Thats it then - the end of the world ( and other stuff)

Not recommended - 12 hours on an old bus from 9am to 9pm. Sitting next to the toilets right at the back so you feel every stone and hole. Especially when 6 hours is spent on unmade roads. However if you book your ticket 20 mins before the bus leaves in peak holiday season , you have no choice.

It was an interesting trip though. Across the plains of Patagonia and a ferry across the Magellan straights. Then into Argentina and on to Ushuaia (`at the end of the world`). The weather changes every few minutes here from hot sun through rain to snow but it is nearly always windy. It stays light nearly 24 hours and the sun is still bright at 10pm. It is very strange living in 24 sunlight. You tend to eat and go to bed later and later

Tierra del Fuego was so named because of all the fires seen by Magellan. The Indigenous people used fire to keep warm and even kept fires going in their canoes. They didn`t wear clothes because they were no use in a cold and very wet environment. The Yaghan people around Ushuaia, were very successful and in tune with the land before Europeans came. First the whalers slaughter the seals that were their main diet. Then the Christians came and told them they must wear clothes. This made them unhealthy and susceptible to the European diseases such as measles that completely wiped them out. All in about 80 years

We have travelled nearly 6000 kilometres since Quito in Ecuador and done the equivalent of almost 10 whole days on buses. It has been a fantastic trip so far. We have been incredibly lucky getting last minute deals for things you are supposed to book months ahead - Galapagos, Machu Pichu trail, Easter Island and now a cruise to the Antarctic.

Dogs, supermarkets and people

1. An overriding memory of S America will be stray dogs. It is overrun by them. They howl at night and chase cars during the day. When people leave their rubbish out they have to tie it in trees so all the towns look as if there has been a great flood

2. Every supermarket (and church) has at least one beggar and dog outside. Not together you understand but begging in their own specialised ways.

3. In Chile supermarkets have 10 items or less aisles. But the people translate this tightly controlled rule as - you turn up with your trolley full of stuff and then put it through the checkout and pay for it at 10 items a time

4. No one takes any notice of gringos in supermarkets. I was so excited at finding bacon that I pulled the machine which gives you your turn number off the wall. The numbers unrolled all the way down an aisle. I had to go and roll it up again. No-one took any notice. People continued to wheel their trolleys over the strip as if nothing had happened. I think I am the only one who found it unusual or funny

5. Most people get robbed or ripped off in S America at some time. A favorite is to give gringos fake money. Yesterday an Aussie told us how he was given a fake 100 Peso note at the border. but he managed to palm it off in a shop. The following morning he was so hung over that he went back into the shop where they recognised him and insisted on real money. They wouldn't give him his fake one back either

6. Their are different characteristics between the nationalities traveling in S America. Brits, Dutch and Aussie go around in couples. Canadians travel by themselves. Germans travel in groups of 4 or more. French in organised tours. Americans almost non-existent or keep apologising for Bush. Individually Israelis are delightful but en-mass they are awful. Loud, noisy, pushy and oblivious to anyone else. They are all young people just out of the army so I suppose it is understandable. However, many people, including us, will ask whether there is a group of Isralies in a Hostal or on a tour and go somewhere else if the answer is yes