Ushuaia - Tierra del Fuego - Argentina

Here we are at the bottom of the world and the biggest disappointment is that we can see snow but can't use it for leisure purposes. It's Autumn in the southern hemisphere and so there isn't enough snow for the fun stuff and it's not warm enough for the other fun stuff, however we will be going on a boat trip down the Beagle channel, yes that's the Beagle of Darwin fame. Otherwise we've been advised to get a bottle of wine and, presumably, drink ourselves silly in the nearby national park. The proprieter of the guesthouse we'll stay in next is a little odd, I really like her. She's a psychoanalyst and that seems to be one of her stress relieving strategies.
Though people say this the most southerly town in the world the title apparently belongs to the Chilean town of Puerto Williams. I'm not sure how much farther south it is but I think I can settle for here. I even got some stamps in my passport with "end of the world" on them! :) From here I am approximately 8000 miles from home. That's a really long way and I'm sure the furthest I've been. I've just confirmed that it is by the magic of the internet actually. One could, of course, go about 1000 miles further in the southerly direction when one would hit the continent of Antarctica - you can get boat trips from here but they can last up to 3 weeks. I think another time. I'm already contemplating driving around the continent when I learn to drive and have a chance to come back. I'm sure that could include a trip to the white continent! Ah looks like the sun's coming out, visibility may be better on the Beagle channel than I thought. Capital.
I don't think I mentioned our trip to the petrified forest. Though the park itself wasn't as spectacular as we'd hoped (though I did like the chinking sound of what looked like splinters of wood but was actually rock under my feet) we had a very interesting time at the forest. Unfortunately I can't remember the name of our guide but in a strange twist of fate he knew more about tango, wildlife and music than he did about the forest and even gave Amber a tango lesson. The video I think is one the stranger ones we've made and I've made a few wierd ones in my time. I'll try and get it uploaded. After getting ourselvs lost due to his limited knowledge of the park and then found again he played some tunes for us and a very good singer he was too. I think it was worth the 11 hour trip there and 2 overnight stays for that. I appreciate those weird offbeat happenings. We went to the oil funded town of Comodoro Rivadavia afterwards and then off to Ushuaia.
From here I'm not sure where we're going, north in any case of course. Maybe up through Chile or straight back into Argentina again. We will consult our knowledge banks. In either case I will update in our new destination and let my gentle readers know I'm still alive. Ciao

Trelew, Chubut, Patagonia

It´s a terrible pity that I can´t upload pictures and videos most of the time since I have one that would sum up the post quite well. We saw penguins. I now have a picture of me with a penguin just as I said I´d hope to have in my profile. We went a long long way to see them and we were all very glad there were some left when we got there as it´s out of season for them really, a fact we only discovered a few days before we left. Having said that the sight of the penguins and sealions was still worth the 12 hour day we spent on the little feckers. Patagonia really makes one feel like a David Attenborough. In the last 2 days or so we´ve seen numerous Rheas, Guanacos (they´re like llamas), armadillos (soft on the inside crunchy on the outside), penguins (which at least Jenny will be glad to now are called pinguinos in Spanish), hawks with prey still attached, desert foxes and most likely loads of other things. Oh yes, also petrified oysters.
I really like Patagonia and in ways I´m glad we skipped Buenos Aires in its deathly cloud and came down to this great expanse of nothing, unlikely at it seems. We stayed in Gaiman and Trelew, 2 Welsh towns in the Chubut Valley. The Chubut seems to be one of the rare rivers in the region and when viewed from above reminds me of the Nile valley in Egypt, green in the strip down the river and desert wastelands on either side for hundreds of miles. The Chubut valley, actually Patagonia in general, is kind of like a geography fieldtrip all the time. The valley is most definitely a U shaped valley and today we went to a paleological park and strode the many layers one after the other til we got to modern day. Like a ladder through time it was and at only 100 metres up I´m convinced we could see for hundreds and hundres of miles. Incredible really. In any case, the Welsh town thing is worth a mention after all that talk about landscape.
We arrived in Gaiman witha great hunger on us and though (for me at least) the hunger wasn´t really sated I did feel very satisfied. The reason for this was because we had tea and cakes and real apple tart!! AND a cake with redcurrants in it, which anyone who knows me at all well will know is my favourite fruit! We stayed in this lovely tea room slash B&B for two nights and had our fill of lovely cakes. Breakfast even lasted three of us for 3 meals on our trip to the desolate and foodless peninsula. I was very appreciative. The place we stayed was called Ty Gwyn in Welsh of course as is the norm with a lot of places in Gaiman. In the town´s museum we met a lovely girl called Tatiana Rodgers who was desceded from some of the first settlers to arrive on the pilgrim ship, for pilgrims they were. A group of npnconformist Welsh who fleeing from persecution decided to go live in a desert thousands and thousands of miles away. Fair dues to them says me. Anyhow Tatiana let us have a look at her boyfriend´s book of photos of the town which I linked to above and it really was fascinating. Seems like Welsh customs are more protected here than in Wales, Male voice choirs, tea and cakes even love spoons. I´m not kidding about that and Tatiana is learning Welsh too - it´s taught in school here. I never thought I´d be asking an Argentinian how to pronounce Cymru properly but there you go.
Gaiman though is not one to disappoint and even after all of these nice and unexpected surprises it had something else up its sleeve. The Parque Desafio. This was really something and something I wish I had created or would like to create maybe in another time and place. I suppose I felt some sort of fellow feeling with the creator. This park is a park of rubbish, all sorts of things made of rubbish and without pictures I´m sure it doesn´t sound impressive, it has to be seen to get the scale of the thing. Mr. Alonso who made the place over 25 years has a great sense of humour too, which I like very much with his litterings of penguins, Celtic towers made of bottles, the Taj Mahal and the petrified forest which he testifies was formed 65 million years at about 3 o´clock. It seemed the kind of park Douglas Adams would make, or at least write the captions for. And so ends our Welsh adventures for the moment.
We´ll be away to the petrified forest next, for real this time, some many miles away and from there to the end of the world. I really need to fix my map. Looks like I´ll be making it at least some of the way up Chile given the time we´re making. Snowsports may unfortunately not be our friends given out strange in between season. Too late for penguins in great numbers and too early for snowboarding but as it has been pointed out to me when we visit the giant glacier at Perito Moreno surely we´ll find some snow. It is a big fuck off chunk of ice after all, it´ll be cold enough!
Til the next one!

Montevideo Airport - Buenos Aires is closed due to "meteorological" conditions

The first part of this post was deleted in an effort to make sure the post wasn't deleted. God I hate it when things like that happen. Anyhow as you can see we are in Montevideo airport and not Buenos Aires and we hoped we would be. Due to leave from Colonia and cross the small distance over to Buenos Aires we realised something had gone awry when we were told the port was closed and the thick smoke that had been covering Colonia the day before began to make sense. If you haven't already heard it is the fault of the farmers as many things are :p. They set fire to some fields because they're pissed off about something and that means I can't go to Buenos Aires. Unlike most Irish people I won't bitch and moan and say what a horrible selfish bunch they are because *I* can't do something. I always found that ironic and infuriating in the "selfless" outpouring of rage that we(Irish people that is) often exhibit. Instead I will say that I am very happy to be going to Trelew, one of those Welsh towns in Patagonia hopefully in time to catch the end of the penguin season and hopefully in time to miss the "Orca slaughtering baby seals" season for that is where we are headed now. Trelew is in a region dotted with villages and towns where nonconformists of Welsh origin fled to in the face of persecution. Now you can get nice tea and cakes there and they have an Eistedfodd every year. Hooray for persecution! We hope also to go the Peninsula Valdes and look at some whales, who didn't feel the urge to slaughter some fluffy seal pups, and a petrified forest some distance down the road. We've heard there's diving in old wrecks around here but I'm sure if I want to get into such cold water especially having become used to temperatures that never drop below 10 degrees. We shall see. From there off to Ushuaia I think and to the most southerly city in the world. I think I'll need a new jumper.

Colonia del Sacramento - Uruguay

And here we are in a lovely picturesque (colonial, of course) town in Uruguay but 20 miles across the bay from Buenos Aires, our next port of call. A sleepy place this is though we have seen some cool dune buggy quad like little cars for rent that we had considered racing around the quiet streets. Slowly we continue southwards and into the cold. 12 degrees in Montevideo and I felt like I was freezing my balls off if I had any to freeze. Just shows how unused I've become to temperate climate, tropical lass I am! Tonight we went to restaurant and enjoyed some very close range operaesque singing. Quite good really but at close range feels a bit more like assualt than entertainment. Tomorrow we will explore the tiny town and the lighthouse which is at alarming proximity to some people's homes. The next time I'm on I'm sure I'll be in Argentina and most likely the great metropolis of Buenos Airs, until then! In other news I'm just about finished the Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson. Anyone who's been around the past year and a half or so will be aware of the gargantuan task it has been for me. It's been so long it feels like a part of my life is coming to a close (a huge exaggeration but I'm feeling hyperbolic!). Goodbye Waterhouses and Shaftoes and of course, Isaac Newton!

Montevideo and summary of last week

It's been quite a whie since last I wrote and given any more time I may not write at all. It would take too long. I've gone to a new country since, met some missionaries, been 5 hours on dirt roads and gotten red dust everywhere possible to get red dust, posed as the virgin Mary, washed the dust off in a thermal spa resort and gone to another capital city.
As I remember I think we had one day left in Asuncion last time I wrote. We visited a nice cultural centre where we saw a man climb into a hammock which was 15ft off the ground more or less. He was willing to work for his relaxation. Soon after we managed to find a part of Asuncion which seems to be totally composed of garden centres, shopping centres and some beautiful old towers that happen to be paint shops.The distinction in affluence between that part of town and downtown is huge, The 5 star Sheraton lives here.
Given we were in the area anyway to see a museum buried in the middle of a residential district we decided to pop into the Sheraton to investigate dining options, the exchange rate to Guarani and lower cost of living being such as it was that one can comfortably afford to eat there. On arriving there we saw there was a spa type thing and decided to have a massage. I had never had a massage before but had always wanted to give it a go. It was very pleasant though I think I bothered my masseuse a little by asking which way up I was supposed to face when I have already taken off all my clothes. She was politely trying to avert her eyes and pointing up to the celing with her free limbs which was her head, if that counts as a limb. After that I decided I was going to be brave and resolved to go into a sauna naked when we got to the thermal bath town I knew we were going to next. Little did I know that they seem even more modest than Irish people in Uruguay so that was totally off the cards. Should have gone in Brazil where approximatlely 3cm square of material counts as a bikini and undies. I have omitted something however. Before we went off to have our respective massages we went to have some foodies over in the nearby shoppng centre where we met some born again Christian missionaries. They were very nice and I learned a lot about their beliefs. Luckily, despite the fact that we're quite argumentative people (Padraig more so than me but also me nonetheless) it didn't end in bloodshed, the combination of rationalist atheist resistant to conversion (me) and eager to convert christian amounted to nothing more than an exchange of views. All of this was in the one day - it was a varied and full day. I'm glad to be able to experience so many new things in a period of 12 hours :) Unfotrunately this was also the day that I lost my hat. And I'd aslready bought a badge for it :(. On the other hand I had only gotten it about 2 weeks beforehand, had it been my orange hat I may have had to enter into a period of mourning and wear my one set of black clothes for a month which I'm sure would not be terribly savoury to others around me. But I digress.
From there we made a retreat to the countryside after having failed, once again, to find my hat. Off we went on a 5 hour trip into an expanse of prarie occupied by little more than cows and the odd town. We managed to get off in the wrong place though having not eaten in many hours and unable to contact our hosts for a means of transport to the ranch we were going to, to which there was no other means of transports, it being confirmed as dangerous by the one taxi driver that seemed to live at all times just outside the bus station. There was a nice man, called Miguel, there who was willing to help. He gave us orange juice which seemed to be his sole source of income and we gave him some tea. He also managed to get through to the ranch and get their resident vet to rescue us. We were very very grateful. Miguel reminded me a bit of my friend Khiet, if he sees this, Hi Khiet! Off we went on about a 40 minute onward journey to find out the nice lady who owns the place had been waiting for us for an hour somewhere else. Oops. Marta is the lady's name and very nice and interesting she is too and the place we were staying is called Estancia Loma Linda in Caazapa. She was very understanding that one of us doesn't eat meat (which is rare) and gave us some tasty soya bolognese. We went on horses the next day and I somehow managed to get two dead legs and had to be lifted bodily off the horse. I looked like a real tool. Sigh. Anyhow the estancia was a very nice quiet place to be in the middle of at least 9000 acres of land and we felt nice and rested on out departure to the jesuit ruins and the Argentinian border some 5 hours away by dirt track. Something rather remarkable that did happen was that Padraig, who had lost his glasses on the bus on teh way down got them back - the bus was the exact same bus that we'd been on two days earlier with the same driver and going to a different place. What are the odds. I feel it deserves a mention to spread the good karma around :)
Fast forward to El Tirol near Encarnacion on the Paraguayan Argentinian border. We went in the blistering heat to see some Jesuit missions ruins where we met the lovely Amanda and Elliott (hope that's how you spell it!) and where we got a taxi to Jesus. I also attacked Amber on a sacrificial pyre with a knife. It could have been an altar but let me have my moment. El Tirol, where we were staying was a strange place, completely devoid of other guests but furnished with a sinister washing line from which many teddy brethren were hanging by their ears. They also had puppies. I was happy there :) A little red setter. Awwwww. And a weird wooly little dog which may have been a poodle. Neoooown, off we went to Uruguay the next day and after some fun at border control we were in Argentina. We neglected to get our passports stamped on the way into Paraguay but got away with a nominal fine for our crimes and not the lengthy stay and possible cavity search conjured in my more pessimistic thoughts. Zooom, across Argentina and into Uruguay we went. I will summarise for lack of time. We stayed at a thermal resort which was surprisingly chep and relaxing except for the fucking big spiders and the grasshoppers, argh!!! The waters were relaxing and I had a facial, a massage and was covered in chocolate for some time. That was nice. It wasn't edible as far asI could tell though, having tried it while the lady was out of the room. Somehow I never thought if I was going to be covered in chocolate it would be a middle aged Latino lady who'd be doing it. Them's the breaks I guess. The cleanest I think I've ever been in my life due to frequent submersion and being lightly boiled and off we went to Montevide where we are now. An interesting place with interesting architecture and the first nice chinese I've had in ages. Yum!! Well better sign off now, off to the National Symphony Orchestra. Hasta lluego.

Asuncion, Paraguay

Having had a look at the post I put up last about Puerto Iguazu I'm horribly disappointed in my grammar and expression. I apologise for these and regret any such future lapses. Usually my time is rather short at the internet and I must chronicle hastily, but enough with these apologies. Today I am in Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay. I find it funny that in the time (+ a little) it takes to get from Galway to Dublin one can have been in 3 countries. Border control was surprisingly lax in Parguay, I'm wondering how easy it'll be to escape from here though.After having had an interesting converstion with a gentleman in the Paraguayan parliament today we have a better idea of what Paraguayan admin is like - it may not be a problem. A very interesting tour and perhaps refreshingly representative. The congress is apparently one of only 2 in the world that visitors can come in and look around properly and sit in the speaker's chair (which I did) and look belligerent (which I did). We have also discovered that Paraguay may be a haven for Paddies too. A street very near our hotel is called Juan E. O'Leary street after a Paraguayan of Irish descent who wrote a disparaging poem about the then leader who brought Paraguay into a war between (tiny) Paraguay, (bigger) Uruguay, (even bigger) Argentina and (gigantic) Brazil. Silly Paraguayans! As one goes futher south so the Irish, Germans and Swiss emerge. There's a town in the Andes where chocolate and fondue is very popular. I look forward to seeing it. So far Paraguay is to my liking and not at all the scary awful place that Argentinians have made it out to be. Maybe it's part of the Neighbour syndrome that dictates that every country that borders another must hate eachother, its hard to know. Doubtless there are some slightly more dangerous elements and strange incongruities (I hope that context is right) such as the fact that the parliament buildings (containing all the civil service, senate and lower house) has a shanty town in its front yard, quite literally, about 50m from the entrance. We were told by our lovely and informative guide not to go too close because not even our clothes would remain let alone wallets etc. Hmm. All in all though very interesting and appreciative to be able to get lunch for about 40,000 Guarani (about 5.50 Euro). Perhaps we away to a ranch in the next couple of days. Reports will be forthcoming. Another thing I have discovered. Peru is portuguese for turkey and if I see another peru cracker as long as I live it'll be too soon. Be warned. Hasta lluego!