Cono Sur

February 28, 2004

Dear family and friends,

Owww! I stubbed my toe in the dark, nearly taking off the nail of my little toe trying to answer the wake up knock on my door at 6:00AM. My last missive ended with me about to leave Ushuaia and head northward for a visit of Chile. My bus was to leave at 7:30AM, so I limped off to the depot, just making it on time. As my toe bled and throbbed, the bus wound its way through the grand Martial Mountains and out onto the Pampas of Tierra del Fuego, flat, treeless, with lots of sheep and cattle, but with few signs of inhabitants, quite beautiful nonetheless. It was not long before we crossed the frontier into Chile and a short while later a ferry took us across the Straits of Magellan and back onto the continent itself. I spent two days in Chile's southernmost city, Punta Arenas noted for its many stately and extravagant homes dating from the heydays of the Estancias and reflecting the incredible wealth made during that era. Then I was on to Puerto Natales another eight-hour bus ride away through pretty countryside, light greens and gold colours predominant on the rolling hills, and the snow topped Andes rising off in the distance.

Tierra del Fuego, Fin del Mundo

Wednesday, 25 February 2004      

Dear family and friends,

It was a beautiful day, near cloudless, a soft breeze blowing, pleasantly warm with the sun high in the sky when I teed off at 2:00PM.  There are no birds twittering in the trees, in fact, there are no trees around the clubhouse.  The only sound is the occasional whistle from the Tren Fin del Mundo (Train to the End of the World) which departs from the station nearby. 

The number one hole at the Ushuaia Golf Course in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, is a short 275 yard par 4, slightly down hill, with a sharp dogleg left into the green.  I chose my driver knowing a nice easy swing combined with my natural fade would put me in great shape on the right side of the fairway for an easy chip onto the green.  I hit it like I had every reason to expect, a dreaded scuff hook which ended about 40 yards away.  There was no murmur of appreciation, no applause.  I thought I heard someone laugh.  Frost, Spurrell, and Holmes weren't there and I didn't wake up.  This was no dream, it was for real.  (Expletive deleted.)  Mulligan.  I teed up again and... Well, I suppose you don't really want to hear anymore about my round, but it was great, as was the day. 

Uruguay, Come and Gone

February, 2004

Dear family & friends,

The Rio de la Plata originates in Uruguay (as the Uruguay River), and forms the boundary for Argentina and Uruguay. I do not know why it was called the 'silver' river as, like all large rivers, it carries a lot of silt with it as it wends it's way to the sea, consequently it is much more brown or red than silver. Maybe it was so named in the hopes that it would lead to the silver and other riches that South America was known to hold, and which were the stimuli for all early European exploration. In any case, it is a grand river and a three-hour ferry ride took me across from Buenos Aires to Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay. The ferry was new, quite modern, and very comfortable, even in 'turista class' where I was.

Argentina Today

February 14, 2004

Dear family & friends,

Two years after the then President Adolfo Rodriguez Sau announced to a cheering Congress that Argentina was defaulting on it's sovereign debt of $88 billion US, the country remains in economic turbulence. Following the default, the peso, which had been pegged 1 to 1 with the American dollar, fell to its current level of about 3 peso to the dollar. Current President Nestor Kirchener has gained support from more than 60% of his electorate with his hardline position of not negotiating repayment to the international institutions holding the debt, offering a 'take it or leave it' 25 % and no payment of the accrued interest since default. This reduction in the debt is being referred to as a 'haircut' here in Argentina - more than just a trim, more like a scalping.