What's happened to the weather?

I guess it's about time I sent another epic to let you know where I
am and what's happened since the last email. Well, we are both well
and are currently residing in a town called Bariloche in Patagonia
not far from the border with Chile. It's a beautiful place next to
a number of lakes and surrounded by snowy peaks. There is quite a
sizeable Swiss community here and this is reflected in the
typically Swiss architecture and the abundant selection of
chocolate shops. Seriously, it is the chocolate capital of
Argentina and there are loads of chocolate shops everywhere selling
chocolates you've just watched them make. We arrived here yesterday
and we're staying for a week - that should give me just about
enough time to sample the wares of every shop if I do about 10 a day!
We've had wonderful weather for pretty much our entire time in
Argentina but it started raining just as we reached Bariloche and
it hasn't stopped since. That's a 46 hour shower so far and I'm
starting to get a bit fed up with it now. It's not supposed to rain
on our holiday. And definately not for this long!

Anyway, since my last report: We flew from Buenos Aires to El
Calafate, way down in the south of Argentina. The difference in
temperature between getting on the plane and getting off was 25
degrees but when you add on the wind chill from the absolutely
freezing and terrifically powerful wind that accompanied our
arrival in El Calafate then it was probably nearer a 35 degree
difference. Atleast it gave me a chance to dig out the fleece from
the bottom of my rucksack where, for the last 7 weeks, it had lain
forgotten.

We stayed in El Calafate for a week. In that time we went on a trek
to Perito Moreno Glacier - one of the only glaciers in the world
that isn't receding. The glacier is about 3 hours on a coach plus a
quick trip on a boat away from El Calafate. It is small compared to
the glaciers of Greenland or Antarctica but enormous compared to
any heap of ice I'd laid eyes on before. The front 'wall' is about
60 or 70 metres high above the surface of the lake where it ends
and twice this height below the surface. At it's thickest point it
is 700 metres thick. The glacier is continually increasing at it's
top end and this extra weight slowly pushes it down the mountain
towards the lake where it starts to break up. The glacier is
generally a pastel blue colour but the more condensed the ice the
deeper the blue. Our trek involved attaching crampons and spending
a couple of hours out on the ice staring down into neverending
holes and crevasses. In these places the ice was a deep, electric
blue in colour. Really beautiful. The most amazing thing to me
though wasn't so much the sight of all this ice but the noise it
makes. It creaks and groans and cracks as the ice continually moves
about and it is so LOUD it is like a very long thunderclap or
someone firing a shotgun just in front of you.

We also took a trip to the Torres Del Paine National Park just over
the border into Chile. It was supposed to be a day trip but we
asked if we could be left there and come back on the day trip the
following day. You can stay over in the Park either by camping in
one of the many campsites or by staying in one of the few refuges.
Either way we needed to hire some good sleeping bags for the night
which we managed to do in El Calafate and take some food. The first
day of the trip was really cloudy, wet and so, so, so windy. The
wind made it seem bitterly cold but our guide disagreed, "Last week
was -25C. That is cold!"

By the end of Day One when the rest of the group went back to El
Calafate and Lynn and I were being dropped off near the refuge we
had seen nothing of the Torres (towers) as they were continually
hidden behind cloud. We saw the bases of a couple of the mountains
but only because we were stood on them and the near shore of a few
lakes. We certainly never saw any of the panoranic views we'd been
hoping for. It all looked rather depressing as we trudged off to
find our bed for the night but atleast we had another chance to see
something tomorrow which is more than the rest of the group had.

It was late afternoon when we reached the refuge and Lynn decided
to "Have a little siesta" as she put it. I decided to go and
explore and soon found myself clambering up hillsides towards the
elusive Torres Del Paine (still miles away) in the vain hope that I
might get the merest glimpse through a parting in the clouds before
night fell. After about an hour I found a nice hill and sat on a
rock staring up at the cloud covered heights of a nearby mountain.
Is that the peak I can see? It's so vague I can't tell. I sit and
wait and very slowly the peak appears out of the cloud, then others
behind it start to appear as grey silhouettes in the mist. Within
half an hour the clouds have dispersed and I can see towering white
peaks all around me and the beautiful, vertical, columns of the
three huge towers that give the park its name. I can't believe what
I'm seeing and look around to see if anyone else has seen it even
though I know I'm alone here. 10 metres away are an old Chilean
couple covered in green ponchos and virtually camouflaged against
the hillside. I nearly jump out of my skin - where the hell did
they come from? In these surroundings I almost wonder if their
ghosts and have to take a photo of them to prove or disprove
myself. They appear not to even notice me. After half an hour I
head back. The next morning is bright and clear and there is no
trace of any wind. We both head up the hill at 07:00 to where I was
yesterday to photograph the towers at sunrise. The snowy mountains
glow a pastel pink and the towers are bright orange as the sun
rises. The rest of the day is beautiful and we spend a wonderful
day in the park. We get back to El Calafate at about 22:00.

The next day we have a coach journey up to Puerto Madryn on the
east coast. It involves a 4.5 hour journey further south to Rio
Gallegos before we can get on another coach for the 18 hour trip to
Puerto Madryn. Before we can leave El Calafate we have to return
the sleeping bags. The shop opens at 10:00 and we don't leave until
12:00 so we have plenty of time. We get to the shop just before
10:00 and wait for the owner to appear. By 10:20 he hasn't
appeared. We ask in the travel agent next door if they know why he
hasn't appeared and if they have a telephone number for him. They
don't know his number and it turns out that the 10:00 opening time
stuck on the door is purely for decoration. We are told he turns up
when he wants and not to expect him until after midday - apparently
he's not the most reliable of chaps. We go off to a nearby cafe and
return at 11:00 but it's still closed. What should we do? We have
paid a A$300 deposit (60 quid) and even though the sleeping bags
are good ones and certainly cost more than this, they are polar
ones and simply enormous. Infact, they are each half the size of my
rucksack. We can't keep them, we just don't have the room to carry
the things. We decide that I will wait as long as possible and Lynn
will meet me at the bus station with all the bags. She disappears
and I wait. 11:10..... 11:20..... 11:30...... a Chinese girl comes
along to return a coat. She can't wait either and after 10 minutes
she goes. 11:40...... 11:50..... It's 5 minutes to the bus station
and I can't stay any longer. I go into the travel agent again to
borrow a pen and paper. I write a very irate and rude message
telling the guy exactly what I think of him and push it under the
door. I rip the opening times off the door to let him know further
what I think, grab the sleeping bags and leg it to the bus station.
I have to run like a man posessed to get there in time and
literally get there with seconds to spare. Lynn's face visibly
drops when she sees me tearing it round the corner with a sleeping
bag under each arm.

So now we are the unfortunate owners of 2 very big and heavy
sleeping bags we don't need. Maybe we can sell them? I hope so.

We arrived in Puerto Madryn and spent 4 days there before heading
to Bariloche. Puerto Madryn is a coastal town and was the first
settlement of the Welsh when they arrived in 1865 looking for a
better life. Let's face it, leaving Wales it was always going to be
a better life! As a consequence there are plentiful references to
the Welsh in the town - the street names, the shop names, Welsh
dragon logos on everything Puerto Madrynian. Last Saturday we
decided to go out for a beer or two so found ourselves at what is
descibed on their flyer as "An Authentic Irish Pub". The name of
this establishment? "Mr. Jones's Irish Pub". I did a bit of
scrutinising and the only bit of Irishness I could find in the
entire place were the small Guinness bottles behind the bar. Now if
it's Welsh you're after. Well, you could start with the owner - a
so called Mr. Jones. Next up is the enormous Welsh Dragon logo on
the wall. Next to this is the big poster of all the Welsh football
strips over the last 30 years. Then there's all the old photos of
the early Welsh settlers that cover the rest of the walls. There's
also the Welsh tartan that covers all the windows and tables. I
don't believe the Welsh have a famous beer brand that is exported
round the world so maybe the beer's Irish? Well, the Guinness is
but otherwise no. For lack of a suitable Welsh beverage and
forgetting he's mean't to be Irish the owner has turned to Germany
and all the beer (if it isn't Argentinian) is German which means
all the coasters and beer towels and countless other bits and bobs
that pubs have to advertise their beer isn't Irish either. It's
German. The food was nice though and I had that most famous of
Irish dishes, Goulash!

I've just become aware of how long this entry has gotten so I shall
end it now without boring you further on what else we actually did
in Puerto Madryn. Well ok then, very quickly - We did a day trip to
Peninsula Valdes where many wild animals live or in the case of the
sea-life, come to rear their young. We saw seals , elephant seals,
penguins, armadillos, guanacos and rheas. I took loads of photos
and it was good.

Hope you're all well.

Bye for now.

Rich