Since I last spoke to you I have been completely "off radar" in Chile. I have been in the Torres del Paine National Park, which is about as remote as you can get... there was no mains electricity, no telephones and certainly no internet cafes!

Torres del Paine itself is absolutely stunning... I can´t put into words what it´s like, although the photographs are fairly famous, you might have seen them - they´re the ones with the "two towers" mountains jutting out of the landscape, usually in really surreal and bright colours in pinks and reds... and at sunrise the mountains really were those colours! Beautiful as it is, it´s deserted for good reason - it´s probably one of the most inhospitable places I´ve ever been - very barren, cold, and as windy as I´ve ever known - the gusts could knock you over if you weren´t careful!

It was really good to get away from it all, but I am secretly quite glad to be back to some sense of civilisation... you all know I´m a townie at heart! Most of our time in Torres was spent hiking... going up to the Greys Glacier was amazing. Typically the weather was atrocious yesterday when we planned to hike the two towers.... made me think of England though, while we were staying inside because it was too wet and windy outside! The rest was also a bit welcome though... we walked about 28 kms on the first day and about 18 kms on the second - most of which was pretty steep up and down hill. The views were worth it though, and as soon as I can find an internet cafe with a fast enough connection I´ll get some more photos uploaded. I´m also thinking of the other benefits.... the muscles in my legs and bum haven´t felt this toned in a long time!!!

I´ve got a couple of days for my blisters to heal now... from El Calafate we are visiting the Moreno Glacier tomorrow - by boat, so no major walking involved! We then head up to El Chalten for more mountains, lakes, glaciers and wide-open spaces. Think I´m going to head to a ranch there to get some horseriding in before we leave Patagonia... my Gaucho could still be waiting for me there!

As you can imagine, there have been a few long days on the road in order to travel so many miles, so I thought I´d share with you some of the little things about truck life which may just make you smile...

First of all the dirt.... I know you all thought I had a dirty mind anyway, but now everything else is dirty too!!! At the end of a truck day you can draw patterns on your cheeks and forehead where so much dust has been flying around. Plus on some of our long drives it´s been three days in between showers.... thank God for baby wipes is all I can say!!! I´m not even going to tell you about the permanent state of my fingernails!!!

Then there´s the dry skin.... sounds an odd complaint I know, but half my budget is being spent on moisturisers at the moment! The cold and wind is playing havoc with any skin that gets exposed. Not so bad I hear you say... think about all of the "al fresco" toilets I´ve been using lately, then work out where the dry skin is!!!!!

And lastly for now, camping..... This was always going to be a challenge for me, as although I don´t mind roughing it, the line was always drawn at camping. It´s actually not been that bad up until about a week ago when the cold and wind started. Our first night in Torres, my tent-buddy Karen and I had to get up no less than 5 times in the night to tie our fly sheet down again. Even when we got back into our sleeping bags we couldn´t sleep as we were wondering how long it would be before it flew off again! The following day we re-pitched miles away from where we were in the vain hope of finding a bit of shelter! We´re staying in a hostel tonight (a pretty nice one at that) and it´s going to feel fantastic to be back in a bed again - even if it is a bunk!

Anyway, I´ve rambled on long enough for today. I think the Argentinians are cashing in on the fact that most people who make it here have come from the Chilean back of beyond, and their internet cafes are the most expensive I´ve come across.

It´s Saturday night, but I´ve no idea what we´ll be up to... this town looks a little bit sleepy, but I´m sure we´ll find some form of entertainment! Needless to say we´ll be eating half a cow and drinking some more grape juice!

Thanks again for all your messages and emails....

Lots of love

Nikki xxxxx