The ´W´

The ´W´ I am referring to is not the third studio album by the Wu Tang Clan, rather it is the famous walk you can do in the Torres Del Paine National Park.

You see a crap map of it here:

Day -1 - The bus out there broke down and we were stuck in the middle of no-where with some llamas staring at us quizically. I kinda had my fingers crossed we would miss the Catarmaran that was taking us to the bottom of the left part of the W, but we made it on time and it was nice too as the view was first class. So this first day i walked upto the 1 on the map with a tiny irish couple. It must have looked like Gandalf and the Hobbits. The scenery was incredible and despite 20 mins of strong wind the journey up there was dandy. The hobbit folk were staying at the refugio up there and so i turned round and tramped back to the refugio where i started the day. It was awesome. The sun was out for the evening and simply walking alone through the park enjoying the view was just fantastic. It was getting dark and i was getting tired as i reached the camp and fell asleep.

Day 2 - I bumped into a couple of people from Erratic rock... ah... this will have to wait as i am in only my second messenger chit chat of my trip - with Mr Simon Hunt...

Journey to Torres Del Paine National Park

Alrighty... lets get back on track then... where was I? Cripes! nearly 6 weeks behind. Ok. deep breath.

So... at about 4am on Dec 11th I left Ushuaia bound back for the Argentinian Andover that is Rio Gallegos. The scenery overland through Tierra Del Fuego was even more amazing than the view from the plane and, goddamnit, i wish i had spent more time down there. Cest la vie. Another time, eh?

The only other two things I´ll mention about my two day mission to Puerto Natales is that a) in the view out of the window was incredible - especially the wing whipped sea as we hugged th ebeagle channel - and b) in the space of 18hrs i went through 6 frickin border crossings and all the stamps and paper work that that brings. aye yae yae. Every cloud has a silver lining and I suppose for this tale it´s that there was not one cavity search.

So, Puerto Natales is a lovely little town full of cool little tin houses and, as it´s the gateway town to the Torres del Paine National Park, a lot of serious looking people in gore-tex. I stayed at a fine and friendly hostel called Erratic Rock (it´s not a spelling error - i checked and there was no-one overly amourous on the team called Rick) where there speciallity was fine breakfasts and scaring the bejesus out of me.

Every day they do a ´three o´clock talk´ telling you what you need and what you should expect from your excursion to the park. Basically it sounded like you needed to be prepared for gale force 12 winds, arctic rain and possibly locust and rivers of blood...or at least thats how i heard it. Just before i went to sleep that night after booking my refugios (campsite things) and buying provisions I was properly bricking it as i had not yet found someone to walk with and felt completely un-prepared physically, mentally and equipmentally. An english chap (and he was a ´Chap´ - what what) told me how bloody sad he was to be leaving the bloody park as it was so bloody beuatiful. This talk sounded insane to my ears as i fell into a short and restless sleep...

Bikes and Wine

So - as I am musicless I have taken to spending long periods of time listening to videos on You Tube. Two songs that i were inspired by my wine tour of Mendoza are here (note: I can´t vouch for the videos, mind):

Iron and Wine - Passing Afternoon



Ben Folds Five - Sports and Wine

I-pod v2 Update

Thanks to Sam Strudwick who has set up a Facebook appeal pleading with folk to donate music to a needy cause. Much appreciated. What is not appreciated is my Sister who insists on bringing up some of my past musical mistakes (I genuinely thought she liked TLC) and proferring up a gay slur which should in fact be directed towards Darren Low who loves to stand naked in the purple rain.

Anyhow - I have dropped my Ipod off at the Mac Station in Bs As and have a nervous 72 hr wait to see if they can fix it. I am also a little nervous that they might discover that the problem may have been of my own making as (on the advice on a lanky haired irish youth) i put sharepod on the damn thing and this may well vioalate the T&C´s of the guarentee...eek...

All will be revealed on Wednesday...

"I´m headed back to Bs As. I do believe I have had enough"

Had enough of boozing that is... so, it makes the most sense to try and detox in one of the party capitals of the world, no?

No. Probably not.

I´ve spent the last week in the company of two fine fellows. A Geordie called Dick (who works in Peru) and a chap from the west country called Mike (whose name can be seen on the credits of such films as Harry Potter 5, Alien vs Predator and another few films whose names I will probably only rememebr when drunk) . Much fun has been had in and around the cities of Mendoza and Cordoba. This has included a paraglide flight (I can see why my esteemed amigo, Tom Moreton, is so hooked), a wine tour on bikes (they don´t mix too well... or too well perhaps), and, well, a lot of hangovers and as many hairs of dogs that bit me (in my head I think).

You see, those two drink like bloody monsters. To explain their approach to the booze i think its suffice to say that three of us met as we were getting som breakfast at about 10.30am - Mike and Dick both ended up having a fat steak and a bottle of fine wine. Oh, and a couple of cups of coffee...with cognac.

I´ve been fairly reserved with my imbibing and am pleased with my ability to say ´No´to a morning cerveza or a mid afternoon 5 litre bottle of vino. However, despite this the past week has been a drunken blur my liver is threatening to walk out on me. Therefore, I´m glugging down a litre of naranja and boarding a bus back to the fine city where all this fun began.

I´ll get things upto speed on this hear blog asap.

ARGGGHHH!!!

My ipod has only gone and knackered itself requiring me to "reset" the settings.This means that I have to lose all the music and videos on there...

Breath in through the nose...

"I´m too much with myself, I want to be someone else" - Lemonheads, Drug Buddy

So, this travelling lark is great fun and I´ve met some very interesting people along the way with a handful of irritating types thrown in for balance. Travelling alone it´s very interesting to see and experience how groups form and how you can quickly form bonds and friendship with folk that vanish as quick as they come. Bee-tsar.


I must confess I haven´t always tried as hard as I might to chinwag with other folk. However, this trip has once again proved my belief that often times it doesn´t really matter what you´re doing or where you´re doing it, it´s the people you meet and the interactions you have that make an experience.


Anyway - the point of this posting is that I have met a lot of people and when you meet these new people there is a standard list of questions that you MUST ask and answer before you can progess and have a conversation. These include:
- name
- where you´re from
- what you do when you´re where you´re from
- how long you are a) here for b) away from home for
- where you have come from
- where you will go to


Anyway - i´m tiring a little bit of my spiel and i have even got to the point where i can´t be arsed trying to say it differently to make it interesting for me. As such, I would like your help in inventing a persona that I might use when I´m bored.


If you have the time and inclination please shove your suggestions down in the comments on this posting and in a week or so I´ll create a poll (like the example in the Right Hand Column) and you the public can vote on who i become. The winner will get a southamerican themed prize.