Friday 11th January; day trip to inland lakes [Escondido and Fagnano] via ruta 3 which if you keep going ends in Alaska! On the way visited a Husky Farm where dogs are bred for racing and exploration in the Antartica. They were excited at the propect of pulling a sled and all hell broke out when only some were selected for the demonstration sled race. Gillian and Willis did a short guided walk and David completed his reading about the Bridges family [see Harberto...

Tuesday January 8th; early transfer by bus [4hrs] to small town of El Chalten. We stopped on the way at Leone famed for a stay by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. We arrived in time to gat in a 3 hr walk to the viewpoint of Fitzroy Mountain. This was named after Captain Fitzroy of the Beagle and its top pinnacle is one of the worlds hardest mountain climbs. It is a 90 mins hard slog up and a steep climb down to the viewpoint. David and Gillian were supprised o...

Saturday 5th January; we have transferred to El Calafate in Parque Nacioanl Los Glaciares [South]. Willis, David and Gillian have been joined for a few days by Willis's sister Wendy. We all arrived by early evening and had an excellent sophisticated meal in town. Sunday 6th January; picked up from our hotel for a trip to Perito Moreno Glacier. After a 2 hour drive we had our first long distance view. The first glacier that David, Willis and Wendy had seen. The c...

Friday January 4th 2008. Gillian and Willis went for a 3 hr horse ride on Estancia Rio Minero near Villa Traful. They climbed up to a viewpoint via a path which at times was as narrow as 2 metres with a 100 metres drop on one side. Needless to say the horses were steady and did not put a hoof wrong. Gillian's horse did however require "encouragement" with a whip! The view were breath taking and the riding exciting. They had to adjust their saddles for t...

New Years Eve [different from usual!]; David and Gillian had a hard climb to two waterfalls just behind our cabanas. Willis was catching up lost time with her friend Josie. Late afternoon David and Victor went out fishing; under Victor's guidance David caught his first Lago Traful trout. In the evening we sent a fun evening with Josie and Victor's family on the camp site cooking and wine tasting [and drinking!]. It is not often New Year is spent in such beautiful...