scott-free: Last Hope Sound

I think Last Hope Sound (Fiordo Ultima Esperanza, pictured on the right) is my favourite place name. Anywhere. Just what was it that encouraged someone to give this place such a name? Yesterday I was thinking that place names generally sound so much better in Spanish. Rio Grande (Big River), for example. Last Hope Sound may be the exception to the rule.

I arrived in Puerto Natales yesterday, having survived my first really long bus journey. I left Ushuaia at 6am and didn't get here till after 10pm, two buses and a minibus later.

It was an amazing journey. The Beagle Channel was perfectly still and the Fuegian Andes at dawn were beautiful.

The border was a weird place. Crossing from Argentina we enetered a no-man’s land where the road suddenly became unsealed as we travelled through the frontier, a typically expansive Patagonian landscape, for about 5km’s before entering Chilean Tierra del Fuego. More strangley I noticed a sign warning 'Do not enter minefield' on the north coast of Tierra del Fuego. Perhaps a relic of border disputes with Argentina?

From there it was the wide open spaces of Patagonia, before Punta Arenas and another bus change. I watched the Chelsea v Barcelona game in a bar here, a strange reminder of London.

Later, as we approaced Puerto Natales the sun was setting behind the Andes, which were silhouetted against a luminous yellow sky for just a few priceless minutes. There are some things you just can't photograph.

I start trekking in Torres del Paine on Saturday, can't wait.