Then, about 12ish, I remembered that I hadn�t sent Emma a birthday message in work, so I rushed down to the internet cafe in the hope that if I sent it then (about 4pm in Wales) that she might get it before leaving work.

After that, I made my daily trip to the gym, where I realised that I was shattered, and then down to the supermarket to get some lunchtime grub.

The Cylch Llenyddol (Literary Circle) which had been postponed the previous week due to Esyllt�s illness was taking place in the afternoon at the church, so I went along to that, where Esyllt explained to the 20 or so present the rumours about how the Red Dragon ended up on the Welsh flag and then introduced a Welsh drama which a company from Wales will be performing in Trelew in October.

After the literary meeting, I was introduced to a Sara who had been working in the Gaiman before and is now a teacher at Ysgol Gyfun Bro Morgannwg, the Welsh school in Barry. Small world.

I nipped home and finished packing my bags to go to Esquel before meeting up quickly with Beca and Rhian at the close of the nursery. The girls were having a meet up afterwards as Beca was leaving for Bariloche on the Saturday, but obviously I wasn�t going so did the hugs and goodbyes then.

Because the bus was leaving so late, I was able to go along to the Folk Dancing class as well. I turned up on time, as usual, only for the only person with the key to the hall to turn up twenty minutes late. For one reason or another, including the fact that the girls were going out later (sorry, we�re going out in three hours, I�ve got to get ready!) there were only five of us trying to perform a six person dance. Given that I�ve got two left feet anyway, I only know what I�m doing when I�ve got someone in front of me reminding me, trying to dance with a phantom person wasn�t the easiest of things, so I kept ending up in the wrong place. Doh!

I headed towards the bus station at about 9:30 to wait for the coach to Esquel, and sort of hung around for half an hour till it arrived. When it did turn up, I scrambled to the front to get my bag stuck on board only for the guy packing the cases to scream �coach number?�at me (in Spanish, obviously). I looked blank for a moment and then realised that there must be more than one bus heading that way, or that I had to register my arrival at the desk. It can�t have been a normal thing as there was a sure but steady trail of people wandering back to �check-in�. It was lucky he didn�t put my bag on board without checking, as I ended up on a separate bus.

My seat was near the entrance, in the aisle, so I just sat down and made myself comfortable for the ride. The trolley dolley/cart-tart came around with some free grub for everyone (unfortunately the sandwiches all had meat in them) and coffee, before putting an English language film on with Spanish subtitles. Didn�t catch the name of it, but it had Nicholas Cage in it. While everyone else started snoring around me (presumably more used to the idea of long journeys on buses without football fans singing), I stayed awake to watch the film only for us to reach Las Plumas a few minutes before the end. Needing the toilet, I got up and sprinted into the service station cum bar to relieve myself and get some sweets, only to find that the film hadn�t been turned off and I�d missed the end. Gutted. Well, not really.

After that, I relaxed my seat backwards and tried to get some sleep as we passed through Patagonia towards the Andes.