Day 1560 Thursday 22^nd January

Walking the small (!) city of sixty thousand souls, looking for an affordable tour to Antarctica, or seal and penguin heaven. None being with our budget, we headed to an Irish bar (no surprise) for a genuine Irish dish of spaghetti and sauce. Well filled with our wonderful feed we walked the foreshore to find an affordable passage to the ice and fire further south. With no success.

Day 1561 Friday 23^rd January

Walking early into our breakfast table we were enjoying our ration of cheese, smoked ham and bread toastadas when two other guests came down from upper accommodation, only to be told to, ‘go back to you room there is no room for you at the table yet’. Made us smile as they scurried back to their room as we had been told to do a day before.

Managing to book a tour to Penguin island, enduring a one and a half bus trip through nondescript scenery, a boat of half an hour to be dropped off to walk amongst the dinner jacketed locals seamed like a real find. But on handing over our credit card to pay we realise the full cost of the trip. Not a ruse on the company’s part but on ours failing to adjust to the local rate of exchange. With our cards being blocked from England, for being used in south America, we were let of lightly from spending half a months wage on a trip we can do without….

With Diane hanging out for food we headed into a local shop that sold every thing from generators, chain saws, shiny stainless steel chandler items to hot food. We headed for the hot food, (bugger). Where we saw hot papas fritos for one hundred and seventy five bucks a portion, about thirty Aussie dollars!!!!!!!

Day 1562 Saturday 24^th January

Leaving our bed early we walked the three clicks to town to catch our bus to the Train to the end of the World, a former prisoner train into the forest. Where we tourists would walk amongst the trees for pleasure. Where the criminals a hundred years ago felled timber, built rail lines and quarried stone for the prison effort, to build a new goal on Terra del Fuego.

Our eleven km walk was completed in half the allocated four hours allowed to catch the shuttle bus back to town. The bitter southerly wind whipped the bay into an oceanic sceptical of crashing waves on a stony beach, with a back drop of a grey sky and on coming rain!! No wonder we beat a hasty path to the cafe to wait for our bus. A great walk but in a more pleasant climate our pace would have been more leisurely. Chilled to the bone we retraced our steps to our warm hotel.