Feb 2008

Even though Tierra Del Fuego is still in Argentina, we need to pass through a little corner of Chile to get there, which means 2 border crossings. Border crossings take ages and are a pain in the arse. When crossing into Chile we arent allowed to take any fresh food or animal produce. Depending on the mood of the guards we have to take all our bags off the truck and have them scanned, or have the truck searched for any food/guns/drugs/animals. The guards purposely take ages to look at your passport and there is always a queue. We spent over 2 hours at the first one so we chucked a rugby ball about for a while to pass the time.

Rather than go through another border crossing that day we decided to bush camp in Chile and cross into Argentina the next day. We drove around looking for somewhere by the road that we could pitch our tent, and we saw what looked like an abandoned army camp and turned into it. Immediately we were confronted by a few young-looking soldiers and Luca jumped out of the truck to go and talk to them. Everyone thought we were in trouble with the Chilian Army but Luca came back and told us that the guard said it should be OK if we use their old gym hall to sleep in. The soldiers were youngsters doing their national service and guarding a disused army camp. The soldiers couldnt speak any English and all came out to stare and wave at us like we were mad. The atmosphere was a bit wierd and exciting, as we were in the middle of nowhere in what looked like a dilapidated, scary soviet base from some bad horror movie. The gym they let us use used to be a basketball court and was in some state of disrepair but it was shelter from the wind and cold so it was a perfect place to camp. Everyone was in a good mood, for some people it was their last bush camp before their trip ends at Ushuaia. We put some tunes on and people danced as they made food. Later on, after a few drinks, we moved into the scary back room and everyone put their head torches on flash mode and we had a little disco before bed.

The next day we left early to cross the Straight of Magellan to get to the border crossing into Argentina again. Apparently dolphin sightings are common but we didnt see any.

So on through Patagonia, via Santa Cruz on our way to Ushuaia. Boiling hot day and 600km to cover we take a teatime break near Fitz Roy to see the natural monument - Petrified Forest. Between two volcanoes lies the remains of a fossilised jurrasic forest covering 15000 hectares. Due to the volcanic minerals the wood was fossilised, many huge coniferous tree trunks have been uncovered, many still lie under the surface. They have amazing colours, almost like brown gemstones and are easily the width of a car. Although a hot walk, it's well recommended. Dont remove any stones though - its punishable by a prison sentence. Jenna was strip searched on the way out because a guide saw her bend down and touch a pebble.

Just round the corner we found a small campsite (of the kind where a flushing toilet qualifies you as a campsite even ifs its never seen bleach) and set up camp.

There's been a running theme the past couple of weeks, an obsession with 'molitos' (armadillos). For a strange reason we all have a fondness for the strange creatures - so imagine - first surprise, then horror, then simple fascination as two locals were BBQing freshly caught & killed molitos. Everone jumped out the truck and started questioning (a sharp stick through the top of the head then slit the throat if you're wondering). In my personal inspection, only bowels are removed prior to cooking, eaten with head & offal!

When in Rome - yeah, I tried it, piece the size of a pea, tastes like 100yr old red meat with salt and fish. Ollie who had been coo-ing over and hand feeding these cuties the day before was happily knawing his way through a leg, skin, claws n' all. He liked it. I didn't eat much for tea - felt sick.

Early night for me as i was quite partied out, so snuck into the tent early. It was a warm night so I just needed my sleeping bag. Ollie woke me as he came in, his head torch making shadows on the canvas- when I saw it (no, not that - behave), I saw two living creature shadows- Ollie with something on his shoulder with a big body and MASSIVE legs. So I screamed, told him not to move (didn't want it falling on me) and got the hell out of there in one breath. I didn't however realise my scream would wake everone up and they would find me half undressed outside the tent in full glare of many headtorches - not even matching underwear- the shame! Couple of guys dived into the tent to rescue Ollie who was still searching for the 'thing' not realising it was still happily sat on his shoulder! Not quite sure what it was- maybe a cicada, but being big and insecty is enough for me to justify my reaction. Did I mention I hate camping?! One month down- 4.5 to go!

In the province of Chubut we stopped at a national park where you can walk amongst the penguins. The park is called Cabo Dos Bahias and is 1649km from Buenos Aires.

Walking with the penguins was one of my highlights of the trip so far. They absolutely stink, but they are really inquisitive and look funny. Dee walked around with her headband over her nose to stop the smell and then complained there were too many flies, so went to sit on the truck while i ran around trying to take pics of the penguins. I wish I had a zoom lens for my camera as I could have taken some really good close up shots. I had to make do by leaning off the walkway as much as possible and shove my camera in the penguins faces.

That night we bush camped on a beach and the weather turned cold for the first time, as we all huddled around wearing our winter gear. The weather was also really windy so we had to find large stones to hold the tents down. A couple of people found scorpions when they picked up the stones, which was cool.

One thing I didn't mention about Patagonia is the random truck stops to look for meat. There you are driving in the middle of a flat windy treeless grassland having gone 4 hr or more with nothing but the odd windturn to look at when officials stop you. They come onto the truck looking for any meat products-including searching the bags for it. I often carry the odd bit of raw mince in my handbag in case I get peckish! Its the foot and mouth risk apparently.

We drove for 19 hours (1085km) to get to Puerto Madryn and make up our missed day due to the mechanics not bolting the wheels of the truck on properly. This town is our main stop off point for visiting Patagonia and the Valdez Penninsular. The countryside here is very sparse and boring. There are thousands and thousands of acres of just nothing except sandy bushes, so we played poker on the truck to while away the hours. After a late meal when we arrived at the campsite, we went to bed early.

Puerto Madryn is one of 3 towns in this area which have Welsh names. The town itself was founded by Welsh colonists and it was funny seeing the red dragon proudly displayed at on monuments and buildings.

The next day we went to the Valdez Penninsular, which has exactly the same scenery apart from a few colonies of sea lions, penguins, elephant seals and killer whales. This is the actual place where the BBCs Planet Earth filmed the amazing footage of a killer whale coming up onto the shore to catch the baby seals.

The weather was cold and misty, but the penguins were cool (but unbelievably smelly) and we could only just about see the seals through the mist. The best thing for me though, was the armadillos running around the car park. They dont seem to mind being touched by tourists and I had some bread, which I fed to them. We had been dying to see "molitas" since we failed to see one in Carlos Pellegrini and now we could poke and play with them, which was really cool. We didnt see any killer whales.

In the evening we went out for Rikkis birthday (again) and got very drunk. We did see a big shooting star while stumbling back to the campsite, which was nice. Shorty made a wish to see another shooting star, which she did see the next night, and that made her happy. My wish was to see more monkeys, but that request has yet to come to fruition.

We were reluctant to leave BA after such a short amount of time, we would both love to come back sometime, especially on a weekend, but we were scheduled to leave the hussle and bustle of city life and head into deepest darkest Patagonia and bush camp for the night. We had left BA for only about an hour and I had fallen asleep to the soothing rocking motion of the truck (as usual), when a loud bang had woken everyone up. It sounded like the road surface had changed, or we had got a puncture. We looked out the left window to see 2 of the back wheels overtake us and shoot into the opposite side of the motorway! The truck was running along on its back axel. There was a degree of panicking going on (and maybe a bit of swearing) in the truck as 2 cars coming the opposite direction had to swerve out of the way to avoid the huge incoming wheels as we pulled into the grassy central reservation. Luckily, Luca had done an excellent job of stopping the truck safely and a few cars from the other side of the road had stopped and the drivers had either started to run after the wheels, or stood around to laugh and watch.

Everyone had to get out and stand on the side of the road while we waited 2 hours in the pouring rain to wait for a taxi to take us all to a nearby cafe to chill out. We kept our spirits up by singing "The wheels on the truck go round and round, round and round, round and round. The wheels on the truck go round and round and then fall off!"

We savoured the unexpected luxury of staying in a hotel for another night, but we had to leave at 3am to make up for lost time, so we decided to stay up drinking and playing cards and then sleep on the truck. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but probably wasnt.

So finally arrived in Buenos Aires after a couple of very very long drives. Instantly loved BA due to its European feel - a lot like Barcelona. After the bushcamps I was soooo excited to be met with an ensuite room. Running water, hot shower, A BED and real towels -not the shammy leathers called travel towels that move water around without actually drying anything. Yeah, they´re quick drying because they never get bloody wet.....anyway.

Five hair shampoos later and I'm throwing on the bling because tonight is party night! We have 3 birthdays to celebrate within the group while we stay in BA.

We all gather in the Irish bar (cliché I know but not a personal choice) and head off to get dinner, all in different taxis, the drivers of which thought racing each other was fun - they drive CRAZY here. No one eats till 11pm or later here so nights are always long. Massive carcasses hang over a real fire in the restaurant entrance and when the steak came I thought Ollie had made a mistake and ordered a whole cow. Veggies beware - if I see another lettuce leaf as the only non-steak option I'm going to punch someone.

The restaurant provided entertainment with a dodgy 80s soft rock cover band and by the time the cakes came out we must have drank enough wine to sink a small ship. Conga round the table while avoiding the flying cream cake (team Oz got a bit excited), followed by a cheesy club rounded off a great first night. Good job we sat outside otherwise we may have been barred. By the way the majority of people on this trip are over 30 so don't blame the young ones!

The second big birthday celebration happened a couple of nights later. Not to let one team member feel left out all of us accompanied him to a gay club. Brilliant night, first a drag show followed by some wicked tunes. However I now have my doubts about Ollie, he was the first one on the stage in the club, the one dragging birthday boy up there and although birthday boy confesses to being camp - he had nothing on Ollie. When we woke the next afternoon, 4 separate people asked me how "dancing queen" was. Go figure.

So how do I cheer myself up? I'm in BA darling...shop shop shop. My whole clubbing outfit- bling, shoes, belt, dress cost me £15. I love this city. I need a new bag now though - mine won't close.

In the morning (well, morningish - these beds are a luxury we cant afford to waste), we got a cab to the La Boca area of BA. Its most famous for the huge football ground which dominates the skyline, but there are also loads of arty shops which are all painted in different colours. There are people performing tango outside cool little coffee shops. It felt like Camden, but warmer and more spanishy.

By the time we had had lunch is was too late to see the famous Recoleta cemetary, so we prepared to go out for another birthday meal in Los Palmeras, which is an area in BA with lots of restaurants and bars. The vibe is very chilled out - there isnt music pumping out into the main square and no aggro - everyone sits on the roof terraces or outside the bars drinking and eating. I couldnt help thinking that the equivalent area in England would be full of shouting, fighting and loud crap funky house music. We were still very hung over from the night before at the gay club, so we played pool till 1am and left.

BA is tango city. Second night in we all went and saw a tango show in the basement of a famous tango café, Café Tortoni. Not knowing what to expect, it started setting the scene of a bar with ladies of the night and charismatic men. Dancing, singing and music followed and it was brilliant. Especially the drummers, with their dark long hair and Argentinean good looks!

Afterwards we went to another steak restaurant with live tango dancing and again the biggest pile of meat described as a portion for one I've ever seen - Ollie had meat sweats. I ate the free bread.

So time to burn off the steaks we headed for tango lessons. Ollie having done salsa thought he was a natural, all wiggly hips - shame tango is about keeping clean lines. I got made redundant as Ollie's partner, as he said I wouldn't stop leading, I think he wanted a chance to dance with all the other women (who tried to avoid Ollie in the non air con room - sweaty!). The dance teacher, a 6ft dark skinned long haired lothario, grabbed me and told me to 'dance'. I was held so strongly if I wanted to lead I had no chance, I didn't stand on his feet and felt like Mrs Tango, after he left me with a sultry 'muy bien', mmm, - ollie scowled.

However looking back at the photos I've got the grace of Charlie Chaplin in a dress - my tango dreams are crushed.

Full day on the truck today, boiling hot and everyone getting truck fever so as soon as we reached the National Park everyone jumped off the truck and straight into the Rio Uraguay. This is the natural border between Argentina and Uraguay. The river is quite silty looking but the floor sandy with little vegetation so perfect for a late afternoon dip and wash. I say river, it is huge, some people swam half the way out but undercurrents make it too dangerous to swim too far. At one point I was sitting in the shallows and something slimey wrapped round my ankle then tightened. Ollie said it was a leaf, I saw no leaves, but it looked like eel territory to me, I got out quick and started dinner as I was on cook group.

We got the fire up and started to roast off vegetable, beef and chicken skewers with freash salsa. Once the darkness came in around camp we started hearing strange screaming noises and shuffling. Having not long ago watched the film, "I am legend" my senses pricked and we started investigating. All around us were these strange little creatures, resembing a cross between a Possum and a Chinchilla, coming up to knee height. Although cute they made the strangest noise and were as blind as bats - but could smell the bread Ollie was hiding in his pocket. A few minutes later he had them eating out of his hand, it was then when we noticed their massive sharp teeth and claws. In fact Ollie was so fascinated by the creatures he forgot to take a photo of him feeding it, Ollie showing off, missing a kodak moment - this NEVER happens.

The locals called them wild rats but I have since learned that they are rodents called a plains Viscacha.

Very early start the next day but managed to glimpse the morning break, a beautiful red sunrise over Uruguay, then back onto the truck for the next adventure.