Tierra Del Fuego Hotel Punta Arenas

... taxi to Pt Varas as there were no public buses. Tired , this annoyed us ore than it should have. What was lovely though was to return to the wonderful "Sweet Hoe" hostel there where we had spent a night the week before. It was like returning to old friends as we were greeted by the owner and our Pachamama bus crew Esperanza and Andrei. We met the new passengers who we would travel the next 2 days with and we had a cup of tea and went to bed sleeping on lovely beds with excellent doonas.

... made all of our efforts worthwhile. Montigue (tent) handled the patagonian weather admirably.... 1st night we had amazingly strong winds- up to 85km/hr. 2nd night bit of rain. But the rest of the time was glorious. We have since written a hiking song about our time. Its meant to be sung with each line being repeated: I don´t know what you been told, Team Ripe is worth its wieght in gold, Hiking here and hiking there, Until ...

... travelled a bit before falling, or it was water from the Magellan Strait... This being said, the wind gives the impression that the air is cold, but actually there is a very high rate of UV rays: as soon as I go through the door my glasses turn to deep black. I must be careful. As there are relatively few things to do around Punta Arenas, I'll head up North to Puerto Natales and the famous Torres del Paine park, even though I shouldn't stay there very long.

... the deal is final. We get several pictures with the new owners of the bikes. They drive them over to the customs office and park them in security. I'm not quit sure what the rules are in Chile but the bikes must be held in customs for a minimum of a week. They offer us a ride back to the hotel, Mike seems to think he left a spare bike part at the hotel and wants to give it to the new owner. I refuse, thinking of all the cash in my pocket. I quickly make ...

... a sensational view of the valley below. The one disconcerting thing was as the day wore on so did the weather deteriorate. The tops of the mountains were now under cloud and the wind had become stronger and colder. This was the first time I had to rug up. I still had about 2 hours to the end of the valley trail but after sitting at the view point waiting for an avalanche, my friends returned and said that the rain had set in further up and they couldn´t see a thing. I ...

... that sprouted up all over Southern Patagonia in the early 20th century, presumably to aid the native people by teaching them to integrate into western, christian society. Despite, or perhaps partially because of their efforts, nearly every full-blooded member of every tribe was dead by the 1950´s. I haven´t done extensive research, but I think this was one of the fastest and most complete extinctions of an indigenous population in history ...

... to kill them? They say the prettiest flowers grow in the nastiest weather. "I can't believe this," the travel agent says. "It's like a miracle. I've never seen a price so low to Puerto Montt. Usually they're more than twice this. It must be a special promotion." It's a holiday of course, so she can't write out the $50 ticket till Monday, but things are looking up. I was hoping for a $100 ticket, still far better than the expensive ...

... village out in the Antarctica). The city was still waking up from the winter hangover and as such there were no tours or trips available (had to wait until mid Oct). So a few days in Punta Arenas became a night out and as far south as we go!

... through the park in the shape of a W. This usually takes about 5 days of walking, carrying all your gear and camping at various campsites and bunkhouses (refugios). We didn't have the time or really the will to attempt the whole thing as we're not big campers and we were approaching glacier saturation point. We made our own route instead planning for 3 days and 2 nights in the park. This was the first time we'd attempted anything like this. The only time I ...

... ship was lots of fun, although I am sure Joyce would have a different description. During the day the wind had become quite strong and the swells were pretty high so the ride back was somewhat reminiscent of a roller coaster ride. We found later they had quit taking people off the ship at 1:30 and had canceled the afternoon tours. We made it okay, even<br>Joyce, in spite of the fact that she had decided not to wear her patch since it had been so smooth and we were ...