A Patagonian Christmas and New Year

What do backpackers do for christmas? I'm sure many of you are wondering...well the simple answer is get very, very drunk.

Before Xmas I should go into my jaunt at camping in Patagonia. 2 of us were foolhardy enough to think we'd be good at camping in one of the windiest places on earth. We were wrong, we were complete wusses, but we did it. We travelled to the far south of Chile to the Torres del Paine national park and with our rented camping equipment tried to set up. Our first set back was the fact that the fly sheet and the tent didn't match, which meant the poles were too long. (some short welsh idiot didn't bother to check this, can you believe it?). The second drawback was the lack of mallet and the very rocky ground. Thr third drawback was the high winds and the fact that I don't like camping.

Anyway, we hiked to the Torres through wind, rain and a beautiful rainbow (photos on facebook as ever) and returned to camp in the evening to find our fly sheet had blown off. Fortunately the tent was dry. We then spent a few hours hiding out at a nearby refugio, which had a fire, bliss, before heading to bed at 11pm. I spent the night fully awake listening to the high winds blowing the fly sheet around and praying we didn't take off in the night. I woke up proud of my achivement but happy never to camp again...

Following this experience our plan was to get to Ushuaia, the Southernmost town in Argentina for Christmas. Unfortunately everyone else had the same idea so we gave up trying and resigned ourselves to a dull christmas in Punta Arenas, a small town in Chile...until...we managed to find the last places on a bus leaving in 2 hours, and so with some hasty packing, a alot of swearing and a taxi we made it out of there.

Ushuaia is a town beautifully set on the magellan strait and surrounded by mountains. Massive cruise ships leave frequently for Antartica and although I would have liked to have gone budget wouldn't allow this time round. We did however spend Christmas at the Antartica hostel, which surely is the next best thing. On Christmas Eve around 40 of us tucked into an asado, or barbecue, and proceeded to get very drunk. A very young and funky Santa turned up at midnight with presents, or plastic party hats and capes for all. After much revelling and confetti chucking we headed out to a club, conveniently places opposite the hostel and partied until dawn.

Christmas day started in much the same way, champagne was flowing from 10am and after I'd finished mine I started on the beer. This led to a slightly ill me by early evening when I retired for a strategic nap. Emerging refreshed and ready for charades later that night. All in all it was a truly traditional Christmas.

Our next mission after Christmas was getting to Bariloche for New Years Eve. This involved catching a bus on at 6am on the 27th December and arriving at lunchtime on the 29th December. A mere 3 buses and 4 border crossings later... After this nightmarish journey we setlled into our hostel and set about organising New Years which in Bariloche meant getting a 'crew' together and heading out to a ski resort in the early hours for a party... The organisers had set up a bus to get there although me being me when drunk I had to ask the driver to stop so I could have a wee precariously on a steep bank in the dark. He very graciously waited for me. We partied for a while and then hitched a lift back to Bariloche with some kindly Argentinians. And with that it was 2008.