Recently we have been somewhat preoccupied on a wee border crossing travel mission to cross back into Chile. After a couple of days exploring El Chalten, Argentinas gateway to the glacieres nacional parque, and Calafate, one of the most amazing places for climbing and trekking, we embarked on the challenge. The adventure consisted of navigating a 37km dirt road, a 33km trek over 2 days and a ferry to cross Lago O'higgins to a town of the same name.

The trip was going nicely as we had made easy ground. Packs were heavy and the track was at times a little steep, but we have both developed some good stamina for it. Another beautiful and rugged walk, highlighted with glaciers, lakes and sideways hail, had us arrive at Candalario mancilla where we expected our ferry the following day.

Not only this, we were optimistically expecting some sort of small town, as provisions of food, accomodation and Chilean immigration were promised from a variety of sources. After going through customs we walked the final kilometre to find the following: 3 houses, 2 horses, 2 hanging dead cow carcasses, 3 dogs, the wharf and a creepy old lady. It was a ghost town! Something out of a scary movie. A couple of travellers turned up which was good except it was the two socially retarded Israelis who decided where the campsite was and pitched their tent so we followed. No food, no showers, nadas. Disappointing end to the day. We were ok though, we were leaving the following afternoon and had food.

Three days later, we finally had our much needed ferry arrive. It had been denied permission for sail as the weather was supposedly too rough, however this was not evident to us. Something dodgy seemed to be going on. Our town of six progressively grew to 25, some did not have food or tents as they were expecting what we were. Some cause for concern. Our back up meal was well and truely gone also. We had made contact on the second day with the owner who supplied us with five kgs of meat and potatoes. He was a man of few words however, we understood that him and his mother ran some sort of b & b type thing which had closed 10 days earlier for the winter. On day 3 they helped us out again by selling us dinner and bread and jam for the day. Things were working out all right and with the promise of two boats coming the next day, everyone was pretty happy.

There was some great people in the group, and the three nights provided us much time to get to know some of them around the campfire. Many of them were on similar missions and were travelling similar routes as us so there was a lot to chat about.

It seems this little mission provided a greater adventure that what was expected. No one was informed the ferry was prone to postponement, nor that the food and accommodation services were non operational. At one point, the survivor in me was thinking up snares and weapons, who we might eat first and who would win the fight off for food, jokingly of course. This being said, it provided us with a couple of days to chill which was much needed. We washed ourselves and our clothes in the lake, did some reading and writing, built fires and befriended the animals. Great little adventure all round. I get the feeling I'm the first person in history to utilise pages of the lonely planet as toilet paper...

There are so many places to see and experiences to be had out there, you just got to be game enough to embrace the possible unknowns, uncertainties and discomforts.

In some ways, I guess this is one thing I like about travelling. You never know what to expect, you can't plan things ahead of time, you can be put in precarious situations and need adapt to enjoy it otherwise you may as well stay home. From this you can be rewarded generously...