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Dear Daddy (and everyone else)

At last it's your turn to receive a long letter from Chile. I have meant to write for ages but we never seem to have a spare minute these days. I'm sure you've seen a copy of the last one to Adrian sent with a parcel, which arrived on his birth-day luckily, but silly me, without an explanation that the parcel was Pádraig's birthday present, not his! Whoops - sorry Daidy. It was wonderful to talk to you on the phone the other day from Chile Chico - really enjoyed having a chat - it is the only time in the last month that I've spoken to anyone (except Padraig in English and Daddy briefly on the phone was the time before that. Before that the last chat I had in English was with a lovely Dutch couple in Puerto Natales which seems an awfully long time ago! This might make you think I have been chatting away in Spanish to the locals, well not quite, although it is getting better all the time. They speak very fast here and drop their 's' all over the place, which makes it even harder! we are meeting more people now from the countryside who aren't used to speaking to silly tourists like us, it's great fun.

Where to start, you'll have gathered from Adrian's phone call that we set off from Cochrane on our 'viage' at about l pm on April 10 th after the Carabineros (Police) had come and seen the horses (and their new brands) and signed our Guida de Transito form - haven't needed it yet, not sure when we will, but at least it looks more official than the 'papers' we got with the horses; this Certificado is hand written (scribbled) on a piece of paper torn from a squared exercise book - we are not exactly sure what it says but the police seemed to think it looked OK so we hope everyone will believe we haven't stolen them. The chap we bought them from was a nice bloke (now a rich bloke), a butcher, so he didn't diddle us too much we don't think.

Hugo, the lovely man who worked as boss of the fire fighters department of the National Forestry Corporation, who let us stay for nothing for three weeks, in a beautiful wood, and then let the horses stay for 2 weeks, grazing, tethered and didn't want any payment, waved us off as we rode out. He helped us put the pack on and tie it down and seemed genuinely sad to see us leave. We've managed to send a message to him from another Conaf office, who speak to him daily on the radio - he wasn't in when we called in but they'd heard of us and gave us coffee and cake and let us steam by a roaring stove for a while (a rainy day).

There are 6 of us not 5 as I'm sure Adrian has told you we have a dog as well, very cleverly called 'Brown Dog'. It's difficult to think of lots of names, we still haven't really decided on one for one of the horses - the mare - which is what she gets called. The dog was curled up behind the tent one morning when we woke up - in Cochrane and although we shooed him away and didn't pet or feed him, he stayed around.

Padraig went to Coyhaique, to get the money for the horses as you'll remember Daddy we were having difficulties, and the dog stayed with me the whole time - it was comforting to hear his snores outside the tent at night and he growled at people who came over to me and the tent, what I did to deserve such loyalty I don't know; after a few days I started to get used to him being around and would say "good dog" when I got up, but that was all and he loved it - he would come with me when I rode the horses (all 3 in turn). One day I met a man by the river - we had to ride the horses there for water for them. One of the most beautiful rivers I've ever seen, deep and clean and clear with poplars all along the side which turned yellow and dropped their leaves into the swirling water and they turned and shone like golden pennies - a famous fishing area and we saw huge Brown Trout in it. Anyway this man said the dog was his. "Oh, I said, he's been with me for days". He didn't seem bothered and when he said goodbye and galloped off on his horse with his 2 other dogs running alongside, my dog just watched him go and looked up at me to see when we were going the other way. It was funny - after a week of not feeding him, this was the loyalty!

Padraig was away 5 days, it was strange without him but the horses kept me busy. He left on a Sunday on a bus - lots of goodbyes and then 4 hours later he was back - the bus had broken down and wasn't going to take all its passengers as it couldn't make it up the hills. Anyway he ended up going again the next day on a plane, otherwise he'd have had to wait until Wednesday for the next bus (which broke down again!) The plane only held about 8 people and he found the flight exciting - I'm glad I stayed in Cochrane! This plane has since been lost with 6 people on board. It was flying from Coyhaique to Villa O'Higgins and there was radio contact with Cochrane but nothing after - lots of planes were flying from Cochrane, searching the last week we were there - but no signs of it - there are many lakes and mountains and the sea isn't far so they don't know where or if they will ever find it - very sad and sobering.

When Padraig got back - on the bus (another Company) it was great to see him - 5 days seemed a very long time as I hadn't had any contact with him and wasn't sue when he was getting back, or how things were going with the Bank. All was OK and he brought lots of goodies - new tack and saddle bags and a bag of special presents for me - yoghurt, crisps, orange juice and a bar of chocolate - wonderful! We didn't stop chattering for hours; great to be back together and both very excited about setting off! I am rambling aren't I?

The Dog! - we would walk to town shopping and it would come with us and wait outside One day we passed a house and the man called the dog saying "where have you been" - another owner?? The dog went over but soon ran after us - this happened a couple of times, so we stopped riding that way - he wasn't our dog - we didn't want him but he thought he was ours. As time came to leave I started saying "it's a shame he can't come with us, I'm getting used to having him around", Padraig said we couldn't as he is old and lame (he kept licking a sore on his leg) and would just be in the way.

The day of departure I said we'd have to get Hugo to hold him or tie him up but in the muddle we didn't and as we waved Hugo tried to catch him but couldn't and said 'don't worry, he won't follow you far, 2 kms down the road out of the town and he'll turn back'. Here we are 400 kms down the road and he's not looked back once. We are so fond of him, he's a different dog. It has knocked years off him, he's fatter and fitter, he's stopped licking his paw completely and it's healed and I've never seen such a happy dog. He's made for travelling; he gets so excited when we get on the horses to ride off that he jumps up and licks their noses and trots along next to them or between their legs. They like having him around too, we wouldn't be without him now! He runs along all day and chases hares but doesn't catch them. When we stop, he finds a sheltered spot under a bush and curls up - we bought him a bowl and he eats very well (so do we)! He barks at strangers coming up and warns us of things, which is a comfort at night - not that we aren't completely safe here, the people are wonderful and kind.

For example, on our 3rd day we passed a corral with a lot of activity going on and were called over - lots of hellos and where are you going; they invited us to join them for lunch - we'd just finished ours but said we'd love to. They were a family from Cochrane whose father farms in this valley. They were branding cattle - this was the real thing. Padraig went in there and helped and then we ate one of the cows - they'd slaughtered one of them there that morning and it was in bits all over the place - hanging in trees so the dogs wouldn't get it - most of it was being 'Assdored". They built a huge fire and skewered on a sword like thing driven in to the ground next to the fire - we ate tons, it was absolutely delicious, juicy and tasty - I've eaten more meat in the last 3 months than ever I think!

It was a lovely afternoon with them; they said we must stay at the house down the road, so we rode there with Benedicto - the workman and spent the night with him, sleeping on the floor of his little house. The horses were all turned loose in a field - they'd always been tethered since we had them and we weren't sure whether we'd see them again - it was dark and we had no idea how big this field was, but we were being shown such kindness and hospitality we went along with it. We were thinking we must go to bed in a minute after sitting down and drinking Mate with Benedicto (I still can't get used to it, its disgusting) when he started to cook another ton of beef for us - wow! We managed though and ate huge hunks of it - what we didn't eat we had warmed up for breakfast and I was ready for it - won't be able to afford to eat like this at home! The next day was cold and wet and windy but we were cheered and felt great riding out, waved off by this lovely man who'd been so kind to us and fed us and our horses and didn't want anything in return. He gave us a leg of lamb for the journey - really humbling. We'd been given an enormous slab of beef the day before, so we set off into the mountains with lots of meat - (so much for soup and pasta, this was how to do it)! We ate lamb for lunch and beef for supper and then the other way round the next day - for a week - there was so much meant! Oh yes, the next morning we walked down to the field and there were our 3 horses standing together not mixing with his 2 horses and quite happy to be caught and led out - phew, very happy.

Brown Dog had slept in the shed with our tack, guarding it from Benedicto's 5 dogs - he's quite amazing, standing up for himself and not getting into fights. He had slept off his huge tummy. We hadn't expected to have a dog so the first 2 days he'd eaten only porridge, but this day, in the morning we'd found a hare on the road, dead. The eagles (Black Breasted Buzzard Eagles, Aunty Pudge!) had been picking at it as we rode up but flew off so we got off and tied it to the pack for Brown Dog to eat at lunchtime - he loved it, we've kept a foot for luck) but of course we only went l/2 km down the road after lunch and then stopped for this barbecue - Brown Dog did very well and looked as if he was going to pop afterwards - he's eating well now we carry meat with us and we've bought him a small sack of dried dog food - it's great having a pack horse and being able to carry more stuff.

It's now 4th May - it really is hard finding time to write. We rode on through the mountains to reach Chile Chico; it was nice being up in the hills off the road, although it is a very quiet road. The first night the rain turned to snow and when we woke up all was white (including the tent) except the 3 horses and the dog - they weren't cold luckily - the wind and rain is worse for them - exciting stuff though.

The next day we were just about to set off when we heard whistling and dogs barking and along came a load of cows and dogs and a man on a horse leading a Pilchero (pack horse). Lovely fellow, Aliero Olivero, dressed in poncho, pieneras (goatskin furry chaps) and a beret and big spurs - very traditional. He was riding a beautiful dun horse and the fawn and brown stripes of his poncho matched it - we've taken photos. We spent the next 3 days riding with him, he was taking 28 cows (and bulls) to Chile Chico from Cochrane.

It was lovely riding with him; the dog enjoyed joining in herding the cows and he was a good companero, he cooked a wonderful assador the first day (some of our lamb and his beef) and a stew the next day and had an enormous fire blazing within minutes of stopping. We've learnt a few tips from him.

We stayed in Chile Chico for 3 nights as we needed to get a few things. It was the first town we reached and so we had the problem of finding somewhere to stay with 3 horses - in the campo (countryside) it's easy to find water and grazing and a flat spot for the tent, but we were very lucky and after asking at the police station we were sent to a shop to ask the owner of the local campsite - it was closed for the winter but when he realised our predicament, he opened it up for us and got the electricity switched on and charged us the nominal rate for camping for 2 people - no charge for the horses (or dog) - he also gave us 2 sheepskins to go under our girths, free!! We bought bales of Alfalfa for them. It was fun staying and having the place to ourselves; campsites here are quite organised and you pay for an emplacement and they each have a barbecue in the corner and a fence/hedge down between them, so the horses had one each and the barbecue was their manger and we camped in the one next door and the dog slept in our barbecue area in the biggest pile of leaves I've ever seen - there were poplars all along the fence - it was very dry (and windy) in Chile Chico - a similar climate to Argentina and the east of the Andes.

We had hoped to take a boat across the lake to Puerto Ibanez and up to Coyhaique but the boat was broken and so we ended up riding around the lake which if you look at it on the atlas you'll realise is huge - we'd been heading north and instead had to ride south west for l20 Kms to end up on the Carreterra Austral about 20 Kms north of where we turned off it a couple of weeks before - a detour of 300 Kms. It was very picturesque and so we weren't bothered, it was beautiful scenery and we had some lovely days and campsites.

We have now been heading north for a week through lots of different countryside, back into the forests; now there is so much wood around they make wonderful fences out of solid trunks, 5 across, between 2 uprights, alternately. They look lovely and very strong - they make lovely round corrals the same way.

Unfortunately they burnt a lot of the forests down in the 40's and you can still see the hillsides bare except for the huge grey trunks - it looks like a battlefield, some fallen, some standing - very sad to see although there is still a lot of forests around, mostly lenga, a type of Beech and in this climate they turn red - really crimson - beautiful to see. Autumn is well under way now and it's getting colder all the time, quite wet too, although luckily we haven't had any more snow and as we get further north it will get milder (and wetter we've been told).

Our days are very full now, we get up at 6.30; it is still dark but we take so long getting ready that we get started early - first jobs are: porridge on, either our petrol stove or a fire if we have dry wood and the other person packs away sleeping bags and things we have in the tent, then we put the rucksacks into our packs - they are woven sacks which fit inside 2 wire loops laced with leather. The wire rings are laced up with long leather straps, there are two of these. Rupert is pilchero and he's the dark bay horse that I started off riding, but he's not brilliant with traffic so prefers to hide in the middle; he's a good pack horse as he knows to walk wide of things. Alazán the chestnut who I now ride is not so bright and kept crashing into trees if you weren't careful - he's lovely though and I am getting fonder of him all the time - he's very sweet. Padraig thinks he's thick. The night before last we had a small area to camp in and we spent most of the night trying to get Alazán away from the tent; he bent the tent pegs, itched his bottom on the back of the tent and then stood in the fireplace and wondered what the smell of singed hair was! I had to get up 3 times to move him - I tied him short around behind some bushes and a couple of hours later he was back again having climbed through the bushes to stand right next to our heads and looked delighted to see me again as I emerged from the tent - you can't be cross with him, he's so adorable - he's very handsome, lovely bright chestnut with a slightly paler mane - strawberry blonde I'd call it - Padraig thinks he's a bloke with highlights and a fake tan, all good looks but a bit of a nana - not true of course.

One day we rode through a village and on the green, school sports were going on and although the teacher shouted and blew his whistle, a lot of children screamed and ran over to us - very flattering and luckily the teacher didn't mind and came for a chat - all the little schoolgirls patted Alazán and said "bonito Caballo" - he loved it and stood there basking in all the admiration - we had thought they might panic - never mind lorries passing, a group of screaming kids is pretty frightening - it was a nice experience for all of us.

We call him Alazán as that is what they call a chestnut colour here. Ruperto is so called as we got him on the 27th March and that is San Ruperto's day - Rupert most of the time, Rup the poop is his nickname - Rupert the Unsure is another nickname as he often has a worried expression on his face - he's a real sweetie too. The mare is still called the mare - she's definitely Pádraig's horse and they get on very well and he thinks she is the best one - I think the two lads are special, we are very happy with them and with Brown Dog, we make a very happy crew. We feel quite a team already.

We are now in Vila Cero Castillo, a village l00 kms south of Coyhaique - we are staying in a guest house, a pension, it is very nice to be sitting at a table near a stove with light; we arrived at lunchtime just before it started pouring, the owners have a field for the hores so they are happy and a barn for the tack and Brown Dog, so he's curled up in the hay happy and we are going to sleep in a bed (first time in over 7 weeks for me - Padraig had one in Coyhaique) - unfortunately the hot shower isn't working - it wasn't in the campsite in Chile Chico either, so I had a strip wash and washed my hair - I was so looking forward to a hot shower, I haven't had one since we left Coyhaique 7 weeks ago - at least I feel clean - we have had lots of washes in streams and whilst in Cochrane we'd warm water over the stove but it's not the same.

Within an hour of stopping today, we were fed an enormous lunch and are about to have dinner - it's nice not to cook for a change; we've done tons of washing and tomorrow will grease the tack with some beef fat from the butcher and get the horses shod - they've worn down already with all the dirt roads. We rode through an area, 50 kms along the road, which was badly affected by Volcan Hudson. In 1991 it covered the area with a metre of ash - it's still there and has choked some forests and only by the streams is there green, otherwise it looks like a desert - quite big lumps of ash fell. You can still see the fence posts just showing above the ground.

I really haven't written this letter very well - sorry - I've been leaping around and have left things half said. This is the last sheet of white paper, so will finish by telling you the rest of our usual day.

After breakfast and tent down, we brush and tack the 2 riding horses, then load Rupert; he has 4 sheepskins underneath the thing (we don't have a name) then 2 straps hold that on very tight, then the packs go on, then in between them, on top, we put the tent and frying pan and legs of lamb and anything we've forgotten to pack, then a sheet of plastic (we keep all the tack under it at night) which is all tied down with the box rope - a very complicated process which needs to be just so and tight; we are getting better at it and quicker; at first we wouldn't be riding off until l0.30, 4 hours of work before we'd gone anywhere! This morning was a record, at 9.l5, so we'll try to keep that up. We ride for 3 hours, from 4 - 5 kms per hour. We can't go too fast with the pack - it's not that heavy but it's a dead weight. We stop for 2 hours if it is sunny and nice and there's good grazing and cook meat and chapatis in our pan; if it's wet or not good grass, we rest them for half an hour without unloading or untacking and eat cheese and crackers and then go on for a couple of hours, so try and stop by 5 if they've had a long rest, 3.30 if not - set up camp and tether the horses - it takes a while - have a fire and tea and supper then bed - try to meditate first if we can stay awake, then all over again the next day; it's a good life, we do around 25-30 kms a day.

We both have ponchos now; they're great. Padraig has pineras - I want some, they're great in the cold and rain, although he looks like a Womble.

I'll write again soon.

________________________________________________________

Friday 9th May 1997 Coyhaique.

Dear Everyone,

I'm adding this as I have bought a new white pad. We left Villa Cerro Castillo on Tuesday, after having the horses shod (on Monday) and have taken 4 days to ride to Coyhaique - we arrived this afternoon a month and a day after leaving Cochrane. People said it would take us a week - that was catching the boat across the Lago General Carrerra, so we were bound to be a bit longer, but we had thought we'd be in Puerto Montt by now. We went to the Post Office and checked, there were 2 letters for us (although they were all supposed to be forwarded to Puerto Montt). One from Mummy (that makes 3 now - thank you Mum) and one from Pádraig's Mum - I'm sure you've all written so I'm hoping they will be in Puerto Montt when we eventually get there! Just to confirm we had one from Daddy, one from Auntie Pudge and one from Adrian. They were in Puerto Natales, Adrian's got forwarded here, so any that have been sent to Coyhaique haven't been received (except Mum's two) I do hope they are still waiting for us when we eventually arrive.

Saturday

We have a bit of shopping to do today and will leave tomorrow - Sunday. We managed to arrive in time, yesterday to get to the tourist office and get some maps photocopied - no-one has them for sale now as there are no tourists at this time of year. This means we can leave tomorrow and not wait until Monday which is good as it means the roads will be quiet for riding through town. Yesterday, riding into town was a bit of an experience, but the horses were very well behaved and we are very pleased with them.

Bigger busier roads than they've ever seen, lots of lorries and road works - it's been a learning experience for us all! Great to turn into this little lane to the campsite we stayed at before - the orchard with the lovely refugio, with the wood burning stove. They were delighted to see us back with horses. When I knocked at the door and asked to camp, she said no problem, but when I said "Pero Tererios tres Caballos", she didn't believe me for a minute until I took her outside to see Padraig and the three nags and Brown Dog of course. She thought it was hilarious. So the horses have been grazing some very lush green grass all night and now have the squits but are dozing happily.

In Reserva Nacional Cero Castillo - the Park Wardens (who we had a lovely long chat with - people have been so friendly) told us that it was the first time there hasn't been snow in April there - it's now May and we're heading north as fast as we can.

First hot shower in 2 months last night - gorgeous!

Will write again soon.

Lots of love from
Kate, Pádraig, Alazán (the brave) Rupert (the Unsure) and the Mare, not forgetting Brown Dog! fatter and fitter than ever

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.