Don't Mention the War

For me crossing into Argentina today marks the start of silly season. I fly in 21 days; after spending more than 2 and a half months in just 4 South American countries, the last 3 weeks cover a possible flit to Paraguay at Iguassu as well as stops in Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina-the world's 5th and 8th largest countries. They´ve also won 9 Soccer World Cups between them-the same as all of Europe put together, well the rest of the world put together when you come down to it. There are times when the itinerary I've got on is odd-there was too much Peru. Anyway, it is what it is.

Argentina's just 2 stops-Bariloche, where I'll be snowboarding (might even get some photos this time), and Buenos Aires. The stops are linked by a 24 hour bus ride-must buy some snacks. As I grind to a halt, I feel the blog may too-I sense there's less to write about coming up. Perhaps I'll become all reflective.

Anyway before I offend a load of Argies with my views on their desire for the Malvinas being nothing more than a demonstration of national insecurity (a very long conversation I had with an Aussie girl in Quito assures me this is still a raw issue), we had our final stop in Chile.

Puerto Varas is in the Lake District, very Northern Patagonia. I wondered round after we arrived and it was a pretty lakeside town with German influence that extended to a Black Forest inspired church



Effectively we had one day in the area and it was a little hard to know what to do. It seemed the kind of place you could spend a week and do a range of things. Without any obvious 'must do', I took a punt on touring Chiloé Island for the day.

We bussed down and took the ferry across a Pacific inlet to reach Chacao, where the extensive use of shingles made Iz tremendously happy.



Unsurprisingly on an island (South America's second largest) there were lots of birds including black necked swans and cormorants




I think I wrote this in the Ballestas Islands, but one of the reasons for coming was this might be my last chance to see penguins. The boat ride to see the penguins was exciting (rough) enough to provoke some Laura screaming and her assertion that 'we're all going to die'. We survived to get very close to the penguins, although the weather reduced the photo ops



and the islands the penguins chose to live on were pretty lovely too



Rapa Nui aside, Chile's been without major highlights, it's also been expensive and cold. I really liked it tho.

The change as we went into Argentina was immediate. It was like entering a winter wonderland. The border seemed to mark our entry into the Patagonia of my head. The snow on the roadside was piled above the height of the bus. The branches of the trees sagged under the weight of fresh snow. Mountains covered in snow and trees rise up above lakes glistening in the sun. It's none too shabby.

As I gazed out the bus window and read more about Bariloche, I decided to spend just a day on the slopes so I could have a day on the lakes amidst the stunning scenery.

The Ultimate Olympian has pointed out Blog de Poll can't drink. This is worryingly true as another messy night out on arrival in Bariloche emphasised. I am ridiculously tired and should know better than to order long island ice tea after a boozy dinner. 4 hours kip that night was the final straw. I really shouldn't have bothered heading up to the gorgeous Cerro Catedral



after some slovenly snowboarding and nearly falling asleep at lunch, I gave it up as a bad job and headed back to the hotel. I did manage to stir myself for sunset by the lake.




I'm flogging that last one to a fourpiece for their next album cover. I envisage a massive U2 vs Coldplay bidding war-reckon U2 will win as it makes Bono and The Edge look tall.

So to the lakes and another travelling odyssey-the bus to Puerto Pañuelos, then boat (El Condor) onto Puerto Blest, then a bus to another boat on the Green Lake, where you can cross the border into Chile, back on that boat, lunch (picnic by the lake for Iz, Ian and I, overpriced crap for the rest), walk by the lakeshore, boat, walk to the waterfall, boat and bus home. You can combine this with a few more steps to get across from Puerto Varas; at the start of the day I thought we should have done that. By the end, I agreed with Laura that by the time you got to the last lake (where we started) you'd be too battered to enjoy it. I think what we did worked out for the best.

I could and probably should write more, but every picture tells a story








A lot of us have been to New Zealand, so there was a bit of discussion on comparing this to the Sounds. General opinion was that this was better. I felt it was different-Milford was more majestic and awe inspiring as it towered over you, but the covering of snow here really added something. I want to come back to Patagonia and link up to Antarctica. Will I ever be free of the compulsion to travel?

24 hours from Buenos
A 24 hour bus ride. Would you believe it's not long enough to get all the sleep I want, read enough, listen to all the tunes I had in mind, plan Buenos, chat and watch the Bourne Ultimatum?

Well it isn't so there.

Tango tomorrow, then Iz, Ian and Olivia leave. Gonna be short on pals for the final push.