Back in the loving bosom of my wife and not being on a bus i was free to enjoy the last half day in El Chalten and that was spent on a15km trek through a forest where we enjoyed fabulous views of the Fitz Roy mountain on a surprisingly sunny day.

It was then back on Peggy to continue along route 40 south to El Calafate. There we were joined by 4 more passengers, making us 19, and bringing down the average age. On introducing ourselves to one of then he told us he was from Rishton, Blackburn. It turns out his Dad taught me science and he even knows Neil, my brother.

After my second visit of the trip to report a lost item to the police we were off for another meat feast. BBQ'd lamb washed down with Patagonian beer, then off to a five star hotel for more Patagonian beer and pool. This was my kind of back packing.

An 80km drive out of El Calafate the next day to see the incredible Perito Moreno Glacier. This was even more impressive than the glacier Martyn had missed. It is 5km wide and 60m high. The glacier is the only advancing glacier in the world and it is very noisy, cracking all the time and great chunks breaking into the water. We were lucky enough to see a big piece break off whilst we were in a boat in front of it. It is hard to describe how amazing this sight is but this was definitely a highlight (see photos).

The next day we were off to Puerto Natales, the gateway to Torres Del Paine. This was just an overnight stop but with wonderful pizza and yet another microbrewery for us to enjoy. Puerto Natales is another nothing town, these places we were visiting were miles from anything in the middle of nowhere. While eating our excellent pizza we met one of the waitresses a 22 year old girl called megan from england who had come to patagonia to work with horses and had fallen in love with a gaucho. Surprisingly her parents couldn't understand how much in love they were, or had been up until they had finished leaving her in Patagonia working in a pizza joint.

It was also our last night in a bed as the next day we were departing for 3 nights camping in the national park.

Summary of items lost/damaged to date:
Martyn's sunglasses
Martyn's Atm card
Martyn's gloves
Martyn's wedding ring :-(
Lisa's black multiway bra
Compact camera broken (last used by Martyn)
Martyn's 4 t-shirts shrunk by laundry