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¡Hola! Well, sorry we havn´t written for a while we have been pretty busy and unable to get computer access.
Since we last wrote we left Puerto Natales and headed north to El Calafate where we spend two nights and had a day trip minitrek on the Perito Moreno Glacier. One of only 3 glaciers in the world that isn´t receeding. The Glacier is 45km long, 6km wide and 200m deep at the front. It is part of the 3rd largest ice field in the world - the 1st being antarctica and the 2nd Greenland. We saw the side of it from a boat and large chunks of ice were falling off in to the lake. It was weird because you saw it fall and then a second or so later you heard trhe giant CRACK of the ice splitting. Then we departed the boat and donned crampons and spent about an hour and a half on top of the ice trekking over peaks and over cravaces. We had whisky on the rocks (the rocks we cut out of the glacier) and we had fresh glacier run off that tasted sooooo good. The wind was so strong on top of the Glacier that you could lean back almost diagonally and be held up by the wind. At this point i was very glad of my ski trousers. (shhh but toby had his waterproof trousers with my leggins on underneath!!!!!!)
The glacier is huge, you will see when we get an internet connection good enough to load up some pictures which probably won´t be until New Zealand now.
After the glacier we headed back to Puerto Natales where yesterday we went to the Milodon cave. Its a huge gave made in the rock face by a glacier and a lake which has since dried up. 10000 years ago it was home to the now extict milodon bear.
We went to a restauarnt that had ñandu on the menu. That´s the Ostrich thing that roams wild here. The Welsh influence is still very strong here with many of the people having names of welsh origen and many of the streets have Welsh names. Most of the towns on the way from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia are Welsh and although we didn´t see any of them we have heard its just like going to Wales.
Toby has discovered that he really likes Chilean wine. The one that is his favourite is Called ´Clos´ its a Cabernet Sauvignon made from a grape in Chile that is now extinct in Europe due to a parasitic bug that ate the roots of the Vines thus making the wine unavailabe back home.
Tonight we are boarding the Navimag ferry which goes from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt. It travels through the Patagonian channels and from what we have heard we should be able to see glaciers and frozen waterfalls as well as sea lions, penguins, dolphins and if we are lucky a whale.
The Spanish in Chile is very hard to understand. They have Papas instead of patatas (potatoes) and frutilla pronounced fruitisha instead of fresas (strawberries) and just general pronunciacions are very different...on top of that they use a lot of slang here which makes things more difficult.
When we disembark the ferry in Puerto Montt we will get a connection by bus to Pucon which will take about 7 hours but in Pucon there is a large volcano called Volcan Villarica which is active and we can climb it and from the top see the spitting lava and swim in hot springs. We will spend about 4 nights there and then head to Santiago. We have found a nice hostel that has been recommended to us. Its called La Casa Roja and is a large 17th century mansion. woweeeeee.
The weather is not so good today, yesterday it was really mild and sunny but today its very grey and overcast which doesn´t bode well for the ferry leaving on time (when i say on time its already been delayed a day)
Anyway this is quite an essay now so Happy Birthday to Luke in 12 days and we will try to write again when we get to Pucon.
Lots of love to everyone
Tegan xxxx
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