I had an absolutely epic 24-hour journey back to Cheelay via Toronto, which wasn't made any easier by a horde of screaming kids and a spoilt brat beside me who got very upset that she didn't have a window seat - why can't they invent a plane creche already I tell thee! Arrived in Santiago just a wee bit jetlagged and headed to a brightly coloured hostel, surprised to find that my Spanish still functioned all right after a month in da UK. I managed to fit meeting up with mates, a bit of flathunting & buying a digital camera into less than two days, even though the last thing I needed was a bloomin' hectic schedule.
After a 9am flight down to Patagonia, i.e. the very south of South America, I realise that I've been in 5 different cities in 6 days. Totally zonked, I try fiddling with my new photographic device - one small step for mankind, one giant leap for Schmoo. In comes Michael, a 19 year-old Belgian with a lust for life and a habit of saying the words "Awesome!" and "Woohoo!" at the top of his lungs fairly frequently. Together we head out to explore the fine city of Punta Arenas, which seems to be filled with rowdy teenagers and soldier types.
The very next day, I visit a penguin colony an hour outside of town. Yep, that's right - penguins! Thousands of them! Us visitors have to stay on a series of walkways, but at some points we manage to get really close to the action. I cannot even begin to describe the cute factor.
At the last minute, I decide to join Michael on a trek of several days through Torres del Paine national park, one of the most beautiful in Latin America. I'm incredibly lucky, as he has space for two in his tent and all the camping equipment you could ask for. His exhuberant ying and my slightly drier yang seem to go well together - the next 4 days involve mucho walking, "awesome!" scenery and such back-to-basics camping staples as drinking water from rivers/streams, cooking lots of stodge and washing up using gravel (works surprisingly well). We meet plenty of cool folk along the way, including a lovely bunch of well-travelled American gals and a couple of kerrrazy italianos.
Round it all off with an excursion to a big fook-off glacier across the border in Argentina. As I don't have much time left, have to settle for a day trip and end up spending 10 hours on a minibus and only 2 hours actually at the glacier! Tis amazing though, seeing an actual remnant of the ice age up close, and I witness big chunks of it falling off into the lake.
