Los Glaciares National Park

Spent the day in Los Glaciares National Park viewing the magnificent Perito Moreno glacier.

It's about 80 km from El Chaltan, but takes 2 hours due to the park entry ( which is a marathon process), and the  mountain road. The glacier is completely breathtaking, both in size and beauty.

They have constructed a fantastic series of pathways on the side of the steep mountain which Perito Morena has now reached, so the views are terrific.

This is the only glacier in the south Patagonia ice field which is advancing, and it gains 2m per day 

The Patagonia ice fields are the largest ice mass outside of the poles, and there are two other large glaciers nearby.

We spent a good day walking, and just sitting and looking and listening, as glaciers are noisy!

It's hard to decide which of the 122 pics that I should use. The scale is amazing with the width being 5km, and average height 75m. This boat in this picture carries 100 people.

We even got to see some large pieces break off, the noise and resulting wake were massive.

The blue colour is apparently because the blue light can penetrate further, and the bluer the colour the thicker the ice

. Icebergs are always so cool, what do you see? I see a lady on the right leaning back with her hands behind her head:)

All in all it is a most amazing sight, and hats off to all the explorers and adventurers who have gone over these ice fields!

Flying so much quicker than the bus!

We hopped a 1 hr 20 min flight from Ushuaia to Elcalafate, further north than we had been and a whole lot more comfy than the 12 hour bus ride.

First Impression of El Calafate is the strange dryness of the place, with the views of snow capped Andes mountains in the distance. Apparently the Andes cast a massive rain shadow so the snow and ice give way to green beech forest for only a short time before it turns to steppe.

The steppe is really dry with very low water plants, and we have seen very littl wildlife.

As this is the last part of our trip we have that crappy situation of not having enough time to do another adventure, say trekking at Mt Fitzroy, but being so close you can see it! 

Instead have done some good museum and interpretive things, such as visiting the Glacarium, which tells you all things icy!

Have also had a chance to sample plenty of Argentina beer, including a cool new craft brewery called La Zorra. Dark beer is popular here so note 2 ports and a stout, happy days !

We also tried the asado, which involves the lamb begin slow cooked over fire, usually in the restaurant window. The resulting barbecued meat is delicious.

Parque Nacional, Tierra del Fuego

Spent a most peaceful couple of days camped in the  national park of Tierra del Fuego. It's about 20 km from town so we had a rather wild bus ride and some crazy and varied information before being left by the side of the road at Campino Laguna Verde.

We had the place to ourselves, oh except for the resident geese couple who's lovely quiet calls to each other became the soundtrack to our visit .

We enjoyed a walk to the coast line, and ran into two Aussies who's bike we had seen in Torres del Paine. Turns out he has been riding the Americas for 3 years!!!  It's a long way from Alaska to here!

 The trails are well maintained, and the sun was out but that wind chill!! Enjoyed the various beech trees

Even got surprised at the end of the day with a treat, I'm loving the availability of dark beer!

Spent our second day walking the more peaty and sub arctic areas

There are numerous beautiful little lakes which the trails just wind around, and lots of peat bogs as well

Oh and beaver dams! They were introduced by white explorers to supply fur and now are a real pest, but still there dams are cool.

Got a nice view of our tiny tents on the way home (between the tree fork)

We were tucked down to bed ( after a yummy dinner of mashed potato thanks Kate) when the park ranger decided to stop by. At 8pm!  What is it with Argentinians and staying up late haha. 

All in all a really nice peaceful coul of days.

Ushuaia

Ushuaia snuggles in a small crescent shaped piece of land between the Beagle Straight and the mountains. It's the last city South, and the leaving point for trips to Antartica.

We spent time recuperating from out long long bus trip by showering, sleeping and finding a fantastic Argentenian restaurant where we ate magnificent sausages and drank fantastic Cape Horn dark beer.  Feeling restored we headed out on the water for a day trip along the Beagel Chanel, which turned out to give us great views of both Ushuaia, the mountains and the wildlife.

 Imperial comorants

Sea lions

And the light house at the end of the world ( please refer to Jules Vern for further information )

We also were able to have a walk on some islands which had great sub artic flora, this one grows really slowly and so this plant would be many hundreds of years old

A great trip justifying all the warming gear which we have lugged about, and making me glad I always take Kwells as a few people spent time peering over the back of the boat on the way in as it got a bit choppy,

We also enjoyed time at local museums, although it's a sad tale of how the four indigenous tribes who lived here survived in amazingly harsh conditions, and then where wiped out so quickly. Apparently the last remaining fully indigenous lady, he Yamam tribe,  83 years old. They used to swim naked to fish as it was colder to wear clothes, they sure must have been hardy,

Fin de Mundo

In Punta Arenas we said goodby by to our car and organised our significant belongings into our packs ( you spread out so much in a car!), booked bus tickets and headed south.

The landscape quickly become the flat Savannah which looks so similar to western New South Wales.

We saw only sheep for most of the way, of course with occasional guanaco and rhea. It doesn't look like this is a highly profitable farming area, and the sheep seemed very rough shorn, and lambing season in full swing.

The only buildings seem to be small houses and enormous shearing sheds.

To say the bus trip was long would be an understatement, as it was 11 hrs 45 mins from start to finish. The view and a couple of Kwells proved sophoric, so the time did pass ok. We were provided with some refreshments, who knew Katie had a drink named after her.

Arrived safe in Ushuaia just on dusk, with the final three hours on a mini bus which traveled superfast through beech forest and mountain turns.

Relaxing Chile style

Heading south from Torres del Paine we enjoyed magnificent views of the towers. It's hard to imagine we were snuggled in close to the base.

As we drove south the view expanded,and the soreness in our legs did too! I'm really happy about my gear which kept me warm, dry and safe. This is the first walk that I have taken myPersonal Locator Beacon with me, and it fits so neatly in my pant leg pocket, about the size of a large match box, so good to have that security.

Our plan had  been changed after talking to other trekkers and we through to head west into Argentina and across to El Calafate glacier. However this was not to be, as after driving straight through the Chile border crossing ( it didn't say you had to stop so we didn't, hence leaving without proper clearance ) we drove the 10 minutes on gravel road to the Argentinain border check. Here they stamped us through, but then determined that we didn't have the correct papers for our car and so sent us back to Chile! And all this conducted in Spanish, as no English was spoken by any Border staff. So now we are in Chile again, but stamped that we have entered Argentina! I'm so hoping this won't create problems latter on.

So feeling very weary, weHeaded to Peurto Natales for a welcome shower and sleep. Still enjoying the wildlife along the way. 

However the sleep proved elusive as the P Natales casino is allowed to stay open until 5 am, and play the loudest music, loud even through earplugs! Upon asking the next morning everyone seemed to have normalised the situation!

We did however manage to stumble upon a great Chilean barbecue, cooked by a Finnish guy haha. I'm loving that the local beer Astral, has a dark beer, the Patagonia, which is readily available. Happy days!

We then headed to Punta Arenas, said good bye to our hire car and got sorted for the trip to Terra deal Feugo.

Torres del Paine

After a good night, woken only by big plops of snow falling from the tree on my tent, we caught the sunrise.

It was then time to jet boil more snow for coffee ( best bday gift thanks Tom, Kate and Gaby), pack up and head out on a very slippery trail, as the weather from yesterday had melted snow which had overnight frozen hard. Thank god for my trekking poles.

It was a glorious quiet walk out through the Rio Ascentio valley. And yes the fact that it sloped down did help!

I was very proud and happy to have made it, and appreciative of having a lot of my gear carried for me.

And so was Moosie

The descent down the valley gave us great views across Lago Nordenskjold

And then back to the car, very tired but happy. As we left the  park we were given some final magnificent views of the towers. 

Walking to Campamento Torrens

The morning was absolutely beautiful, a worker said he had been here for 3 years and never seen such a day, so the weather gods were smiling on us.  My lovely Serratus pack felt good, and my Leki trekking poles like old friends ( who I was about to get to know a whole lot better).

A Nav mistake meant we walked about 15 mins on a wrong trail, but that was ok because it was flat.  Rejoined the correct trail and started to climb 

Now when I say climb I mean a pinchy continuous climb that had my out of breath very quickly. With some cajoling and lightening of my pack I was convinced to continue. Finally we reached some flatter parts but I was pretty much spent.

My lack of fitness was(is) shameful and I really struggled mentally. However the scenery was beautiful and I convinced myself that we could stop at the first campsite not continue on to base camp as planned. You see on the W circuit there are free campsites, private campsites which you pay for and have showers, toilets and usually a Refugio or hut that you can pay to stay in as well.

After walking along a contour line around the mountain we dropped out into the river and to Campamento Chileno. My inquiry revealed that it is $100 Austalian dollars per person to camp here !!!

A failry major breakdown ensued, including tears, but a banana, a pep talk and really no other option we headed on to Campamento Torres.

Almost immediately we entered beech forest just starting to shoot green, with a deep blanket of snow and pockets of snow in the trees. It was magnificent.

This track was leveller and some of my joy de trek returned. I even found signs of a snow angel.

 We started to get some views of Torres del Paine. It's hard to describe how beautiful the actual Rio Ascencio valley was with absolutely towering mountains on each side, let's just say it was worth all the effort!

We arrived in camp mid afternoon and this was the view from the edge of our beech grove.

Set up and snuggled down to a good sleep ( thanks to my sleeping bag, bag liner, thermRest and cold shield underlay). Oh and icebreaker course.