Hello friends,
How are you all doing? We are having a good time here
in Yendegaia. We arrived on Sunday and Annemie called us from the border-patrol
station "Dos de Mayo". She said they were coming back on Monday around midday. That
gave us time to find a spot to anchor and settle in. We went for a hike and may
have found the print of a puma in the snow. It does not look like a dogs paw. It
is not known that they live here. The next day Jose and Annemie came back on their
horses from the other side of the fjord and crossing the glacier-river and I was
invited immediately to join Jose and get a young bull from the valley on horseback.
After bringing it in, and before Paula knew it, Jose killed it by a knife in the
neck and I helped Jose slaughtering it. I wasn't much good at taking the skin of
but I tried and also helped to pull the intestines out for the dogs. We cut the
carcass in four big chunks and hung those in a shed where the dogs can't get to
it. In a while you can see me butchering on the website.
After that I got on board
to get a pan of freshly made tomato-soup for the four of us and spilled half of
it over myself by falling on my ass on the slippery soil around the house.
On Tuesday
we went on foot to get all the horses out of the valley and watch Jose putting winter-irons
with spikes on the feet of some of the horses. There were also two military present
from the border-patrol. One is Patricio, Claudia's friend. After we had had a delicious
vegetable-soup and bread with the eight of us (two fishermen joined as well) we
saddled three horses and went with Annemie to bring in three escaped horses from
further down the valley. When we finally found them, Annemie went in full gallop
and through a river after them to round them up and Paula helped. I followed slower
because the soil was hard frozen en very uneven and there were many icy areas. Paula
and I also crossed the river twice and by keeping our feet high up we could just
keep them dry. On the way back our horses wanted to follow the three running on
full speed but I held mine a bit back although I also galloped for a while on the
ice lakes and uneven icy soil. It is incredible that those horses can run so fast
on ice and rough frozen terrain. Exciting stuff! For me anyway.
When we went back
on board I first recovered the crab (Centolla) cage I had put out with Jose. We
caught 8 big centolla's. Annemie invited us for diner again. But we said we were
tired. Later she called us on VHF they were having roasted sheep together with the
two military and the two fishermen. So we went ashore again and started with the
tasty crab where after we had great sheep-roast with rice and mashed potato. A very
nice and relaxed evening with very pleasant people. Paula was really spoiled by
one of the fishermen. He treated her with al the nice parts of the crabs. He even
opened the crab-legs for her so she just had to eat the meat. By the way the crab-legs
are completely covered with sharp thorns. Today (wednesday) we decided to go and
look for two missing dogs. We thought we had heard them howl on the mountain the
day before. But fortunately they were back already. We went for a hike anyway. It
is a beautiful area to walk and climb. It is al ice now so there are no marshes
to go around. It is an impressive area. I think "Majestic" is the word.
After we
got back we offered to take the two military to "2nd Mayo" by boat because the fishermen
were not ready yet to bring them. Annemie and Jose came along so it was a very pleasant
trip. The military were of course very surprised by our little home on the water
and all the luxury and also Jose liked it very much. We went on the Armada mooring
buoy and had coffee and cake and some wine with the commandant and his men. Paula
was taken in by Patricio on a Quad motorbike.
In the dark we anchored again in front
of Ferrari. Jose said that the day after tomorrow he will take us hunting for cows
or bulls.
So we are keeping busy. It is really great here and the people are so
nice and relaxed. I think tomorrow I will chop some wood for them.
Hope to see or
hear from you soon,
Peter and Paula