lake and mountain regions beyond. Perfect for nursing a hangover gained from 10 pin bowling and late night bar action. The bowling was classic. Imagine this all is normal you pick up you ball, wang it down and knock over the pins as normal. The this wee fella runs around at the back putting them back by hand for you. Quite bizarre and a right laf. 

Fitzroy National Park
Lakes, waterfalls and snow capped glaciers blah blah blah. V nice place check out the photos….I forget which snow capped mountain it is now though.

El Calafate
This is home to the Moreno Glacier, thought to be the world's largest glacier still actually growing. We took on a 12 hour round trip complete with crampons to trek on the glacier. Soooo windy that day some of the girls got thrown to the ground. V hard walk and lots of rock scrabbling. As the weather was so tough we didn’t do a full tour of the glacier as they feared some off us would fall down the crevasse! but still cool all the same. V thirsty work but filling your water bottle up from a glacial stream is a nice touch. Camped that night at “base camp”” and was rewarded with top class sunrise over the mountains.

Puerto Natales - Torres del Paine National Park

Camping for 3 nights. Bah humbug: Fecking rained a lot so we got wet and stayed wet. Bit of a scabby camp even if the park is assume. Torres del Paine means towers of pain and they’re not kidding. 4-5 hour walk up to see the “signature’” view of the lake and two towers…..what did I get fog and bugger all…not HP at all. Had a wine tasting that night with 14 wines on offer. The Danish couple proved to be right lushes getting to 14 when I was on a piffling 10…I may have to resign my drinking crown. If I ever come back to Argi I would defo come here again and wait for good weather as the park is truly stunning when you get a few miles visibility, again check out the snaps of huge mountain ranges.

Rio grande and Argi Bargi
Saw a few penguins on route to RG. The most I can say about RG is they hate us. This was a main base for the Falklands war and there are still processions and memorials and plaques declaring the islands are “there’s”… I resisted correcting the few Agis I met in bars. Class painting in our hotel of “the hand of god” with a full on shrine to Maradonna. In fact everywhere you go they still adore him. Full TV coverage and support for his resent tummy stable op to help him loose weight (absolute blotter at the mo). Anyway the painting is of him being lifted by cherubs to hand ball the footy into the goal with other cherubs pulling down Shiltons shorts and another with it’s hands over the refs eyes – class – they’re not embarrassed at all about it in fact they still celebrate as many a cabby has laughed at me….. I just remind them of the last world cup and don’t tip!

Ushuaia – end of the worlds
Last town before the Antarctic and jumping off point for many a trip there. Nice area, good walking…funny how you get used to it and regard a 6-9 mile as not that long!

Buenos Aires and Uruguay
OK I’m running out of time and patience now so this is gonna be quick….flew up to Buenos Aires and wow what a place. Defo going again. Great bars and restaurants. Went to the docks, parks, Colon Theatre (saw Verde’s Requiem – totally awesome Annie would be proud of me), went to tango bars, markets and La Boca port district, saw Argi play Columbia (won 1-0) at River Plate and even popped over to Punta del Este in Uruguay (or Ur – a – gay) for a few days on the beach – nice

Next installment:

No show Orca, more bloody penguins, water falls galore, wine galore and leaving Argentina for Bolivia and Ecuador and Galapagos.