After being obstructed by the weather for the first time in months down in Ushuaia, we were expecting more of the same as we crossed into Chile... Turns out the weather has been the least of our problems this week.

First things first... We caught the 5am bus from Ushuaia to Punta Arenas, arriving around 2pm (though it took us a while to remember the 1hr time difference btwn Arg and Chile), and decided to keep on keeping on and go to Puerto Natales (another 3 hrs away) that afternoon, as Punta Arenas is just a large town without a lot to see or do. Puerto Natales, on the other hand, is the jumping off point for the Torres Del Paine National Park.

We´d heard that the weather in the park had been lousy everyday the past 2 weeks, which meant obscured views of the mountains, glaciers and the towers of rock for which the park is named (Torres del Paine = towers of light blue) but we decided to do a day tour of the parts of the nat. park accessible by road anyway... and good thing we did, as April 30th was a beautiful day! Our guide, Roberto, kept saying, "This is so good. This is like summer," and even got down to his t-shirt at one point.

It´s about 90kms from Puerto Natales to the entrance of the nat. park, but on the way we stopped a few times for panoramic photos and to walk amongst a herd (if that´s the collective term) of guanaco (though in Chile they spell it huanaco)... Inside the park we saw two fresh huanaco carcasses which had been killed (and eaten) by a puma, but no actually sightings of the beasties, again. We stopped off at a decent size waterfall on the Rio Paine, and stopped for lunch at Lago Pehoe in the centre of the park (one of the most spectacular lunch spots in the history of man, just quietly). In the afternoon we walked out to a view point on Lago Grey to see the icebergs floating in the lake and the Grey Glacier off in the distance (which was the one creating all the icebergs).

We felt like frauds going into one of the most famous national parks in the world and mostly being driven around, but from the sounds of it, we got the one good day this fortnight, and managed to see a lot of it thanks to our tour. And the whole day was a blast, so we can´t be too down on ourselves, huh?

We had heard that Chile was expensive, but from what we saw in Punta Arenas and Puerto Natales, it´s comparable to Argentina. The entrance to Torres Del Paine was pushing $40 AUD (on top of transport, guide etc), but the buses seemed a bit cheaper, and we got a 2.5 course meal for $5 US (2.5 courses because the postre/dessert was half a canned peach... but we got a cup of tea as well). The supermarkets have an impressive array of different fruit and veg (Argentina is rather limited/predictable on that front), and I found chirimoya flavoured yoghurt for the first time since Bolivia!

Anyway, from Puerto Natales we caught the bus back to Argentina (!) and El Calafate. Like P. Natales, the town´s claim to fame (and fortune) is it´s proximity to a major Patagonian tourist attraction... this time it´s the Perito Moreno Glacier. Which is what we´ll be checking out tomorrow before heading North up the famous Ruta 40...

While in Chile our last working Australian cashflow card stopped working in ATMs. At first we thought it was just a Chile thing, but when we got back into Arg. today, ATMs didn´t like it either. An 88 arg. peso phone call to Oz later, we learnt that someone was making dodgy internet purchases with the credit card, and that a block had been placed on all accounts (savings, checking and visa) linked to that card. Only small purchases around $5 at this stage, but apparently that´s what the fraudsters do to check a card is working before draining it quick smart and getting the hell outta Dodge. So on the one hand we were happy National Australia Bank had cottoned on to this, and prevented us being out of pocket... but on the other we´ve had to have this last card cancelled, meaning we are down in Southern Argentina with no access to our Australian funds. Which is a bummer since we have 38 pounds left in our UK accounts (I´d been saving some for a raining day, and had to use it in Chile), and no valid cards to access my money in National bank NZ. This is what happens when you travel for 5 months / are away from Australasia for 2 years.

Anyway, we were able to have the block temporarily lifted from our Australian card so that we could get another 1300 arg. pesos out before they cancelled the card... We also have a contingency stash of US dollars and some Chilean pesos left, so we´ve got enough money for the next wee while, but it´s a matter of getting our hands on some cash in a week or so. At this stage, transfering money from our Australian account to our UK account to then withdrawing Chilean pesos seems like the best of a bad situation (losing a little every time the money changes currency), but hey, this is travelling for you. And I think being victims of petty cyber crime is much better than being robbed at knife point (fingers crossed we continue to avoid this over the next two weeks).

So anyway, after getting all this sorted, we didn´t feel like eating out was a good idea, but the supermarkets (only 2 in town) were closed as it´s the 1st of May: Dia Del Trabajador (day of the worker). We managed to find a small shop that was open, however, and now have enough rice for a couple of meals.

Like I said, this is all part of travelling. (I think I said this when our UK cards got blocked in Egypt, too). In less than 3 weeks we´ll be back in NZ and all this will just be fond memories.

Craig

PS Lots of good photos to upload, but might not be able to justify the expenditure on an hour or two in an internet cafe until the money situation is ironed out. In the meantime, you can check the photos of Cordoba and Mendoza (2nd most recent album), as only 8 ppl have viewed it so far!!