Three on the trot

We arrived in El Bolson, Argentina, yesterday. Our Bible, Lonely Planet, describes it as Hippie Heaven (or something along those lines) but apart from a market that is not so different from any traveller-oriented one, I can't see why. The mountain setting, though, is breathtaking. Planned to leave tomorrow for Bariloche and Spanish lessons. That plan may yet change. Think we are both happy to be in short sleeves and open shoes again after the cold of Patagonia.
At the Vic, Watford beat Palace for the second time in 2009, winning 2-0 for the third game in a row and easing our relegation fears still further. Another new boy, Don Cowie, scored one and assisted with the other. With so many of the thirteen remaining games against teams right around us, home wins will ensure our safety.

New Watford Boy

Waiting at Esquel bus terminal to take Ruta 40 south after we had hitched into Argentina the day before my last entries, I got talking to a Californian, Clay, who is a Chelsea fan. We chewed the football fat and compared travellers' tales and spent some time together in El Chalten too (when we arrived some 26 hours later). The trekking there to the Fitz Roy range was good but Jun was ill and pissed off that I went out for a few drinks so we left the following day for El Calafate.
Clay caught up before we took advantage of the town's access to Perito Moreno glacier, probably the single most impressive sight of my travels so far, so we did that together too. WFC have a new fan (second-team status) but I have not rethought my views on Chelsea. His new allegiance coincided with important away victories for both sides, Tamas Priskin and new boy Mike Williamson both scoring as we won 2-0 at Blackpool.
We got to Peurto Natales the same day and met up with our Chilean friend Jackie, who has taken a holiday to head south from the capital. I travelled with her and her friend Ximena to Parque Nacional Paine for an eight-and-a-half-hour trek that took in the towers there. Unfortunately, that was all I managed, leaving the same evening with a temperature and a nose that wouldn't stop dripping. We head north tomorrow.

Chaiten

In May last year, Chaiten suffered under the eruption of a volcano that was thought dead but had laid dormant for 9000 years. Thousands were evacuated and much of the town was destroyed by subsequent floods. Most ex-residents have started new lives elsewhere but a hardy bunch returned and are demanding the reconstruction of their ash-covered hometown. It was easy to sympathise: the surrounding countryside was beautiful; the government, however, which has being paying a "salary" to the affected families, has abandoned the town. There is no water or electricity there now.

We passed through about a week ago on our way to Futaleufu, about 100km away, which was also blanketed in ash at the time of the eruption. Today, though,the BBC news was reporting more activity and further evacuation from Chaiten. Unfortunately, the government may have got it right. We may also have been some of the last passengers on the Navimag Austral from Quellon to Chaiten for a while.

Tommy Smith

He gets the ball, he scores a goal, Tommy Tommy Smith. The Horns beat the Swans at the Vic 2-0 tonight and moved out of the relegation zone with games in hand over the teams around us. If they can keep the home form....

Living the dream

Waiting out fifteen and a half hours in a small town for a long bus journey, we had time to see if our computer could be sorted (no), buy a mobile, a hat and a top to replace the WFC hoodie I left on a bus a week ago, dawdle over dinner, do twelve laps of the centre, walk up a hill and down again and sit down in the same park twice. This is the second time I´ve been on the internet, and if this place weren´t closing in an hour, I´d be here for four.
As we cut up boiled eggs for rolls in the park with nowhere else to go at about one o´clock, Jun commented that we were "living the dream". We laughed about that. Having hitchhiked into Argentina yesterday, we can´t really complain about how things are going but I missed out on the chance to white-water raft one of the world´s best rivers (Futaleufu) because I chose a "family company" and we were unable to climb a volcano in Pucon because of the weather.
Still, mustn´t grumble. We´ve seen sealions in Valdivia, penguins in Ancud and scenery to sit down and contemplate throughout the Andes regions. My Spanish is beginning to improve at last and Jun is learning too. We trekked to the top of an Andean peak (a small one) two days ago and head into deepest Patagonia when our bus leaves this depot at two in the morning.
In Watford, Joss was unable to go to the Chelsea FA Cup match (I guess his dad hadn´t sussed that he needed to buy tickets before a certain point). Tamas Priskin put us ahead in the second half, but Nicolas Anelka got a hattrick for them. A home league game was postponed and we still sit third bottom and in real relegation trouble. Did I mention I lost my WFC hoodie?