Aconcagua & South America 2004

Again nothing interesting has happened to me since the last communication, I left Puntas Arenus innocent & unmolested on sun & caught another LanChile flight to Santiago which was late AGAIN, 2 LanChile flights & both were 2hrs late taking off from almost deserted aerodromes, what a bunch!!!
The flight flew over Torres Del Paine & a superb view was to be had of these most peculiar of mountains, the flight continued north with magnificent views of the Chilean side of southern Patagonia, where there are vast areas of mountains with almost no access, all with glaciers streching either down to the sea or to lakes, you could easily count hundreds of these glaciers, some lakes full of ice that had broken off the glaciers, We must have been close to Argentina as I could clearly see Mount Fitzroy, which is another impressive vertical pillar of rock dwarfing its neighbours ( not unlike the In Pin some might be moved to observe ) The mountains & glaciers continued all the way as we flew over the Carretera Austral before stopping at Puerto Montt. A most impressive flight far better than the Alps as these mountains continued almost non-stop for the 2000k between Puntas Arenus & Puerto Montt, unfortunatly it was almost dark as we took off from Puerto Montt so I only had a hazy view of the volcano Osorno, which is quite conical with the top third covered in snow - just what a volcano is supposed to look like.
Arrived in Santiago at almost midnight so I was fearfull the last of the service buses had left the airport & I would have to pay for a taxi ( a difference of 15Quid ) so you can imagine my utter relief when I spotted one and was able to hop aboard.
Just as I left the Plane a passenger (a german) was having a wrestling match with the security personnel I wanted to stay & watch but,, that bus was more important.
Arrived at Hotel Londres at almost 1am and fortunatly they had a room.
Lovely day here in Santiago, must be 85+ but a bit sticky. Spent the day sitting about mostly eating ice lollys.I fly out of Santiago tomorrow at 3pm so this will be my last post from SA. When I arrive home I will set up a photo album on this sight & put a selection up for your perusal, so give me a couple of days.
Some of you might wonder why I wanted to travel down to Ushuaia at all as it is not a common holiday destination well.....when I was about 8 or 9 my Gran used to come over to my house every Wednesday bringing with her the latest Peoples Friend for my mother. You may or may not know that the Peoples Friend had a childrens page at the back, on one occasion they were running a competition....I cannot remember what it was about but I entered it,
About 3weeks later I received through the post, to my delight & astonishment, second prize of a metal globe about 6 inches in diameter, I used to often study it and one of the places that constantly drew my eye was the isolated tip of South America, I cannot say that I decided then that one day.......but I always harboured a notion, just to see what it would be like. SO I KNOW NOW!!!
I would like to thank everyone who posted a comment, as they both provided amusement
& a little knowledge ( I was perfectly aware that Fray Bentos was in Uraguay, but I thought that I would try it on for the sake of a cheap laugh)
I do wonder why so many of the comments were all by anon?
The home fire seems to have gone out, perhaps it needs a good poke?
Do look in again at the end of the week when I hope to have the photos available
Hasta lumbago SS