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Dear Jane (and everyone else)

Well, where should I start? I think I finished the last letter after our three day check in Ushuaia; we eventually left there by flying to Calafate - it was cheaper than the bus to Punta Arenas would you believe. So into another little plane - in fact this one made the other one look like a jumbo, it was tiny. We flew back to Rio Gallagos again and then into Calafate. Rio Gallagos was about half way and this flight was cheaper than our flight from Rio Gallagos to Ushuaia. Strange! The whole flight was quite hilarious. They put us passengers on the plane, about 45 minutes late, they packed the back of the plane with everyone's luggage and I don't know about the safety standards - I tried to go to the loo while we were flying and you couldn't get to the toilet door for a pile of rucksacks - you couldn't have got to the exit door either! It was rather a bumpy flight and I couldn't enjoy it much, although the view of Tierra del Fuego and the Eastern Coast was lovely.

We landed at Rio Gallagos and lots of people got off but I still couldn't get to the toilet, so I had to go into the airport and then they wouldn't let me back out and I had to sit in the departure lounge and wait with some others. Then they came and shouted at us to hurry, so we ran across the tarmac and up the ladder and were all told to sit at the back of the plane (only half the passengers now) don't know why, a bit worrying really! Anyway, door shut and off to go but lots of shouts, door back open and luggage handlers came in - someone that had got off and hadn't got their bag, so a search went on - lots of bags were held up for us to see and we had to shout if they were ours - it was quite a laugh - eventually they seemed to give up and the door was shut again, engines revved and then a shout and from the cockpit came the co-pilot running down the aisle with a rucksack, kicked open the door and threw it out - we all cheered.

At last we were off - it had been found! We did have an alarming picture of the pilot sitting on a suitcase trying to see out through a pile of luggage. The flight to Calafate was less bumpy. There was a bloke from Calafate (well Chaiten, nearby) on the flight so as we got near he pointed out of the plane we could see the Fitz Roy Mountain Range out of the right side and then that we could see the Puerto Moreno Glacier out of the left side - people were dashing from side to side, luckily it seemed to balance out as I imagined the plane swerving madly as everyone rushed across and then back again! It was all great fun but then they made us sit down as we were going to land. I was looking out of the window and we literally landed on the first couple of feet of the runway after skimming over a fence - I was convinced we were going to touch down on the dirt, but it was OK - I can't wait to get the horses and stop getting on planes - not god for the nerves.

Calafate was a nice little place, we booked a bus for the next day to Chaiten Village (near the mountains) but found a nice campsite that night and barbecued some steak - I have eaten steak more times in the last six weeks than I have in the previous six years. It's lovely! We spent 5 nights in the National Park (Los Glaciares) trekking and although we had lots of wind and rain, especially at nights, it wasn't awful at the time and we were very lucky to get great views of the peaks Cerro Torre and Fitz Roy (or Chaiten) which are notorious for hiding in clouds for days, really great views, stunning glaciers everywhere, wonderful mountains.

Back to Calafate and more steak, then the next day went to Puerto Morens Glacier. It is just incredible - I'm sure you've heard of it or seen it on the TV - it's huge, the one that's still growing and every few years dams a channel between one part of the Lago Argentina and the main bit which makes the arm blocked raise its level by 30 metres! It eventually breaks through in a spectacular fashion - this used to happen every 4 years but hasn't happened since 1991 and then not so impressively. You can stand on the bit of land between the arm and the main bit and look straight at the glacier in front of you, very close; every now and then huge towers of ice crumble and fall crashing into the water, causing so much noise and waves its so exciting to watch - we camped nearby so spent 2 whole days just watching it and still weren't bored.

On the first day there was a party of Nuns also sight seeing and every time a piece fell, they all squealed - it was great! They have made platforms and walkways so you can stand and watch safely. Really special, the ice towers must be 200 ft tall and sometimes the sound of them falling straight down was like thunder. It's one kilometre wide across the front -staggering. Painted it in the journal but it doesn't show how big it was. We took lots of photos too. Back to Calafate and steak and then the bus to Puerto Natales, across the border to Chile! One whole month in Argentina.

The Chileans strike us as friendly (so were the Argentineans) but more relaxed - not so formal - we shouldn't really judge yet, we only spent 2 days there and then got the bus out to Torres del Paine Park.

Aren't these mountains something else, we've spent l0 days in the Park and have really enjoyed ourselves. We walked around the circuit which was really nice and quiet, coming across the pass to see The Glacier above Lago Grey was just such a Wow - I thought we'd seen so many glaciers that nothing could surprise us but this was something else. We looked down at it from the side, it is huge - indescribably enormous - it stretches out for miles way down to our left and the lake and then for miles up to our right into the mountain like a sea of ice. We were about 2000 ft above the ice but it would have needed about 4 or 5 photos to get it all in. Just amazing! So blue in places - when we got down to Lago Grey there were great chunks of glacier floating down the lake, icebergs the size of castles, some of them! All the lakes in the park are different colours, some blue, some green, some clear, some really milky and turquoise - fantastic. We walked up to Los Torres, right up close and it was quite awe-inspiring - they really are the most beautiful mountains. I think they moved me more than any others I've seen. We camped in the valley below and in the morning they stood out red in a very blue sky then as the sun rose they changed to orange then golden. We liked the Cuernos peaks as well. They are very unusual, a creamy granite, straight sides with dark crumbly sedimentary rock on the top - we think they look like cakes! Maybe l0 days of soup and pasta have done that.

Rather than catch the bus back yesterday, we decided to come out to Laguna Azul last night. We camped by the Cascade Paine - it was roaring away by us all night - powerful; saw a Patos de Torrentes (Torrent Duck) diving into the foaming waters!

Today we reached this blue lake and are now camped by the shore. It was very hot and sunny when we arrived, so we went for a swim in the crystal clear water - it was freezing! But after l0 days without soap and hot water it felt really good to swim and we ducked our heads under a few times, which made us gasp, but we glowed afterwards in the sunshine. It's so nice coming over here as we haven't seen a soul. The circuit was fairly quiet to start with but after the pass it got busier and there were lots of noisy groups and people are unbelievably stupid and leave rubbish everywhere and poo next to streams and leave it unburied and toilet paper decorates most hillsides; one really can't understand how people can want to come to a quiet beautiful place and then ruin it. We didn't let it spoil our trek, but it is very disappointing - we aren't terribly impressed in the way the National Park is run as the wardens seem to sit in the office and take money for entrance (very expensive - 11 dollars - in Argentina they were $5 or free!) and don't go on the trails at all. They build a lot of new Refugios to get money but don't maintain the trail at all, so no signs or bridges, some sections are very eroded - if they maintain the paths, not for our benefit but for the countryside's, then it would make a huge difference. Oh well - hope to be in the wild soon. We are going back to Puerto Natales tomorrow, really looking forward to (guess what) steak! - it's so cheap. That and lots of other tasty things we haven't had for days - also looking forward to a bed. After we left Buenos Aires we didn't sleep in a bed until Puerto Natales - a whole month! It was heaven not to be in the tent for a change and not to be wrapped up in separate sleeping bags, but under sheets and blankets - soohh wonderful and warm - it's the simple things in life that mean so much! I will write again from town and will post this soon.

Hello again, it's now Wednesday the 12th March, we arrived back in town last night - went to 3 supermercados and then back to our hospedage, showered and then ate like mad! Had 3 steaks between us and a sausage each (spicy) and lots of onions and potatoes (with Kerry Gold Butter - it's cheaper than at home!!) and sweet-corn - it was delicious - "Ricissimo!"

This morning we were up early and did lots of washing - you should have seen the colour of the water - yuk - it's all hanging out to dry and then rushed to the Post Office and collected the mail - 4 letters - l from Mummy, l from Daddy, l from Auntie Pudge and l from Bob in Brecon. Sad there was nothing from Jane or Adrian and not from Pádraig's family - we will check again tomorrow. It's very haphazard in there and we were given a pile to go through, alphabetically sorted and didn't seem to be all they had. Think we are leaving early Friday morning so will only be able to get it tomorrow - we will try to leave a forwarding Correos Lista address.

Originally we thought we would stay in the Park a little longer and then stay around here for a few days, but we've discovered that buying ponies here wouldn't be a good idea as to go north you must fly or take a boat or go around Argentina - no road exists between here and a place called Cochrane (south of Puerto Montt) - we have taken the cheapest option and booked the bus - only one a week, so that's why we are going this Friday. It's to Coyhaique and from there we will travel south to Cochrane to look for horses as it's everyone's form of transport there. Apparently the place is full of them! Our bus goes south to Punta Arenas then across to Rio Gallegos (we thought we'd seen the last of that town!) up to Commodore Rivadaria then across Argentina and the Border to Coyhaique - 20 hours.

After collecting the mail we came back here and made a mug of milky coffee (a treat after black tea) and sat and read them all, one by one - it was wonderful and I felt emotional to hear from you.

I do really think of you all often, especially when we are doing things in such stunning surroundings - usually when I'm squatting behind a bush I think "if they could see me now" which seems a really odd thing I know, but you should see some of the views we get from the loo and also when I'm cleaning up pots and pans in lovely streams and lakes - sometimes just so beautiful - the wild life has been one of the greatest highlights, it just all seems so tame - you get so close and they carry on with what they were doing without worrying about you taking photos or looking through binoculars.

On this trek we saw lots; quite a few Condors and Eagles and a funny bird of prey with a dark flat cap. We saw a hawk of some sort having just caught a little bird above our heads, eating it on a branch with feathers floating down - so close we could see its little legs sticking up! An Owl that looked like a Little Owl but called a "Chuncho" here, so close on a branch we could have touched it and it didn't fly away. A fox came and sat in the sunshine fairly close to our tent and barked at us for a long time - there was a beautiful family of geese nearby and maybe he was after them! We saw a Hobby type bird catch an insect in the air by us and eat it on top of a bush. Yesterday a Skunk came trotting up the track behind us - really cute and we couldn't smell anything, but didn't provoke it.

I forgot to tell you Mummy, that the saucepans we bought with you that day, are great - we can get thirds of dinner, which is great (we wondered how we managed with such a small pot in the Pyrennees) and then we can put tea on in the small one without having to wash up first.

I shall go and check the washing now, it should be dry as its sunny and jolly windy out there - yesterday was hard walking into it, it buffeted us about; then maybe I'll make another cup of milky coffee and then it will be lunchtime - we have to go out shopping for our supper which will be fun - what to have, steak or steak?

Take care all of you
Lots and lots of love
from us both,

Kate and Pádraig. XX

Copyright ©2001 Adrian M Wadley. All Rights Reserved. South America photographs, letters and text used with permission and copyright ©Kate and Padraig Queally 1997-1998. All Rights Reserved.