Day 43: Suits you!

Mood: Snaked
Music: Beber & Tamra - Suite Beat Boy

Today started at a nice time. I think we were a little too late down to breakfast as some of the things on offer didn't taste quite as fresh as I would have liked. I guess that's what you get for not getting down to breakfast until just before 10am. The plan for the day was to go shopping and then go to the Night Safari. We set off on a gentle stroll into town, wondering past numerous camera shops. I ventured into one of these, just to find out the prices of things and then got hijacked by the shop owner and got the hard sell on some filters and other things. I wasn't quite expecting this and got a little rinsed but only for things that I really ought to have had in my camera bag anyway.

One of the main things I wanted to buy was a couple of new tailored suits, made for me in one of the cheap shops that stretch along the main shopping road. Rolf is pictured today sat amongst the material that is to be used to make each one. It was a little bit more expensive than I had anticipated but the pound has dropped 20% against the Singapore dollar in recent years and I picked rather nice material for the suits too. I managed to get the guy to make them and post them directly back to the UK for me. I have a try on session first thing in the morning that we are due to leave Singapore so I hope that everything is ok with them. My experience with tailor made suits is that they do get pretty close the first time. We shall see on Wednesday.

After a brief break for food we headed out of the city towards the Night Safari. We arrived a little early but this just gave us time to sit back and relax with a beer and a book before the fun started. At 7pm one of the two shows at the park started up right beside where we were sat. Fire breathers and dancers. After this we headed for the path leading up to the other side of the park. This was mostly to avoid the crowded parts as everyone was piling towards the trams and the other shows.

After a few minutes we discovered just how tricky it is to photograph wild animals under very low light conditions. Some of the otters stood still enough for use but the likes of the greater and lesser mousedeer it was just too hard. We walked up towards the top station of the tram and on our way passed a number of very cute animals, and many ugly or scary things. When you can't quite see how thick the protection is, walking over a pond of alligators in the dark is a little disconcerting. One of the cutest things we saw was a flying squirrel, he didn't move much and it would have been nice to see him glide but you can't have everything.

After that we got a guided tram back to the start of the park and went to see the nocturnal animals show. We were planning to go back out to the far end of the park after this and walk back but we were pressed for time due to the bus scheduling.

During the show they pulled out a large reticulated python and asked if anyone wanted to volunteer to hold it. Obviously I put my hand up and was chosen. It was a little heavier than I expected and gave me a little bit of a squeeze. It also seemed to like my leg and wrapped it's head around me and licked me a little. I couldn't see this at the time as my view was obscured by the body of the snake as I tried not to let it slip of my shoulders.

After this they had a small reminder about recycling, followed with a demonstration given by 3 otters, each trained to put the correct type of rubbish into the bins. This was very cute as the otter with the aluminium cans couldn't quite reach and as such juggled the can on the rim of the bin for a minute or so before he was given a helping hand by the trainer.

After that it was back to the hotel. We felt a little hungry at the end of the day and were realy quite disappointed with the Seaweed flavoured Pringles I'd bought earlier in the day (you have to try something like that don't you!).

Day 42: Orchids!

Mood: Sleepy
Music: Trip Doubt 'mix tape'

Today started fairly early but my body clock was telling my that I'd slept in loads by 10am and I think I persuaded myself to believe it. After quite a while, Emily awoke and we headed down to breakfast in the hotel. The hotel had several different manned stands, including a sushi bar, a curry bar and an area dedicated to the cooked breakfast.

After brunch we made the trip in to the central shopping area in order to walk to the botanical gardens. This large public area has a fantastic amount of biodiversity and the national orchid gardens. There are several species of orchid on show that have been created specifically for the visits of foreign heads of state and the like and they are very weird and wonderful for flowers.

We spent almost 4 hours walking through the gardens and it was early evening by the time we got back. We did take an ice cream break half way around where I picked up some sweet corn ice cream... Very very odd, but nice. As it had been about 30 degrees C and very very humid all day we both needed to change before going to one of the restaurants on the hotel.

As most of the set Chinese menus left very little option but seafood we each took a wild stab at the a la carte menu and did fairly well with respect to volumes of food and food selection. I'd love to know if there is a sneaky way of getting crayfish out of their shell using without resorting to using fingers or knife and fork while eating with chopsticks!

Enough for now. My body clock is slightly out of kilter. I think I have got Aussie time nailed bang on but I'm now 3 hours behind that!

Day 41: Jumbo!

Mood: Hungover
Music: Deadmou5 - Strobe

Today started fairly late with several sore heads around Gary's house. After breakfast, cooked on the BBQ of course, and a long period of sitting on the veranda, we had a last couple of games of Wii bowling before heading back to the airport. The drive was an hour and a half or so but passed fairly quickly.

Once at the airport I sat and waited for another couple of hours, catching up on episodes of House and Bones that I've yet to see. I had found out the previous day when trying to book my seat, that I was flying on a 747-400 series plane. This might not mean much to most people but I've been wanting to fly on a jumbo jet since I was a child and have been quite disappointed to get smaller Airbus planes for the two long legs to date.

On the plane I watched a couple of films to pass the time, including The King's Speech. Having been told so much about it I was almost unsure whether I wanted to watch it at all. I'm glad I have done so though.

The check-in and baggage retrieval at Singapore airport was very simple and Emily was waiting for me at my arrival gate when I got in. We hopped on a train to the city and arrived a the hotel (very very plush). I'm sure I'll take photos at some point!

Day 40: Fiiish!

Mood: Merry
Music: Royksopp - Junior

Today didn't start early (hurrah!). I managed a little bit of a sleep in before my 11am check out. Leaving my main bag in the hotel I set out for the aquarium, stopping off at the Dim Sum kitchen next door for breakfast. I've no idea what some of the things I was eating were but they were quite tasty!

The aquarium is one of the biggest of the world (according to the little pocket guide book Liz lent me). Quite a few sharks and loads of other local varieties of fish.

The dugongs were quite cute and the biggest shark they had was a grey nurse shark. These only ever eat fish but have been killed over the years as potential man eaters.

After lunch I went to the arranged place to be met by Rod and taken out to Wiseman's Ferry where Gary and his family live. Gary and Rod were the two Aussie guys I had met in Peru. His house is on an elevated position looking out over the Hawkesbury, with a veranda running along the side. We saw kookaburras come down and land on the hand rail right in front of us!

Dinner was cooked on a BBQ with several accompanying beers. The beer drinking continued on late into the night, only to be broken by a small amount of Wii bowling.

Day 39: Sydney photo day

Mood: Physically tired
Music: Lots (Kings of Convenience - Riot on an empty street)

Today started early... (how many of these posts have started with those words?) After watching the sun go down while in a surfing lesson on Bondi beach last night, I got up to go have a surfing lesson while the sun came up. I got a nice early morning photo at about 6:20am from the beach.

The lesson itself was pretty good again. I was on a massive plank of a board but that did mean that I could stand up pretty easily and managed to ride a couple of waves from just after they'd broken all the way into the beach. I finished the session very tired after not sleeping too well and then trudging out through the waves and the swell for almost two hours.

After that I went back to the backpacker place for a warm shower and to change. Once I had cleaned up I went back to the beach with my camera to take photos of the decent surfers and also of, Lauren, a girl from Birmingham I'd met on my lesson the previous morning.

At the end of her lesson I hopped on a bus to go back to the city and find a hotel for the night. After lunch we met up and went on the ferry over to Manly to have a look at the beach and sit down to have something to eat. The ferry on the way back gives some pretty impressive views of the harbour bridge but for us this was most obscured by a cruise lined turning around in the way. Lauren and I said goodbye when the ferry landed as she was meeting her sister for dinner. I spent the rest of the evening taking photos of the bridge and of the opera house before and after sunset.

On return to the hotel I pretty much fell straight asleep.

That would be the end of that day then! 

Day 38: Gone Surfin'!

Mood: Sleepy and happy
Music: Bon Iver - For Emma forever ago...

I've not slept too well over the last couple of nights but I can never sleep for very long during the middle of the day in the UK and I've a feeling that's what my body thinks that I'm trying to do.

Today I woke a few times but go out of bed just after 7am to put my stuff together and go for my surfing lesson. There were 9 of us in the group, 2 from Sweden, a german girl and 6 Brits. I know it's a bit cliche going surfing on Bondi beach but hell, when in Rome...

The lesson itself went ok, I could have been betterm could have been lots worse. As a beginner surfer you spend most of your time struggling against the flow of water trying to push yourself out to catch the next wave. I did manage to get myself stood a few times for a number of seconds. This in itself might not sound like much to most people but I was rather chuffed with myself for getting that far. I had a stupidly big grin on my face the whole time and that was the main thing.

Once the lesson finished I booked myself another two, one for this evening and then again early tomorrow morning. I then set out back to the hostel, grabbed my camera bag and went for a stroll around the beach. I took some photos of some surfers, but it was most a group of beginners and as such there is nothing too exciting. I then went and sat in the sun up above the rocks at the end of the beach. Here I watched the waves crash on the rock throwing up clouds of spray 20m or higher into the air.

No matter how much suncream I applied it didn't seem to be enough and as such I'm a little pink all over. Other than that I'm in good health and spirits, looking forward to this evening's lesson!

I'll let you know how that goes tomorrow. I plan to go into the city tomorrow and strol around with my camera and see what I can see.

Until again.

Day 37: Bondi!

Mood: Cheery
Music: Chicane - Behind the sun

Last night I fell asleep very quickly but couldn't sleep for more than a couple of hours at a time. I hope tonight works a little better.

I woke up and ordered room service to bring me breakfast giving me enough time to shower and dress before Andy came back up to the hotel having been back there for breakfast himself. Once I checked out we got a taxi over to Bondi beach and I've checked into a backpackers place. The 5 star hotel to back packers hostel in one day is a bit of a step but it'll stop me spending a whole ton of cash on accomodation so I can more justify it on excursions.

We walked along the shops on the sea front for a while in the rain until we had to take refuge from  heavier shower. After that had passed I booked myself a surfing lesson for tomorrow morning and then hired a wetsuit and body board to go bob up and down in the waves for a couple of hours as Andy stood in the surf and looked on.

We ate lunch once I'd finished and then it was time for him to hop back into a taxi to go back to his cruise liner. We parted with the great line "I'll see you in Rome"!

I've now got the rest of the evening to kill but they are showing films in the communal area of the hostal and I'll go out for dinner before too long.

There are no new photos as I've not had internet connection I can plug my own kit up to today. I'm going to spend a day with my camera bag in Sydney in a couple of days when the weather is better.

I'll tell you about the surfing tomorrow. Night all!

Day 36: The longest day!

Mood: Oh my word I'm exhausted
Music: A whole ton!

Well... from where I left off in Punta Arenas I got to the airport and flew to Santiago via Puerto Montt. Once at Santigao I had a couple of hours to wait and then boarded the long flight the gets into Sydney via Auckland.

I watched 3 films straight up and then another couple after an hour or so sleep on the first leg to Auckland. The flight itself was about 13 hours and having a row of screaming children sat in front of me was not exactly what I was wanting to find when I go on board. Once in Auckland we were made to get off (although we could leave our hand luggage on the plane), go through a security scanner station and then were allowed back to the gate to wait to get back on the plane. It seems that this was just for refueling, which they always do with you sat on the plane still in South America!

Now in Sydney I'm spending the first day and a half with Andrew. I've already been up close to see the Opera House and the bridge but have yet to really go on a walk with my camera. I even met up with Graham Davies (with whom I lived in my first year at uni) for lunch today which was really nice. We chatted about a whole hoard of things but as it was just for his lunch hour it was over far too soon.

As I've not really been to bed for over 2 and a half days, I'm not absolutely shattered and will end it there for now.

Night night!

Day 35: Landing and flying

Mood: Happy
Music: None (yet)

I'm writing this a lot earlier than normal but I think the excitement has gone for today. I only have several hours of sitting at airports and sat on planes to go.

This morning we up early to visit Magellan Island, the breeding place of the Magellan penguin. There are over 65,000 breeding pairs on the tiny island and they stretch as far as the eye can see!

We got off onto the island and walked up a marked path to the lighthouse on the highest point. All the while we had penguins meters from us going about their normal lives. The young were just starting to lose their thick warm fat coat. The adults were going down to the water to wash themselves (as they do regularly to maintain the waterproofness of their coats).

On the way back to the boat I managed to get a few shots of them leaping out of the water!

After that we had breakfast and packed our belongings as the boat steamed for Punta Arenas. It took a couple of hours to get everyone off as they only had one coach shuttling the 180 of us 200m along the harbour to the customs building.

I'm now sat in the reception of the hotel my bags were dropped at using their internet connection before my transfer to the airport. I'm going to end this here so I can go have lunch before I take off.

Bye for now.

Day 34: My head hurts! :(

Mood: Hungover
Music: Various

Well... after yesterday's early start and late finish, today was mostly spent sleeping. I managed to miss breakfast as it had finished by 9am and not 9:30am as I had thought.

I then went to attend a lecture but only managed a few minutes of that before the urge to doze took over, therefore I returned to bed and surfaced in time for lunch.

Apparently I missed a wine tasting session but personally I don't think alcohol would have been the answer at that point.

This afternoon we had a shore trip to see the tongue of a glacier deep in the fyords of the region. This was quite pretty but a litttle dull until I started finding stones fit for skimming on the flat run of lake. I managed a 14 bounce skim at one point!

Before dinner we had a lecture on the Megellan penguin which we will be seeing early in the morning tomorrow.

After dinner I went, with two others from my dining table, to have a look at the engine room of the boat. Even with ear protectors on it was rather loud but impressively laid out and immaculately clean. The engines themselves were smaller than I had expected for a vessel this size, as were the generators.

After that we had a farewell drink in the bar area. Tomorrow I fly to Santiago and onwards to Sydney!

Day 33: Cape Horn!

Mood: Expectant
Music: Coldplay - Parachutes

Today started early... much earlier than I though. As I'd left my laptop on, charting my passage around the coast, I had a look at it when I was first woken by the movement of the wave. Quite stupidly (due to the early hour) I forgot that it was still ok UK time and as such thought I'd overslept when I saw the clock say 7am. We were due to disembark for Cape Horn at 7:20am.

That meant I was up and showered and half dressed by 4:10am at which point I realised my stupidity and went back to bed for a few hours. A the correct time we climbed onto little ribs and made for shore.

Once landed we climbed up the steps leading up to the lighthouse at the end of the world and then to the Albatross monument. In my head all I could hear was "Albatross, get your albatross here!" from the Monty Python sketch.

The waters off the cape have taken over 800 vessels and 10,000 souls during the eras in which it was the main passageway between the West and the East. I've always held it as a kind of mythical place and finally being there was an odd feeling. As a sailor it is one of those legendary things. I've not yet sailed around the cape, but I have now been to it.

Next time I go to such a place I'll ensure that my camera battery is full before I go. I'll leave it there... I was a little frustrated at myself but I got an America tourist to help by taking the photo of Rolf and I that you see above.

After we got back on board we had breakfast. Most of the rest of the day could be occupied as you wished but the ship had several lectures and documentaries throughout the day on people such as Shackleton, Darwin and Magellan.

In the afternoon we headed ashore again. This time to Walaia Bay for a short hike up a hill to a view point. The walk was short but steep and many struggled while a few of us were kept waiting for the rest. The view was nice, as was the history of the local indiginous people that we were given on the way.

In the evening, after dinner, there was a game of Bingo held in the bar o nthe top floor. I acutally managed to get all of the numbers on the final game. Sadly so did 3 other people and I lost the game of pick the highest ball. I would have struggled as the prize was ship branded clothing and I've a feeling it wouldn't have fitted into my luggage!

The rest of the evening was spent drinking with a couple of Austrian guys and a member of staff. We were trying to make a chain of beer cans go all the way around the bar. At 3am I gave up and nipped downstairs to bed. I do have the closest room to the bar, which is quite fortunate, or very good planning...

That'll do for now.

Day 32: Booort! (Bigger boy's toys!)

Mood: Excited
Music: Bright Eyes - I'm wide awake, it's morning

Today started late (hurrah!) as the only thing I had to do was pop into town to a cash point to pay the extras that I'd racked up in the hotel (a bag of washing and a couple of cans of coke (On an irrelevant side note, cans of coke in Chile were 350ml and in Argentina they are 354ml)).

After that it was a taxi ride to the airport for my flight to Ushuaia. The only mildly exciting bit of the day was when I realised that I'd left my coat in the hotel (it was very hot and sunny and I'd thrown it down the other side of the bed). I managed to get the hotel to stick it in a taxi and bring it out to the airport for me, by which point I'd discovered that I'd checked in most of the money that I could use to pay said cab. In the end he accepted the 7US$ and 12ARS$ that made up all of the money in my posession and left me to go get on the flight.

An hour later I was in Ushuaia being taken to the office to check me in for the cruise. After this was complete I went for a stroll up and down the main street, popping into a very nice camera shop and buying half the things I was missing (including the (now spare) lens caps that are being brought out to me and a new tripod). I also stopped into the worlds furthest south irish bar for lunch (king crab ravioli with a side helping of crab) and a drink.

At 5pm I was driven down to the docks and we boarded the cruise ship. The Stella Australis was completed in December and this is only her 9th sailing. She was docked in front of Paul Allen's plaything named Octopus. This was almost as big as our cruise ship itself and had been used to go to the Antarctic with Mr Allen in a couple of weeks prior. Rolf is pictured in front of this teeny tiny motor yacht...

This evening was spent with welcome drinks and safety videos, interspersed with a tango show for no apparent reason (other than we were departing Argentina). Dinner was quite nice and I met the other people I'll be eating with over the next few days. There are 18 nationalities among the 180 of us on board and I'm sat with two Americans, a Canadian and a Belgian couple on my table. I'm the youngest by quite a bit although the wife of belgian guy is probably 20 years younger than he!

In terms of the whole cruise, I'm not the youngest as there are a Chilean family on board with two young children... Other than that it's between me and two Austrian guys who were in the room with us for the briefings. It has been that way most of the time I've been away though. This cruise is hardly something that most normal backpackers could afford too.

Anyway... Tomorrow Cape Horn!

Day 31: Moreno Glacier

Mood: Flat
Music: Coldplay - Parachutes

Today I was picked up and transferred onto a coach which drove 80km out of El Calafate to the site of the Monero Glacier. From there we were put on a boat and drive closer to the glacier edge before walking around the side and up to a place to put crampons on. It was while walking around the edge that I spotted this chunk of ice breaking away from the glacier and falling into the water. I did capture 5 photos in sequence but the one I've posted gives the general impression.

When I say crampons, I mean several pieces of metal welded together to form a cheap crampon type thing. I really did notice the difference from those I wore on the glacier in Iceland as it was much harder to go up and down very steep slopes of ice. I also wasn't given an ice axe this time, which was a shame. From my English speaking group of 17 were walked up onto the ice, being told to keep in single file at all times. It was from here that a young Austrian guy and I started walking in the right places, just not quite in line with the rest of the group. The 17 of us were mostly made up of a group of 10 Israelis who seemed to want to take forever to go anywhere, talked over the guide the whole time, pushing in lines to see things that were one at a time and were just generally quite annoying.

Once off the ice I kept chatting with the Austrian guy, who has now been in South America for 18 months, traveling from Costa Rica all of the way down to the south of the continent. We chatted for most of the rest of the day and had dinner in El Calafate together before I walked back to my hotel and he went to play in a poker tournament at the casino in town.

I get a lie in tomorrow as my transfer isn't until 11am. I don't think I'm going to have an internet connection while on my cruise ship so this might be it until I get to Sydney!

Bye for now!

Day 30: Transfer

Mood: Tired
Music: Moby - Best of

Today began with a 7:30am pick up from my hotel. As the hot water appeared not to be working this morning I am now quite beardy and a patch of my hair has been sticking sideways all day.

After dozing in the first minibus I was dropped off at the border just in time for the arrival of my coach. It had been raining non-stop since I arrived back from my hike yesterday and the roads were a little wet so I hopped straight onto the bus. About a half hour later we rolled forwards 50m and everyone hopped out to the Chilean border post. After sorting that and the Argentinian post the far side, we left for El Calafate.

My only memory of the journey will be the person in the seat in front of me attempting to sit in my lap by tilting his seat back as far as it could go. At this angle the seat head was only 20cm or so from my chin and my knees were squished at funny angles. Not too long after the Argentinian border we had a comfort break and the person in question hopped out. I took this opportunity to stick my knees as far into his seat as I possibly could and wedge them there. On his return he found his bed like chair had got rather lumpy and without saying anything, shifted himself a little more upright, allowing my to sit more comfortably. He did try to tilt back later in the journey but further kneeing managed to do the trick again. Looking up and down the bus, they were the only two people who had tilted their seats back more than 10 degrees from upright, so I don't feel too bad about attempting to not break my legs just because I'm tall and sat behind a <insert bad word here>.

On arrival in El Calafate I was met and driven to my hotel and then given the rest of the day to go wonder into town, get food etc.

I'm now back in the hotel and feel like sitting here for quite some time.

Day 29: Fueled by Deadmou5, The Foo Fighters and peanuts.

Mood: Tired, very tired, annoyed at having to walk like a 95 year old due to my legs stiffening up
Music: Deadmou5 - For lack of a better name
           The whole Foo Fighters back catalogue, bar the 3rd album which I don't have on my ipod for some reason.

This is going to be fairly short... Today I got up and met with the others and looked at the map for where I was going to be walking today. I did notice that it was only another few hours of walking to go right back to the hotel rather than going back to the place the boat goes from. This would complete me the "W" trek of the area.

I started walking in heavy rain, wearing my sunglasses to keep the rain out of my eyes, hat down to just above them and neckerchief up to the bottom of them. This lasted for the first 30 minutes or so but not long afterwards the sun came out and dried me off somewhat.

After 70 minutes I reached the '2.5hrs away from the start' point and cracked on up the French valley. This involved quite a lot of fairly challenging uphill sections over rocks streams and though woods until I reached the plateau from where the best views can be obtained. I was there 2 hours after setting off, this was marked as a 4 hour walk from my start point. I headed back off the plateau after taking a few photos, mostly to get out of the wind and to find somewhere to have lunch. I stopped down by the river for lunch (20 mins), and this is where Rolf is pictured today.

From there it was a hop and a skip back down the valley (35 mins) and then a 1.5hr walk to the next refuge along the route. From here it was a 2 hour march back to the hotel on already tired legs. I had to tell myself to man up at time in order to keep the pace up going uphill. The last 30 minutes was spent with the hotel in sight in the distance, with me visualising the beer I was to have on arrival (swiftly followed by a litre of fanta). Although I had already drunk almost 3 litres of water during the day, filling my bottle from the fresh mountain streams coming off the glaciers high above, I was very thirsty when I got back.

I'm now showered and changed and back in the lobby, waiting for the guide and the other group I left with this morning, just to let them know I'm alive. I want to try and do so sat down because I'll look silly if I stand up and try to walk towards them!

Bye for now!

Day 28: The Grey Lake

Mood: Achey but happy
Music: Lots! Ending with Deadmou5 - For lack of a better name

Today's trek left the hotel at 8:15am so I was up in plenty of time. Unfortunately I missed breakfast due to spending far too much time trying to fix my gps tracker (broken by dropping it on the floor, it no longer charges the battery while plugged into USB) or at least trying to find something to charge the battery. Sadly I couldn't do this and so I was forced to leave without it for only the second day since I left.

I'm going to work out the best way of sharing the KMZ file generated by my logger giving the places I've visited so far in Google Earth. The GPS logger on my mobile phone seems to have magically removed itself and as I'm having issues connecting my mobile to the wifi here, I'm struggling to get it back. I'll see what I can do before I set off for Cape Horn but I'm not overly hopeful.

The start of the trek itself was a bus ride and a boat ride away. This took until 10:15am at which point we started walking up the marked track. The weather was lovely and the wind virtually non-existent. Our guide said that this was the best weather he'd ever seen the valley in. One of the mountains in the distance he had only seen once before as it is normally shrouded in cloud.

The first half of the walk was slightly uphill but overall very flat. From here we reached the viewpoint at which Rolf was pictured. You can't see it very well but his badge is starting to look very worn. I was half tempted to see if I could get a new one made up to be brought out to me... I'm not sure I've got enough time left now though.

The second half of the walk was more challenging, with many steeper sections going both up and down over the next 90 minutes. This seemed much harder then yesterday's climb and I really wasn't looking forward to the return leg at that point. Once at the view point at the end of the path we sat down and had lunch.

David, the other Brit with whom I was also walking yesterday, had set out a little ahead of the rest of us, with the intention of "walking slowly". I set out after him with my macro lens on the camera, keen to snap some of the flowers I had passed on the way out.

I kept up the pace, with the intention of catching David, stopping for a few seconds every now and then to take a few more photos. Sadly at the top of each little peak on the trail he was nowhere to be seen in the distance and so I kept on walking faster, music blaring into my ears driving me onwards. All of a sudden a stag walked out of the bushes in front of me, ambled forwards a bit, pausing only for me to take a photo of it before disappearing over a ridge.

After this I saw the viewpoint that I mentioned earlier and eventually spotted the tall figure of David in front of me on the path. I eventually reached him and we both sat for a few minutes to wait for the others to catch up. Once they had done I set out on the long downhill stretch for home. With music once again pounding in my ears I tore ahead of the others, eventually arriving at the starting point of the trek a full 15 minutes ahead of the others. I'd done the return leg of the 3.5hr each way trek in 2 hrs.

David bought us all a beer in the refuge while we waited for the boat to return to take us back towards the hotel. Here we discussed a huge range of topics with the two American's we had spent the day with, everything from soccer and rugby through politics and history.

The rest of the day was fairly dull, with only a bus ride and a slight kerfuffle regarding my last day's trekking to sort out. I had decided to do the third leg of the W trek here in the park tomorrow. Sadly they didn't have that trek arranged for tomorrow and as such I'm signed up for the same route as today. I'm just going to do the leg I've missed on my own as they both start from the point where the boat drops us off.

I'll let you know how it goes, but I've a feeling they are charging me full whack for a day's guided trek even though I'm not going with a guide. I've a feeling I might raise this with them in the morning... All I ought to be paying for is the packed lunch, the bus ride and the boat fare. I'm sure this shouldn't cost almost £65...

Anywho... time for bed for me! Night all! 

Day 27: Torres Del Paine

Mood: Right now... tipsy.
Music: Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream

Today started at a fairly sensible time. I was to meet for my trek at 9:30am and that gave me enough time to have a quick breakfast before I left for the day. I met with the 3 other people I was to be spending the day with, Carolina, our guide who very graciously suggested that she carry my lunch as I had no day sack, David, a fellow Brit and Fernando, an Austrian gentleman.

We set off on the Los Torres trek, due to take 6 to 8hrs covering 18km or path and rising to 750m above the starting point. The road took us over a small stream several times, crossing on small wooden bridges and up a valley towards the peaks after which the park is named. David, at 6 foot 6, has a long stride and as such he and I lead the party most of the way. The only exceptions being when I was farting around taking photos of the route. These make up numbers 48 to 76 of the Patagonia folder on picasa.

Our guide would have walked much faster, as she proved later in the day, as she scampered off into the trees to catch the other two after she and I had stopped to take photos of the streams rampaging back down the mountains.

The top seemed to be rather full of Britains, all seeming to have chosen to light up at the same time. It took me a little while before I could bare going back over to see the stunning view (of the cloud obscuring what would be the tops of the towers).

We ate lunch at the top and headed back down the same path to the hotel. Once back I bought everyone a beer and then sorted out the photos for the day. This evening I sat through the presentation of what I can do tomorrow. It's going to be a longer but flatter trek to see a glacier, should we have enough time. This wasn't what I was originally planning to do but they do not run every trek every day and the one I was looking for wasn't on offer.

Each of the treks is rated in difficulty and I mainly picked today's trip as it was rated the most difficult. The other full day trek with the same difficulty wasn't on offer today, thus my previous comment. It's not really a case of trying to tire myself out, although obviously I do enjoy doing so, it is more a point of trying not to get stuck in a group of really slow walkers and being forced to walk at their pace for a whole day. Luckily David is doing the same trek as I tomorrow and Carolina said she'd try to get assigned to whatever we had chosen so it might be an ok day :)

I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.

Night night.

Day 26: Nothing much happened!

Mood: Sleepy
Music: Lots! (Ending with 'Sneaker Pimps - Becoming X')

Today, surprise surprise, started early... I had a 5am pick up from the hotel followed by a 2 hour drive to the airport, followed by an hour sitting, then a 2 hour flight south bound from Puerto Montt to Punta Arenas. From there it was a 3.5 hour sit until my coach turned up at the airport for a 2 hour drive to Puerto Natales. From here a man holding my name on a piece of paper drove me to the hotel in Torres del Paine. Obviously he didn't hold the piece of paper the whole way, that would have been stupid. This took 2.5 hours.

The only notable thing about the whole day were the cloud formations over the torres del paine peaks when I first saw them. It was if they had been drawn by a cartoonist learning computer graphics for the first time... Most odd.

I've just sat through a presentation about the excursions that the hotel are running tomorrow and I've signed myself up for a hike to the bottom of the famous peaks here.

I've a feeling that's about all I can say about today. I'm now sat at the bar drinking Fanta (it's *bright* orange here, almost Irn Bru like in colour) and beer.

Night night. 

Day 25: The one that got away!

Mood: Very relaxed
Music: Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree

Today started late! I slept in until gone nine and then sauntered downstairs to breakfast.. After that I arranged to go fly fishing later in the day (5pm) and then set about doing as little as possible for the rest of the day.

Plenty of reading the internet (the register / bbc news / facebook) later it was lunch time. After lunch I read one of the IET (Institute of Engineering and Technology) magasines that I've been toting around with me. That took up a fair bit of the afternoon and included a rundown on the options facing those trying to rescue the Chilean miners (printed while they were still in the ground obviously). I've only 3 more of them left so I think I'll play on my DS the next time I'm stuck for things to do to avoid running my options down further.

As announced on Facebook, I've now read all of the books I have with me (The Art of War, 1984, Animal Farm, Catch-22, A Clockwork Orange) and have taken a large number of suggestions of what to get brought out to me when I get to Singapore!

This evening I got to go fly fishing. It was quite uneventful although very enjoyable. I'm now pretty good at casting although I struggle when the wind gets up, the strongest bites I got were in quick succession one after each other and at that time I wasn't ready to strike to catch the fish. The only one that did bite and I got hold off, managed to wriggle free wen it go to the surface. I'm sure it was only 8 to 10 inches long but I was told it was bigger than that else it wouldn't have gone for the fly I was using.

I'm pretty glad that I didn't catch anything as it is quite well known how much I like live fish!

That, pretty much, was my day. It was nice to chose not to do anything at all, just to sit in the warmth looking out on the baking hot sunshine outside. Tomorrow is another early one, although I've got to go sort out with the hotel when I'm being picked up.

Day 24: Fly Hiking

Mood: Sleepy
Music: Eric Mongrain - Fates

Today I had my "7 hour hike" which began at 9:30am with a walk through some trees and over a dry river bed until we started climbing uphill a little and reached the bottom of a gully. We followed this up for quite some time and ended up climbing some steep rock faces and the like, not quite what I'd expected although a welcome change to the short trudging walks I'd done to date. After that we carried on up the volcanic rocks, gravel and sand until we were on top of the ridge we were heading for. This had taken a mere 2hrs 15 minutes and some of that was spent waiting for my guide as I walked much faster than him uphill. He said it's the fastest he's ever made the ascent and he does it at least twice a week and has done for a few months now.

After a nice packed lunch a time to take a few photos we started to head down. The whole trip was made slightly annoying by one of the local types of fly... about the size of a bumble bee and *very* persistent in trying to land on you and bite you very slowly. They are awesome at flying around a walking person, keeping about level with you at all times. I'm sure I'm going to go to sleep tonight and just here a loud buzzing in my ears. On the last leg of the walk, along a beach, there were many more flies. Up until this point it had only ever been one or two at a time, which is bad enough... Here it was 7 or 8 at any one time and I was killing them in quick succession with my water bottle whenever they landed on my shoulders. I reached about 12 before losing count how many had received a good clobbering with my still half full water bottle.

This evening I went for a fly fishing lesson with the guide I'd been for a walk with during the day. I can safely say that I can now cast a fly fishing line. The only thing I managed to catch, and I caught repeatedly, was the tree behind where I was stood. I found it quite fun and might be going on an expedition tomorrow to an area in which there is significant danger of me actually catching a fish... I half look forward to this and am already preparing to run like hell from the damn thing when I do catch one!

Anyway, time for me to go to bed.

Night all.

Day 23: Into Patagonia

Mood: Sleepy
Music: Kings of Convenience - Quiet is the new loud

Today started early (again) with a 5:30am wake up to be picked up and taken to the airport at 6am. The flight was fairly easy and before long I was on the floor in Puerto Montt ready to be transferred to Petrohue.

The transfer was with a nice guy called Christian with whom I chatted sporadically during the almost 2 hour trip out into the lakes. After a little while I caught sight of a very large volcano, shrouded in a band of cloud, as we approached I started trying to get photos of this through the window, then best of which is here.

As soon as the opportunity arouse (a lay-by with a clear view over the sea lake to the volcano) Christian pulled over without asking and let me out to take some more photos. He said that clear weather, such as we had, was so rare that in Patagonia you take photos when the opportunity arises as it might not do so again.

A little further on I was offered the opportunity to get out again into an area of national park where all of the tourists from the cruise ships were being delivered, the area gave a single real photo opportunity but it is the classic postcard from this region.

When I got to the hotel I checked in and was given an opportunity to change before being explained what activities I have available over the next couple of days. I took the chance to do a Go Ape! style tree walk / climb / absail / zip line type course. As it was only me and two instructors, we whistled around this in under half the time expected.

After that I took a sea kayak out onto the lake. I took some nice photos of the mountain (see Rolf above) but did managed to get washed out by one of the launches on the lake as it went speeding past. The wind was also in my face the whole way back to the hotel and thus the waves were blowing more water on board. So much so that I had to make a detour via a beach in order to tip the water out that I was sat in.

On arrival back at the hotel I had to wring out most of the clothes I'd been wearing and also had to leave Rolf out to dry. I fear his badge may not have liked the water too much, I just hope it holds out! :)

Tomorrow holds a 7 hour trek around the lake. At last some exercise...

I've also started on a diet, namely the "let's stop eating two 3 course meals a day while doing no exercise" diet. I think I can stick to it for a while without much effort.

Until tomorrow :)

Day 22: Vino

Mood: Doubleplusrelaxed
Music: Royksopp - Junior

Today I was picked up by the same guide that I had yesterday for the city tour and was taken out, past the airport, in the direction of Valparaiso. First on the tour was a visit to the Matetic vineyard. This small boutique vineyard has it's main building sat on the top of a hill, surrounded by the vines. It is, apparently, the plaything of a very rich industrial family, and has only been in existence for 18 years or so. It won it's first medals in competition in only it's second year of production (2002 I think) and has maintained that standard ever since.

The vines themselves are grown organically, using 300 chickens to eat the insects that attack the vines, and 3000 sheep to keep the vines clear of weeds. The vineyard itself forms only a tiny percentage of a very large farm owned by the family in the valley. We toured the facilities and were given a bit of a run down on the methods used - hand picking of grape bunches, hand selecting grapes for inclusion, etc. The manual input into the process is unchanged from that of centuries ago but the winery uses state of the art technology for ensuring maturation and fermentation temperatures, also during the storage and final clearing of the wine.

After a brief tasting session we headed into Vino Del Mer for lunch and then toured Valparaiso itself. After that I was driving back to the hotel and dropped off, to be picked up at 6am tomorrow to be taken to the airport.

This evening I watched MoTD2 on the BBC iPlayer (thanks to a UK proxy service I'm now paying for) and have also seen the highlights of the rugby games from over the weekend.

That's about it for the time being... until tomorrow :)

PS. Rolf is pictured looking out over the Pacific Ocean from Vino Del Mer.

Day 21: San - tee - ahh - go!

Mood: Sleepy
Music: The Beatles (Best of, the blue one)

Today started at stupid o'clock as I had set my alarm for 4am. When this went out I poked my head outside and saw another smattering of starts in the sky. This meant I could take my camera and the tripod, helpfully lent by a very kind American (with whose party I had been sharing many of the excursions over the last two days) and head out to the observatory platform in order to take some photos of the night sky.

After an hour or so I was back in bed until 7am when I was up and out and heading to Calama airport. The flight to Santiago was just less than two hours and I was there before I knew it. The bags, however, took just over an hour to get off the plane and onto the baggage belt. During this time I saw the man waiting for me the other side of the arrivals screen, holding up a sign saying "Mrs Greenshields". I assumed that given the rarity of the name and that I was expecting someone with my name on a board. Once the bag did arrive, I informed my guide for the day that I wasn't a she but was infact Mr Greenshields...

Once back at the hotel I was given a short space of time to have lunch before my city tour would begin. I made for one of the restaurants next door to my hotel and found myself in a 'Beeferie' . Knowing I didn't have long I ordered myself a salad (I know you don't make friends with...) which was supposed to be a "roast beef" salad. After 35 minutes (almost 15 after I was due to be picked up) this eventually arrived. It turned out to have slices of thick fillet steak in it and athough I was annoyed that I was late, the steak was very good.

The city tour was with the same guy who picked me up from the airport. His English was very good and he was also very enthusiastic about the city in which he lives. He is married to an Englaish woman and has children around my age but enjoys what he does and enjoys himself in life. It was very refreshing to have someone so positive again telling me about their home town.

We visited a "handycraft" market to start with, which was at the very top of town (bounded by the rising Andes mountain range). I was initially expecting this to be another 'tat bizarre' but instead I found myself in a area of small boutique shops selling handmade items from each of the shopkeepers. There were items forged from copper ( the main export from Chile), carved from wood, jewelery made from silver and local stones and paintings from artists at work in full view of the passing public. All in all much better than I'd expected. It is a shame my baggage is rammed to overflowing already!

We then toured several of the important areas and buildings in the city. The Cathedral is, to me, the most beautiful that I have yet seen in South America. It doesn't have the gold and silver lavisheries that many of the other churches I've seen do. It's charm lies in it's understated beauty. I have a few photos from inside and hopefully you'll see what I mean.

Eventually I ended up back at the hotel and proceeded to book a taxi out to one of the largest and newest shopping centres in the city in order to locate and purchase a couple of replica football strips, as requested by Phil (he who is looking after my flat while I'm away) the night before. The centre itself could be anywhere in the western world with Nike shops, MNG, Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo Boss, Addidas to name but a few chain stores you'd see in any similar place in the UK.

This evening I went to another of the local restaurants to my hotel and found the service to be equally slow. This evening it took me well over a half hour to be served with my cold starter. I was getting to the point that due to my general state of fatigue today, I was almost asleep at the table. The rest of the meal was very nice, I was possibly a little too tired to appreciate it to its full however.

Tomorrow I get some wine tasting in hopefully!

Night all!

PS. Things I've noted:

1. Santiago is the cleanest, prettiest and most European looking city I've seen so far in South America.
2. People don't use their horn here *nearly* as much as they do anywhere else I've been.
3. My bathroom in this hotel room makes Palf's look big. Somehow it contains a bath smaller than the shower from my last hotel.

Day 20: Dune!

Mood: Relaxed
Music: Air - Talkie Walkie

Today started early, not entirely out of choice, but as I'd woken up at about 4am I decided to stick my head outside and see what I could see skywards. The stars were as clear as I've seen in my life and so I then proceeded to try in vain to photograph skywards without a tripod. No matter what I used to prop the camera up with I just couldn't get anything decent out and eventually I gave up. This was not before a member of staff came into sight with a torch wondering what the light outside was. He caught me in a pair of shorts, a toweling gown and a pair of flip flops out the back of my porch trying to prop my camera up with a pair of shoes! I guess it could have been worse...

The day normal started with a trek (bit of a walk) that took us out along a large ridge and then along the top of a sand dune. The echo from the top was awesome and came back at you on at least 3 separate occasions. From there we ran straight down a very steep sand dune which was great fun. Photos were taken of us on the way down, and my foot prints can be seen on the far right hand side. After that we hopped back onto the bus and were driven back to the resort. From there I ended up in the jacuzzi reading my book before moving onto a sun lounger to avoid getting too sun burnt.

After lunch I went on a brief cycle ride. I didn't get very far as the roads were still flooded and going the back way out of the resort was quite long winded and I had an excursion to catch.

This afternoon's excursion was to go and see the salt flats of the Atacama desert. Unfortunately they were closed due to the thunderstorm that was approaching. As this was a 45 minute drive from the resort it took up most of the rest of the day. The rain was quite heavy in places while in the bus in both directions. So much again for the driest place on earth!

This evening I've been told that my transfer is at 7:50am to the airport tomorrow morning so I'm now all packed ready to go. Time for dinner now :)

Day 19: Moon / Death Valley

Mood: Cheery
Music: Placebo - Without you I'm nothing

Hello... Today started quite some time ago and I've done quite a bit since I'll try my best though! I woke very early this morning, not entirely on purpose, but given I'd been told that the sky can be very clear just before dawn I thought I'd have a peak. Sadly when I drew the curtains I saw that the sun was on it's way up and as such I tucked myself back into bed.

When morning proper came I headed out on a guided tour of the local pre-Inca ruins. This fort was taken by the Incas and then again by the Spaniards when they came here. This was not, however, until after they'd been once defeated by the locals and on their return, with a large native army, they beheaded 300 of the local warriors and put their heads on view around the fort as a warning to further resistance. Nice Spaniards that they were... We then went into town and had a look at the local church and all of the tat bizarres that have sprung up over the past 10 or so years that tourism has been piling foreigners into the town.

After lunch I kicked back on a sun lounger near the jacuzzi (I think I might treat myself to a bit of jacuzzi time tomorrow) and read my book. I spotted my second definite spelling error in the edition that I've got, prompting the question on Facebook (is it normal to spot spelling errors in such a text?).

At 4:30pm we set off for a tour of Moon valley followed by a brief trip to Death valley. Moon valley was where NASA tested the Mars rover before it's trip out into space as the surface of the valley is similar to the expected surface of mars. The rocks are a deep red in places, filled with criss crossing veins of white rock (I can't explain this at all) and there are large deep brown sand dunes of volcanic ash / sand. We walked along the top of a ridge that ran down the centre of the site and it is from the end of this Rolf is pictured looking out. In the distance you can see more rain falling over the Atacama desert. The rain mostly avoided us and we only got a few light spits of rain as we looked at an old salt mine near the Moon valley site. After this we briefly visited Death Valley, where much sand boarding is done during the day. This is a rocky barren valley in which, as by the name, nothing lives.

On the way back I asked to be let out of the bus a little early so I could walk the last 400m back to the hotel and take in the sunset lighting up the deep red rocks behind the hotel. Now I'm sat in the bar area, waiting for some of the other English speaking guests that I've spent the day with to come back for dinner.

And on that note I'll leave you for another day. Goodnight. :)

Day 18: Into Chile!

Mood: Happy
Music: None

Today started fairly early and without a shower (no hot water). We set out over more of the same terrain as I had yesterday. The first stop was at a set of rock formations that has been clearly shaped by the receding waters quite some time ago... Given that this was over 4km above sea level *really* quite some time ago. There is a formation known as the stone tree as it looks pretty much like a tree, cunningly.

Onwards from there we came to a red lake, the red colour comes from an animal that lives therein. After that was a geothermal area with steam spewing up into the air with the constant sulfurous whiff. Next was a green lake (actually very bright turquoise). The colour of this is due to the mercury content of the lake. Then we went up and over to the Bolivian border post (at which Rolf is pictured).

I had to wait here for almost 2 hours to be picked up. Partly because we'd made such good time in the morning and partly because the bus coming to pick me up was 40 minutes late. In the end we drove high up onto the hill to try to get a mobile phone signal but as we were just starting to get reception we spotted a white bus coming over the hill. This was indeed my ride and it took me down into San Pedro de Atacama from there.

The Atacama desert is one of the driest places on the planet, but I arrived in the middle of a thunderstorm. The first road we tried to access the hotel via was blocked as two cars had got stuck trying to cross a small stream that was flooded due to the rain. One of them was being washed a little downstream even though the crossing was only about 6m wide.

I've now updated all of my photos to date, posted a couple of videos and have updated my blog with all of the entries I'd written while I was out of contact. I think that'll do for now.

:)

Day 17: To the middle of nowhere!

Mood: Cold (Ok, so it's not a mood but it's how I feel right now!)
Music: Supergrass - I should coco

Well... yesterday I thought I was in the middle of nowhere... I'll get back to that.

Today started back on the dirt tracks that yesterday's journey ended on. They did start getting less road like and more track like until what designated the road was the bit of ground that more people had driven over.

The scenery changed from rocky mountainous terrain to what was quite clearly a seabed with volcanos rising up out of the sand. The terrain stayed like this until we passed a set lava flow. Wave like formations were visible. Our next stop was a lake containing flamingos, after this there was a series of lakes, the third of which had a strong sulfurous wiff about it.

We travelled onwards, up over a long pass between two high peaks. Then we came down over a long plain of red clay, rocks strewn every few feet. It could be used for a film based on the surface of mars!

After that we first saw the hotel I am in tonight. There are no other buildings around here... I mean none... probably nothing within 40km of the building. This really is the arse end of nowhere.

Tomorrow I move on to the Chilean border and into the Atacama desert. It rained for periods, hailed some and also was snowing here a little today. Apparently it's only going to get warmer and drier from here on.

Day 16: The Salt Flats

Mood: (OMFG is about as close as my brain can put it into words)
Music: Zero 7 - When it falls
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever ago

Well, oh my... where to start?? Today we set off just after 9am. My guide said that it might not be possible to cross the Salar (Salt flats) because of the depth of the water. The driver decided to give it a go however and we made a bee line down to the area mined for salt just outside Uyuni. Here I first saw the mirrored surface of the salt falts, covered with 2 inches of water for as far as the eye can see. In total they cover over 12,000 square kilometers of land. Here I also took the photos of the men digging and filling their truck with the salt. This is the main production area for salt on the lake and their produce is shipped all over South America and beyond. Once there the driver of our Toyota Land Cruiser tied a plasic sack over the front bumper, in order to stop too much salt water getting into the engine bay.

From there we drove on out to the first hotel built on the lake. This was a small, ever so slightly raised patch with a museum inside (closed). It was from here the photo of me stood in the water (about 1cm) was taken. I also suffered my first lost item of the trip. I took my tripod out of the car in order to take a couple of photos of myself on the timer but in the end I gave the camera to Roberto (my guide) and then forgot to pick it up again afterwards. I only realised when it wasn't strapped on to the back of my rucksack when I got to the hotel this evening.

Anyway... Initially we weren't sure if we were going to be able to continue past here, but our driver spoke to another who was heading in the opposite direction and said that it was fine to cross to Fish Island, where we were heading for lunch.

The island is called such as it looks just like a fish from above when it's reflection is visible in the water. I could see it growing slowly from the horizon but as I had no idea how large it was, I couldn't tell how far away it was at all. As we got closer, the things that looked like stick poking up from rocks from miles away, turned out to be huge cacti. These are up to 1200 years old and some are over 12m tall! I walked around the track marked in stone up to the top of the island and took video of the circular view from the top. It is from here that the photos of the flats with cacti in the forground were taken.

After lunch we headed onwards. We had crossed some 70km of flats so far and were now heading 40km back not too far from whence we'd come. Not long before we hit land, we passed some very vibrantly coloured flamingos.

From landfall we made out way along bumpy sandy tracks the remaining 100km to the hotel, stopping off at an old Incan necropolis. The Incans had found naturally hollow coral formations on top of a hill (the whole area was under water a very long time ago) and had buried their dead inside along with pottery and other artifacts. Bones, skulls and pieces of broken pottery can still be seen in each of the natual tombs there today.

My hotel is on the edge of a hill, overlooking the tiny village of San Perdo de Quemez. There is no electricity in the village and I've not seen a single bar of reception on my telephone in over 36 hours. The owner of the hotel said he'd run the generator from 6 until 10pm and as such, as soon as it kicked in I began the arduous task of charging all of the electronic gadgets I have with me.

There is a candle beside my bed and some matches in case I want light after 10pm...

Dinner time now so I'll leave it there.

Hopefully you'll forgive me if these posts have to go up in a few days time, once I get back to the land of communication!

PS. This evening there was an wonderful electrical storm all the way around the horizon.

Day 15: Potosi to Uyuni

Day 15: Bananas, Dynamite and Desert

Mood: Awestruck
Music: Manic Street Preachers - Forever delayed

Today started with a trip to the Potosi mines. It was from here that the Spaniards gained the Silver that adorns the alters of much of Latin America and beyond. The trip starts with a visit to the miners market. From here it is customary to purchase gifts of coca leaves, cigarettes and drink (96% per volume) for the miners. It is also possible to purchase dynamite, fuses, detonators and explosive packing materials, all for less than £1.50. It is both legal to sell and buy these items in the streets surrounding the mines but if you head two blocks further out from where we were you will face an 8 year jail term for their possession.

From here we stopped off to pick up overalls, boots and a hard hat and were driven up to the mines. The first we tried to visit wasn't open as it was a day or two after a major celebration for the miners and they were taking the day off. This meant heading further up the mountain to fine something that was open. A short drive later we pulled up outside a small hole in the rock with a sign outside professing to be a Silver and Zinc mine. The mountain itself, as I learnt in the mineral section of the Mint museum, contains at least silver, gold, tin, copper, zinc, nickle and aluminium ores. We pressed into the narrow mine, which was virtually flat into the mountain for its most part. In several places the walls were shored up with wood, some of which was largely cracked and breaking.

We pressed on and I was shown an alter to which the miners pray for safety. The further in we went, the more we were forced to duck to almost crawling to fit through the gaps in the rock. Large pits where a mineral seam had been followed down stretched away in places and care was taken to avoid these. At the end of the tunnels we found a miner at work, placing mineral rocks into a wheel barrow. He passed us twice while we were exploring. His only tools were a shovel and a pick axe, there was evidence of blasting but none while we were present.

I was told that the man would be paid £5 for 8 hours of back breaking dangerous pit work. It was about then that the reality of the mine really started to hit. Hundreds die annually in the mines, apparently two had done so the day before I visited. It is estimated that since colonial times the mine has claimed somewhere between 6 and 8 million lives. The dust thrown up by the mining activity is the main cause of death. The average worker started in the mine aged about 14 and was lucky to live to 30 years old. It is the blood of the indigenous people that stains those church alters, candlesticks and other silver items.

The mountain itself is apparently several hundred meters smaller than it first was and is still shrinking my 1cm per year. The use of explosives to blast on the surface as banned when several hundred people died in a single land slip caused by such blasting. The mountain itself shows little sign of this ban as all surfaces resemble a open cast mine, on top of the deep shafts sunk into it.

After leaving the mine and a nice lunch we set off for the 3.5 hour drive to Uyuni. The scenery slowly changed from fairly steep lush mountainous terrain to drier, rolling hills. The road at times looked like a white snake carved into the side of the mountains we passed. The drying hills, with large cacti rising up out of the rocks gave way to occasional lush green valleys. These became fewer and the riverbeds we passed became more frequently dry and lifeless.

Eventually we came into vew of the salt flats over several hills and then followed the road down into the town of Uyuni. The hotel I am staying at was through this town and out into the desert beyond. It stands on a lone outcrop of rocks several kilometers out into the flat desert and gives fantastic views of the area, bounded by snow peaked mountains in the far distance.

On the way in we'd seen large dark clouds raining in the distance and these clouds continue to build and drift over the desert as I started on a walk around the hotel area. As I was starting my walk back to the hotel complex I noticed a small puff of sand being picked up by the wind in the distance. Quite earily this cloud of dust grew until it stretched out for most of the horizon. Luckily I made it back to the hotel just as this passed but it was getting a little frightening for a few minutes, mostly in fear of having my camera sandblasted in the dust storm.

Tonight I ate in the restaurant here with Roberto, my guide, and then played pool and table football against him in the games room before we parted to our respective rooms.

Tomorrow I'll be heading to the salt flats themselves, currently a few cm underwater and looking rather mirror like from a distance. As there is no internet here I'll just post this when I next can.

Goodnight for now.