PATAGONIA, Day 3

Patagonia. Day 3, Feb 25.

In which we learn too much about sheep shearing, encounter "gaucamoles", reach the southernmost city in the world, discover a build-it-yourself prison and that Sir Francis Drake was a pirate.

Sleep so well we wake late and have to dash down to lavish breakfast, including bacon and eggs! Wow.

Simon takes us for a tour of the estancia. The farm is a mere 100,000 acres and they have 20,000 head of sheep. Shearing has just been completed though they may have missed a few sheep, apparently did round up 600 after completing the main shearing. What is missing 600 head in a flock of such a size?

Simon describes with huge enthusiasm the intricacies of the shearing process and the way you can tell the sheep's life cycle of the past year by the varying colour of the shorn wool. Lambing time turns the wool yellow and makes it weaker. So much detail that my mind begins to wander and I accept the tugging hand of the 3-year-old daughter who wants to show me other things in the huge shearing shed.

On the road after many more kisses and the landscape is changing from flat and boring to gentle rolling hills and loads of Gauanacos, a Llama-like creature which roams wild all over the land. They are lovely looking creatures with slim white legs and brown bodies. They run away from the road and then, from what they estimate is a safe distance, turn and stare at us, body parallel with the road and the head turned towards us with two furry, pointy ears. V calls them guacamoles!

As we drive deeper into T de F we approach the mountains which though not very high, top peak is 1430m, are etched with residual patches of snow from the winter. Beautiful lakes and mountains make this look like Killarney writ large. Eventually we reach Ushuaia, which the Argentinians claim is the southernmost city on earth. Hmmmm?

Ushuaiah is a combination of port, frontier town and major tourist attraction, with all the big-name Argentine shops selling winter clothing and lots of souvenirs. Though the town is verging on the tacky, the location is fabulous with the snow splattered mountains dropping down into the sea. Did I mention the wind?

Visit the local prison, which was actually built by the prisoners. "I sentence you to 10 years in prison, but first you have to build the prison." Great idea.

The prison now a museum also houses a naval museum where I overhear an American tourist telling his children that Magellan went mad and was killed in the Philippines while leading a group of natives in a battle again another tribe. Seems he was firmly convinced that God had made him invincible to spears and arrows. Apparently he was wrong!

Also learn that the much-honoured Sir Francis Drake, was it not he of the Armada?, was actually a notorious pirate, even having his own treasure island in the Caribbean and reputedly having sacked Carthahena six times. The other leading local pirate was a certain Englishman by the name of Cavendish. How times have changed, or have they?

At dinner in a well-known local restaurant I accept recommendation of waitress to try famous Patagonian lamb cooked in honey and orange sauce. I think there might have been a very nice piece of lamb hidden under this totally inappropriate flavouring.