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.
