Welcome to Argentina indeed! We however weren't out of the woods yet, our flights up north and ultimately home were scheduled to go from Punta Arenas in southern Chile (basically epi center of the strike action). With the current situation it is not known whether the flights would be cancelled or if you could even get to the airport. I phoned up BA to figure out the options and when a decision had to be made. There were two options for getting to Beunos Aires for the flight home: travel up by bus or get BA to change the flight routes with extra cost. However I didn't need to make a decision yet so I put this to one side to consider a more immediate problem, where to stay in El Calafate. I was hoping to get there early but the bus connections added to this time making it late afternoon for our expected arrival. We had to chance it, we already had the tickets and what is the point of coming to Patagonia if you don't see it.

We had good Internet access so I thought I would check the news on Chile. What I sensed yesterday seemed to be correct, the government was giving out strong warnings about not tolerating mob control, they were clearly building up the rhetoric prior to the possible use of force. The government was facing a lot of stick from foreign governments of being weak and allowing the region to be out of control. The news reports here have been vastly playing down the strikes to the point where they are incorrect. People have been allowed to fly into the region without even being informed of the difficulties getting from the airport.

Anyway it was time to catch the bus. The route took us initially through meadows almost white with daiseys. Trees here are sparse, very small and twisted by the wind. Over a hill a vast plain of pampas grass presented itself this was ringed by blue snow capped mountains - a wonderful sight especially with some wild horses galloping across.

The mountains eventually dissappeared leaving a vast flat nothing called the pampas. It takes two days of travel to cross this area and is notoriously boring after the first ten minutes. Ten minutes is about the time needed to spot small emu like birds called Darwinian Rea's (probally because he bumped into them on his way to the Galapagos).

I am typing this on the bus, I was going to mention that up ahead were some very ominous looking black storm clouds. Liz was taking pictures of these clouds that had a large hole in the center simillar to the scene in 'Day After Tomorrow'. A little while later I paused typing to have another look, then something through the right hand window caught my eye. A broad silver cone extended out below the cloud. The cone narrowed and twisted itself to a silver hairline close to the ground. OH MY GOD IT'S A TORNADO!! It was very big going by the numerous storm chaser programs I watched. It was not the so called false tornados which are just cone shaped clouds this was the real thing. I just gapped at it, I couldn't believe my eyes. I snapped out realizing I had to get a picture. However by the time I got to the other side of the bus, fitted the polalizer filter to the camera to get rid of window glare and tried for ages to focus on the black sky it had all but dissapeared. Meanwhile despite an empty straight road the coach was moving very slowly and eventually stopped. Some light was cast on this at our first stop Esperanza.

Esperanza had a snazzy name for somewhere that was little more than a petrol station. We had to get off here and wait for a bus to take us back towards the mountains and El Calafate. Over a coffee we got talking to a couple that also walked across the border. They commented on how slow the coach was travelling on the last stretch and why the driver stopped and looked around the bus. Putting two and two together I thought that he might have seen the tornado also. The people on the top deck didn't seem to see it most were reading or sleeping, the best option through the pampas.

The storm was not dead it was coming towards us going by the darkening sky and the power cut. Sure enough lightening, thunder and heavy rain soon followed. I was more concerned by the rapidly intensifying wind and the real possibility of being hit by a tornado. The wind did get pretty intense but no where near tornado levels, and especially not to the levels that the monster we saw would produce.

The storm passed, we went outside into the bright sunlight we had before the storm to have a look. The contrast between the blue sky and the blackness of the storm was incredible. Wow my lifes ambition was to see a big tornado, perhaps this will make up for missing the Torres de Paine national park.

The second bus took us back west towards the mountains. We had another brilliant visa of the Andes rising out of the pampas - we were nearly there.

El Calafate is a small very touristy place. You would be forgiven for thinking you were driving into a upmarket European ski resort, manicured lawns, chalet type buildings and mountains. We didn't have a room, there was no point in trying the ones in the guidebook as they would all be full. We simply headed off walking in the hope of seeing something.

We saw a tourist information place and thought that we should give it a go. After a few negatives one guy knew of somewhere with a spare room, it was more than what we would like to spend (rock bottom) so we asked if there was another choice. No was the answer - they said that people were sleeping in the bus station last night and the price was as good as it gets here anyway.

We had another quiet evening after yet another day of survival.