We landed in the morning at Santiago. After a short delay to report our lost luggage we went on a tour of the city starting with the impressive Santa Lucía park from where we had good views over the city. We walked around the centre where we were shown the buildings from the time of Allende, which were very cubic in design, the cathedral, which is not a cathedral, the museum and the fish market. At the fishmarket we had a good but rather chaotic late lunch. Our guide, Roberto, told us quite a lot of history including that of the Mapuche people who had resisted the Spaniards. We also heard about the earthquakes and how often they occurred. In the evening we enjoyed a meal with good views of the mountains behind the city. Despite a hopeful text our luggage did not appear.

El Morado

We drove up the Maipo valley until the road became a bumpy track used by lorries building a hydro electric plant. Our walk was through a spectacular valley and up to the El Morado lake which is dominated by a hanging glacier. We saw some interesting birds including the Patagonian sierra finch with its yellow and green plumage. As we walked up to about 3200 metres and on snow for the most part the walk was quite tough but very rewarding. Camilla was grateful to our second guide, Macharina, for the loan of her poles. We returned to the hotel, stopping twice, once to watch a condor and once for a barbecue dinner. No sign of our luggage.

To Puerto Natales

We went to the airport for our flight to Punta Arenas, hoping to pick up our lost luggage. The Iberia office, which took some finding, were unable to help us in the time before our flight. We were met at Punta Arenas by Francesca who took us shopping for necessary equipment as there was no sign of our luggage although some promises! We then drove to Puerto Natales where we met our guide Claudio and were told about the boat trips planned for the next day. He did admit to a plan B if the wind was too strong. The group were very patient about the delay we caused in having to go shopping. Camilla now had a waterproof coat and David had walking trousers. We could cope!

Puerto Natales and the journey to the Ecocamp

One glance at the sea told us that it would be plan B! Although we were all ready for an early start we no longer had to make one and so were able to walk along the shore and enjoy the bird life and some interesting sculptures. We saw black-necked swans with cygnets, various types of duck (Chiloe wigeon, speckled teal, crested duck). We also saw tern, possibly Arctic, a couple of Magellanic oyster catchers (black and white with red beaks like their northern hemisphere counterparts but with pink legs and bright yellow eyes), Southern lapwings, and rock cormorants and were serenaded by a chincol or rufous-collared sparrow. We then got on the bus and went to the Mylodon cave which is huge, has good stalactites and was home to the now extinct mylodon a scupture of which we had seen in Puerto Natales. We learnt about the three main local trees, two of which are a type of beech and have an attractive parasitic growth which consists of yellow and orange threads. We then went to an Argentinian border village where we bought a useful wildlife guide. On the drive from there to the Ecocamp we saw a rhea, some black faced ibis, some beautiful Chilean flamenco, lots of guanaco, lots of upland geese, Andean condors, and black-chested buzzard-eagles. After an excellent lunch and finding our domes we went out again to see the impressive Cascada de Paine and a large herd of guanaco. On the way we stopped to see some Austral parakeets. Walking to see the guanaco we also saw austral negrito, also known as schoolboys, which are small dark brown birds with a rufous back, the strangely named black-headed ground-tyrants, Chilean swallows, Southern crested Caracara and a South American grey fox.

Torres del Paine

Before breakfast we saw a striped woodpecker and were entertained by a pair of caracara flying around and doing what caracara do in the spring. We then set off at 8:30 for a 21km walk up the Ascencio valley to the 'look-out' of the Torres. Our second guide at the Ecocamp, Marie, joined us. Like Claudio she was a great addition to the group. The sky had a good deal of blue and there was not too much wind though we could see cloud around the Torres themselves. We soon saw a flicker, another type of woodpecker, as well as southern lapwing. There were many wild flowers and we particularly liked the firebush with its bright red honeysuckle-like flowers. We had a superb walk up the valley with the river beneath us. We stopped for lunch at the refuge where lots of rufous-collared sparrows were pecking around and then proceeded through woodland to the base of the final climb to the view point. The climb was rocky but we managed well despite our inadequate footwear (still no luggage). At the top we had a superb view of the creamy turquoise lake and towers although the towers did have some mist clinging. On our way down we met a red fox and had two good sightings of torrent ducks, the second sighting included male, female and duckling. On the final stretch back to the campsite we had to stop for a large herd of horses to cross the track and we saw black-chinned siskin in the trees. An excellent day but still no luggage!

Cave paintings and views of Cuernos del Paine

The day started with a walk via Laguna Goic and a cave with remnants of hand paintings. The views of the mountains, with their differently coloured bands of granite and sedimentary rock, were stunning. On the bird front, there were more flamingos, two white swans, some red-gartered coot, though we never saw their garters, and a long-tailed meadowlark. Why the latter is named for its tail rather its spectacular bright red breast is a mystery. We also enjoyed the flowers including patagonian pea, guanaco bush, sand ladies slipper, common yellow violet, wild geranium and escallonia. We were met by the bus at the end of the walk and taken to the Lake Pehoé viewpoint from where we had a view, across a turquoise lake, of the horn of Paine. The second walk of the day was past a superb waterfall to a viewpoint across Lago Nordenskjöld. This walk had great views but was occasionally very windy. Still no luggage but a promise that one bag may reach us tomorrow. We have been told that before!

El Calafate

There was an early start, so as not to have to queue too long at the border. There was also a hiccup as three pieces of luggage (including our - just returned - one piece) had been put on the wrong bus. Fortunately we were able to reclaim them at the border. On the way to the border we saw some young rhea and some distant flamingos. We had to go through two crossing formalities, one to leave Chile and one to enter Argentina. After this we had a long drive across Steppe country until we reached a look-out with a view of Lake Argentina and El Calafate. We arrived in El Calafate in time for lunch and the afternoon was spent buying David various necessities including walking boots (hush puppies would you believe?) and walking to the nature reserve where we saw flamingos (some in flight), yellow =-billed ducks, a long-tailed meadow lark and a spectacled tyrant (sic).