This monster glacier pours slowly but majestically east from the Andes into the aquamarine glacial lake. Its sheer size is breathtaking and the assortment of ice colours visceral.

A wall of solid ice a mile wide and 150 feet high. Upon first encounter, it’s the sound of breaking ice you hear, prior to seeing the ice wall. Initially for some 20 seconds most people are rendered speechless. The glacier is so large as to have its own eco system, and it can snow in the height of summer. The Glacier lies within a 50.000 acre national park. Daily coach trips are available from El Calafate The experience plus the trek will remain with you for ever; booking not necessary, just turn up to the many tour offices. Three days is quite sufficient in this region before moving on to pastures new.

In our case another bus journey south for some 5 hours over the border to Chile. Passing through some spectacular passes and rock desert before arriving at the coastal town Puerto Natales. This is the one of the most southerly towns in Chile facing Tierra del Fuego; and closer to the ice continent of Antarctica than the capital Santiago. PN is very much a shanty town windswept and cold even in the height of summer. The port faces the remnants of the Andes before they hit the Pacific ocean at Ultima Esperanza.

The place is the nearest point of access to Torres del Payne (pronounced pinee) a magnificent National Park with spectacular mountain peaks ,ice fields and aquamarine glacial lakes and rushing torrents. Here you will witness at first hand ice bergs the size of houses beached on the shoreline of Lago Gray. This is real trekking and climbing country. Drawing visitors from all around the world. You need some 4/5 days here to appreciate the awesome sights. Tours depart daily from Puerto Natales - If taking the trip spend at least one or two nights camping or staying in the numerous “refugios” sighted within the park. Only bunk beds, but after a days trekking you sleep like a log! Some twenty years ago the Park was designated a special UNESCO site.

Upon leaving Puerto Natales going north as we did, you have no option than to take the weekly ferry called Navimag. There are no roads this far south as the Andes dominate the landmass. This four day trip will take you due north winding through the Chilean fjords ending up at Puerto Montt.

Travelling the Navimag is an experience in itself. This vessel takes sheep cattle llamas some vehicles mostly lorries, plus some 100 paying tourists and a few locals. It chugs slowly through the fjords passing more than 500 un-inhabited steep islands some a mile across others the size of Anglesey. Sometimes the water is like a mill pond, and other times it’s a force 6 swell, as the ship has to navigate tight channels by entering the Pacific before sheltering back within the deep fjords. For four days, all you will encounter are some pods of dolphins or the occasional whale feeding in the deep waters off the Pacific coast. and the occasional glacier crashing into the ocean.

The only stop on the way is at Puerto Eden. The weekly ship visit is a life line for the local Indians, who rely upon its arrival to exchange produce, and the occasional batch of tourists that stop to visit this lonely isolated community. No roads here, or for that matter any vehicles; the settlement is home to some 300 people mostly Mapuche Indians; some sell their artisans to tourists. The island port is serviced by a boardwalk. Around the shores small wooden boats, with the only industry being fishing. Giant mussels are to be found, mostly exported to the famous restaurants in the capital Santiago.

Chile is a thin ribbon shaped country some 3000 miles long; it appears on maps like a dagger plunging into the southern Pacific at Cape Horn. Its average width is a mere 120 miles. With the Andes forming a natural backbone barrier with Argentina throughout the country’s length. The summer temperature varies from10*c in the cool south ,to a blistering 45*c in the arid heat of the Atacama desert in the north.

The people are very warm and welcoming - a little Spanish goes a long way. Its economically the strongest of all Latin America countries. Following the Pinochet fracas of the eighties, the country is now successfully getting its act together. With strong exports of fish, fruit, wine and its natural mineral resource copper, which is an abundance in the north of the country.

The southern region comprises mostly lakes surrounded by impressive volcanoes, some of which are active today. The terrain is too steep and unstable for any roads until you reach Puerto Montt. This is where you get the first glimpse of a road, or to be precise the beginning of the southern end of the Pan American Highway which spans the continent.



In Chile the bus service linking cities is excellent. The choices are many and the distances can vary from small to long haul. From PM you can travel 3 hours to the university town of Valdivia or the nearby lake district at Llaniquihue. Or if you have time, visit the ancient Isla de Chiloe.

Valdivia once colonised by the Germans in 1880s is a busy market town on the edge of one of the many small Andean rivers that flow into the Pacific. Traditionally fish is in abundance, quite likely the largest and most comprehensive fish market in south of the country. Here you will see at close quarters the massive elephant seals that swim up the river from the ocean to scavenge fish scraps and in the process become instant photo celebrities.

A thousand miles north you will arrive in the capital Santiago. A busy but exciting and safe city of six million inhabitants. Surrounded by dormant, arid volcanoes, the city lies in a bowl, midway up the ribbon shaped country, half way between the ocean and within sight of the Andes. The architecture is a mixture of old Paris and Madrid and Plaza de Armas is a haven for artisans and musicians. A visit to St Christobal hill gives one a magnificent view of the whole of the city.

Thanks to Bernardo O’Higgins an Irishman who emigrated to Chile, he led the country to independence in 1820. The main avenue these days still bears his name. Stability and prosperity reign today - even their current President is a lady.

Bernard Owen