Bariloche 27th to 29th Dec

Another beautiful, tree filled campsite, with great views and a groovy little bar this time. It had wifi so most people hit that with a vengence. My lack of patience with slow wifi meant I stayed by the fire. Spent time meandering around town and AGAIN failing to anticipate the size of an Argentinian burger and splitting it between two people.




Vanessa seeing how many free tasters of choc she could get









Rafting day arrived and I seriously questioned my courage. But with my overlanding adventuring heart, I went for it. With names like Devils intestines (allegedly, although the instructors may change the names daily to make life more interesting), we tackled about a dozen rapids. 8 of us did it, so we were all in one boat, which was great. Grade 3-4 rapids and if anyone says it was less cos the water was high, then I say fooey to you. I was nails and very proud to have done it despite being a bit scared. The hike up the hill once we got out of the boat was blinking tough and unexpected!












Back to the campsite in time for a very quick shower and change then off to Tony's in town for amazing steak. Tony was there, at the back, flinging meat around like nobody's business, wielding his big knife. Pete got a bit jealous and was only happy when Tony gave him a bigger knife to hold for a photo op.
Some of us then went to the Irish Bar (I sense a tradition forming) and those of us left to 'make sure Duncan gets home' had a great time, leading the way on the dancefloor with Duncan dancing at full pelt in what I can only describe as being a cross between the street dancers in that fatboy slim video and a monty python sketch.

Los Alerces National Park 24th to 26th Dec

A beautiful campsite for our festive celebrations. Huge trees, snowy peaks and a big lake.








Santa getting in the spirit?!




Terry shocked to be outed as Santa




Everyone got a bit excited about xmas on xmas eve so there was a bit of a party, with a few tipples and music.
Ken with some help to stand








Santa on top of the truck, looking for a chimney?




But xmas day was all about having a slap up xmas dinner and lots of fun. Lesley rustled up some centre pieces using last night's wine bottles and the site's flowers.




Vanessa and I decided that Pete being Santa wasn't fair on the rest of the crew,who would no doubt like to be dressed up too. So, here is Graham, Santa's elf, and Kirsten, Santa's reindeer.




The secret santa was a great success, with everyone putting a lot of thought and effort into their gifts and everyone sitting on Santa's knee to get their gift.
Ken clearly wanted more from Santa for xmas/i>




Francois loved building his Air France plane while Heather inspects her gift.




Lunch was fantastic. Beef and pork, cabbage, gorgeous gravy, potato salad (actually, we had potato salad for a couple of days after this too).
didn't think to take a pic till I had finished so here is Francois' half eaten dinner





For afternoon activities, some went for varying lengths of siesta, while the rest of us played Twister. With no mat, I improvised with pen, paper, stones and a hat. As games-master, I also dabbled with the rules a bit. Elbow and Head were added to hand and foot. Outsiders were asked to deploy 'interference' at my whim (tickling or dripping liquid onto people). In the final, if there was a move a player could not make, then they could take a big shot of whisky or baileys instead. Well, it was xmas.








I got a penguin purse for my secret santa gift and laughed all day, ending the day laughing till I cried, by the fire with the late nighters. A brilliant xmas. Some folk went swimming in the (cold) lake on boxing day and some of just lazed in the sun. I must have had something to drink because I agreed to go white water rafting at our next location, Bariloche, Argentina's extreme sport capital. Not a fan of being out of control, injuries or cold water, what was I thinking?

Cuevo de la manos 23 Dec

23rd December
Up early (freezing) and off today to see Cuevo de la manos - "cave of hands". Set in a beautiful canyon, there are paintings of hands and the odd foot and animal just outside the caves that are thousands of years old. My sister has a similar decor regime in her downstairs WC, but she will be interested to know that a different method is employed here. Instead of painting dulux on your hand and pressing it to the wall, these guys mixed paint using plants and minerals from the rocks, put their hand to the rock and sprayed the 'paint' from their mouths.
















Lisa gets major brownie points for being the first to spot the 6 fingered hand.




Another highlight of the day was hearing the cry "armadilloooooo" from the cab, followed by some pretty sharp braking (Graham's standard driving style to be fair) and Pete flinging himself out of the cab, running after this small creature, his flip flops flying off as he ran into the thorny bushes, so much is his commitment to his overlanders. We've been fairly obsessively searching for (the nocturnal) armadillo since the trip began so this was a real gem, with the comedy of a big grubby flipflopped then barefoot man chasing it putting the icing on the cake. I suspect he would have just carried it over for photos if he had caught it but the man does like his BBQs so I guess we'll never know for sure.

Bit of camping 20th to 22nd Dec

Bushcamp 3 20th December

This bushcamp is noteworthy for its quarry location, very reminiscent of the infamous first bushcamp. Pete had done his usual trick of driving through all the lovely weather only to find a spot under the darkest clouds. Eventually the rain came, but then also the wind! I decided the way to survive this one was to stay up for as long as possible so a few of us spent the evening at the "keep warm party" on the truck (the method for keeping warm being dancing). Eventually V and I hit the sack and couldn't stop laughing at the violent flapping of the sides of our tent, which provided a visual and audible treat. I was wrapped up though, so would have slept well except for the side of the tent smacking me in the head at a tempo of about one whack a second, which felt like someone whopping me with a big inflatable hammer. Not a major problem though as we are having lots of truck time at the moment as we cover a lot of miles, so lots of snoozy suzie on the truck. As we rolled out of bush camp the next morning, Kirsten made the observation; "This is definitely an expedition, not a holiday". Ha!

Mr Fence gets everywhere






Bushcamp 4 21st December

We struggled to find a proper bushcamp so instead camped at a closed municipal campsite, ie, no facilities. The lovely swiss couple who were staying there and had the whole place to themselves must have loved it when this big orange and blue truck arrived and quickly seemed to swamp the place with tents, kitchen equipment and chairs. As Ken had been (wrongly) informing us for several days, this was (now correctly) the longest day of the year. Someone claimed the Mayan calendar ran out on this day, 21.12.12, so we of course had an 'end of the world' truck party. Tony decided spiced rum was the way forward and ending the evening by kissing us all goodnight, several times and telling a few people he loved them. I found a ditch with my left foot and the floor with the rest of my body when I wandered outside the truck without my head torch. ;-/

Campsite on a farm somewhere 22nd Dec

A few people probably wished the world had ended at the "end of the world" party and bearing in mind I am on truck cleaning duties, I suggested a bowl in the truck for today's journey might be a good move. This soon became Tony's friend and we made a special "Tony stop" at one point.




Jeanne quietly slept up front and still maintains her gin was 'off'.




We rolled into camp at a farm in the middle of nowhere, with a barn for our use, fireplace and table football.
Jane drying soggy socks....almost Christmassy





Pete taught us the cardboard method for slow cooking lamb on a bbq......put a sheet of cardboard over the lamb and if it catches light, the fire's too hot. Several hours later, it fell apart on your fork. Nice. The best showers are any hot shower after 2 days of bushcamping and truck travel so we were happy. V and I did manage to snap a pole housing putting up our tent though so we now keep our fingers crossed. It'll get welded at some point.












Armadillo. Dead. On a wall.

Ushuaia 17th to 19th Dec

So, another border crossing from Chile into Argentina to reach Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world.




There is a Chilean town that's further south (Fort William or something like that) but apparently there's not a lot there, so everyone ignores its existence and Argentina claims the title of being 'at the end of the world'. It's certainly where the cruise liners take folk and from the town, I saw one or two of those, a National Geographic Explorer ship (ooooh)and some Antarctic cruise ships. This far south, it's only starting to get dark at about 11pm and getting light at about 4am.




A hilly town, with pretty nice houses next door to what look like sheds (less salubrious house), where I learned that the traffic rules include giving way to traffic going up or downhill. I think that made for some interesting driving for the crew at first as they wondered why people in tiny cars were seemingly randomly pulling out in front of a 20 tonne truck. Hmmm. Our campsite runs as a ski lift base in the winter and the still-snowtopped mountains made a beautiful backdrop. We're seeing a lot of that kind of scenery in Patagonia and it doesn't really get old for us.
Warm in the day and chilly at night, my bed attire at the bottom of the world includes full thermals, socks, hot water bottle, fleece liner, fancy shmancy sleeping bag, pulling the cord on aforementioned fancy shmancy sleeping bag till as little of my face as I can bear not to cover is showing, a fleece jumper if it's particularly brrrr and warm thoughts. Others on the trip talk of having to undo their bags cos they're a bit warm. Freaks.
various methods of keeping warm, hearty sausage and mash, wrapping up and sitting by the fire or having a swig of baileys.












Spent my time here catching up on blog and photo admin and mooching the town, in particular in search for my 'secret santa' gift for my assigned victim, which most of the group are taking part in. We dropped some of the gang off for a steam train ride into the national park. Mikkel and I couldn't resist the photo opportunity while we waited to wave them off.




Oh, we did have a truck party for Francois' return (he'd had to leave us for a week) and invented a few 'cocktails'....wine + rum = wum, rum + whisky = risky (apt) and risky + sprite = sprisky. This is what happens when people have time on their hands and no tv, ok! The next night, most of us ventured to the irish bar (yes, every town does have one) and then the casino. Most folk watched, some dabbled on the fruit machine, but yours truly, having watched a few hands of blackjack, decided to join in. Changing up the grand sum of 100 peso (20 quid). I hadn't realised the G&Ts served here were equal to a triple UK measure.....so my earlier hands were better than the later ones. Ahem. I quickly doubled my money, hovered around that level for a bit, then decided I'd keep playing till I got back to my initial stake. A very entertaining evening, despite the cheesy odour
of the feet of the traveller next to me at the blackjack table (not one of our lot).
random lunch stop




We left Mikkel in Ushuaia as he's got his wallet out for an Antarctic cruise. He'll rejoin us in about 10 days in Chile. I'm very jealous of the trip but not the cost (a few grand) or the cold. He'll also miss truck xmas and new year - booooo.
typical shrine by the side of the road - there are lots of these

Bush camp 2 on way to Ushuaia

We left our beautiful campsite with endless hot water, entertaining wildlife and gorgeous views to head further south but on way we faced our second bushcamp, promised it would be better than the last! A pretty flat landscape provided a beautiful pink sunset.



It was getting noticeably chillier as we went south but the days were nice and long, getting dark at about 11pm. VERY relieved to say it was a pleasant bushcamp this time which has restored my faith in the concept. We set chairs up in an arc shape around the kitchen/working side of the truck, but for some reason Duncan foolishly sat facing us......and so "The Hot Seat" was born, where Duncan faced questions from anyone present. The odd gin or vodka was being drunk to 'keep warm' so the questions got more entertaining as the night went on and as different victims entered the hot seat.

Jeanne in the hot seat



It's amazing what some folk leave on the beach - seen en route