Still AWOL

Am back in Puerto Natales for the day and tonight, to book my flight home and do a few bits and pieces. Have had a brilliant few days so far at the estancia. It´s not as remote as where I stayed in Argentina, but is still a good thirty to forty minutes from a road, and down a very muddy track, hence the jeep getting stuck. The puesto we´re staying in is far cosier than the ones we visited on Argentina, which were literally little huts made of sticks. This is more like a little house, with woodburning stove to cook on, and it heats up really easily so is actually quite cosy. The land is fantastic for riding - it really is horsey heaven - we´re in a lovely flat valley full of knee-high golden grass and little pockets of beech trees that at this time of year are red, yellow and cinnamon. All this is surrounded by snow-capped mountains, and yesterday we spent a day moving 200 or so sheep from one pasture to another, with stunning views of the Torres del Paine. Our destination was Javier´s puesto, where the sheep will be separated into those that are pure Merino and those that aren´t. We stopped for a quick meal and then rode the 7 or 8 km home all at a trot or canter to get back before dark - great practice for the endurance race. It´s so rare that you find somewhere where you can canter for a full five minutes without having to go through a gate, but the pastures here are huge.

Most of Monday was spent shoeing the horses that will be used in the race. The one that had been ear-marked for me was a four year old ´semi-tame´ Arab, which I said without even seeing would be to much for me to handle. I´d last about 2 minutes, if that. James rode her the other day and, whilst he didn´t ride nervously, was clearly very wary of her, and didn´t dare to get off to do any of the gates for fear of not managing to get back on again. It meant I had to do them all, which was good practice for me, but I was so slow and made a complete pig´s ear of most of them. Instead, I´ve been given another four-year old, so still only a baby, but with a completely different temperament, very gentle and calm. In general you have to be extremely careful around these horses - they are completely different from the horses at the previous estancia. They kick out at each other and are rough with each other as a herd. The shoeing was horrible to watch, as some had to be put in a pen in order to have their hind feet done. A leg would then be tied to a horizontal wooden post, but one horse in particular put up such a fight it ended up breaking out of the pen, snapping one of the poles, and by the time it had shoes on it´s hind legs were cut from where it had been kicking out, and it had worked itself into a real sweat. At home, it would probably have been given a sedative injection before shoeing, which I can now definitely see the advantage of.

Tuesday was beautiful weather, so we went up the valley to Hosteria Tres Pasos and the lake beyond. Was a really lovely ride of about 20km, lots of trotting and cantering, and pretty tiring. Was great to have sunshine though, and it was warm enough to fall asleep for 20 minutes while we stopped to rest the horses. Wednesday we had a knock on the door whilst munching porridge - it was the blacksmith who had got his van stuck in the mud the previous night, and had ended up walking back to the estancia in the dark for four hours. I offered to lend a hand, and was all decked out in wellies and waterproof trousers, but was surplus to requirements. Worked out quite well though, as it meant I spent a morning cooking - am loving cooking on the woodburner - it´s like an Aga, you can do slow cooking best.

So today is Friday, and James dropped me off in Natales this morning whilst he will stay in Punta Arenas tonight, and then pick up Ingallil, a Swedish lady who is joining us to train for the race. I was under instructions to buy a leg of lamb from Carne Natales, which is where some of Jose and Tamara, the ranch owners´, meat ends up. But I found out that unfortunately, you can´t just buy a leg, you have to buy a quarter of the lamb (which is huge) so I ended up in a complete pickle, as I bought a leg of mutton first of all, then realised what I´d done, and had to try and change it. So now have a quarter of a lamb and there´s no refrigerator at the puesto. So I´ve taken the executive decision to cook half of it tonight for J and his sister at my hostel in Natales (I´m back in the same one), plus anyone else who happens to be there. I really must try and learn more Spanish, as my lack of it is going to land me in trouble before long, and am feeling completely incompetent! Right, need to nip back and turn it over anyway, so watch this space for more news...