Appreciating Past Explorers

A short email today from Guillermo:
When we crossed into Argentina from Bolivia, there was a sign that said: Ushuaia 5121 kilómetros. We are now at kilómetro 5121. We left at nine this morning and got here at about 9:00 p.m. We couldn't see much the last three hours of the trip, so we watched No Country for Old Men on a little tiny bus. Right after we left Puntarenas, we saw many rheas alongside the road and geese and ducks all over the fields. Even though Puntarenas is on the Strait of Magellan, it would take a ferry over 4 hours to cross it there, so we drove a little over three hours to get to a point where it was much narrower. It took us about 20 minutes to cross on the ferry and the waves were pretty rough and really rocked the ferry. It is amazing that Magellan and his men were able to take their little wooden ships through those rough waters almost 500 years ago on their voyage to circumnavigate the globe. It is hard to imagine how rough the waters must have been today if we had had to go aroud Cabo de Hornos.

Guillermo and I did spend some time instant messaging each other and one thing he did say was that there has been a little excitement around Buenos Aires today. He said the airport where Fernando and he are supposed to land was closed due to fires that those farm people set!! Here's hoping that all gets straightened out soon!