Testing out our boots and backs in Patagonia

Another blog already? I know... I can hardly believe it myself! But we just have just seen so many amazing things - and have taken SO many photos.... and I KNOW there will be tons more taken in the next week... so a blog post was in order!

also Happy B-day to my cousin Jolie :)


and Happy Australia Day!!!

Day 75 – January 12 cont…

When we got on the bus that would take us from Mendoza to Bariloche we were stunned to notice that the people sitting behind us was the British couple we met on the dune buggy ride in Jericoacoara ages ago! How bizarre! After chatting with them for a bit we settled in for our 11th night bus with some great movies including ‘Return of the Pink Panther’ with Peter Sellers (in English as well – bonus).

Day 76 – January 13

We finally arrived in Bariloche (again) at 2pm (after an 18 hour bus ride). After checking in at our favorite hostel in town Perikos (but this time in a lovely double room – rather than the dorm that the tour had us in) we headed out to have a quick shop around town before siesta time. Amazing how so many shops can be closed, even in the high season for tourists, for nearly the whole afternoon!! Usually shops close down for the afternoon and reopen around 5. After a yummy burger at the cheap and cheerful restaurant ‘Friends’ where we also ate last time, and a quick stop at Mamushka’s for some more of that divine chocolate, we headed back to the wi-fi at Perikos for some serious internet time. We called around town from 4pm to 10pm trying to find accommodation for the upcoming places on our itinerary but it seemed like everything was already booked up!! We did manage to book a place in El Bolson through hostelbookers.com, and I emailed a company about El Chalten & El Calafate, so at least we felt like we got a little bit accomplished. We also changed our planned itinerary a bit, once we decided that most of our Patagonia trip would be through Argentina since that is where most of the places we want to see are. So at 10pm we finally realized – oh – dinner! So in the true Argentinean style we went out to eat that late! We decided on one more yummy meal at the local Mexican place Dias de Zapata which was packed, so we had to wait around for a table. It was worth it though for OH so yummy nachos and a great enchilada meal to go with our margaritas. Granted we didn’t get out of there until nearly midnight – which strangely enough is starting to feel .. normal?

Day 77 – January 14

Unfortunately today we had to move hostels. Perikos didn’t get our email in time about wanting to stay two night instead of one, so they were fully booked up. We walked over to a nearby hostel which we had spoken to the day before who said they didn’t take reservations – but that they would likely have room. The guy said yes – we do have space for you – but the guy who checked out of your room this morning left his bag with us and went out into town with the ONLY key! So we waited around for a bit, until eventually the guy admitted they had no idea when the guy would come back. So we just locked up our bags, chained them together, and went out into town. We spent most of the morning looking for a backpack to buy since our little cheapy guy that we bought in Venezuela was just about falling apart. None of the stores had a great selection though, so it was hard to find exactly what we were looking for. We had a great walk around town and down by the water with the AMAZING views…gosh Bariloche really does have a beautiful setting!

Me down by the water in Bariloche in my hiking boots!
A bizarre statue in the park - perhaps in honor of all the stray dogs in town?? I don't know!
Gorgeous pool down by the lake
The water is SO clear!! (cold though)
Showing off the Hoff at the internet place

At 3pm we went back to sit outside Perikos and wait for Steve. He had just done one overnight bus from Mendoza to Buenos Aires, picked up his credit card there, then did a bus ride from Buenos Aires to Bariloche – that is 2 LONG nights!! Worth it though since he finally got his card which had been stolen 10 weeks earlier, better than risking putting it in the mail again! Problem was he didn’t know we hadn’t been able to secure any of us a spot in Perikos – so we waited for him. It was a hot sunny beautiful day though – perfect for waiting around.

When Steve arrived we brought him back to the hostel which had his dorm bed all ready for him. Our room however…. Key was still missing. It was after 4 by this point…. So we were thinking – what if the guy has gone hiking and doesn’t come back or something? Then where will we sleep?? So we went off down the street and two doors down we found a great hostel called the Marcopolo Inn which had a double room free. We booked and paid (double the price of the other) and went back to collect our bags. Wouldn’t you know – the guy had just come back – and the hostel guy had him check his pockets – OHHH yes I do have the key – sorry! Shoot – oh well, we moved the new place anyhow since we had already paid (so annoying).

Check out all those plugs!! WOW
We saw this guy ALL over town - he always has a pack of dogs following him around

So after checking in, we went out to shop. Managed to buy waterproof trousers for both of us, and a new day backpack that is bigger, stronger and has much more pockets than the other one we had picked up in Sud America. Afterwards we went back to the hostel to have the free dinner that was included with the the price of the room. It was .... interesting - cold veggies mixed with beef and potatoes. Not great, but not bad really. The beer was really expensive though!! You aren't allowed to bring any alcohol into the hostel, you can only buy it at the bar there, I suppose that's how they make their money since the dinner was free!

Day 78 - January 15

Today we packed up our bags and put them into storage all locked together before setting off to the Llao Llao area which is 25 km outside of Bariloche.

We accidentally got off the bus a bit too early, but it did reward us with a nice walk up a hill to a te little church, and a quick walk around the side of the lake where we saw amazing views of the famous Llao Llao Hotel & Resort by Lago Moreno

A gorgeous St. Bernard up by the church
The Llao Llao Hotel
Gorgeous view of lake

Murray and I by the port
We also did a hike around the National Park Forest in the area for a few hours(Steve & I posing on the trek)
Me & Steve down by the lake

After that we caught the bus back to Bariloche to pick up our bags, had an amazing salad at a place called the Map Room, and then headed off to the train station. Before we left though, Murray popped into the hostel where we had sent our camera to check one more time if the package had arrived or not. Again, they said no - it hadn't arrived. However, the girl walking this time said - oh it's probably at the post office (we knew from the tracking that it had been with customs for over a week) since the Bariloche customs guy only works 2 mornings a weeks!!! Ahhh and we find this out ONE hour before we are due to leave - too late to go and check *sigh*.

So we got on the bus that would take us to El Bolson which only took two hours (Steve missing the amazing view)
Only problem was we had originally planned to stay in El Bolson for 3 nights, but when we started researching the bus time to El Calafate and realised it was a THIRTY HOUR journey!! So as SOON as we got to El Bolson Murray and Steve went off to another bus company office and booked our journey which would leave the next evening at 11pm and arrive 2 days later at 4:30 am!!

Eventually we got cabs over to the hostel we had booked online. We arrived, dumped our bags, and went to try and find someone who worked there. However when we found the guy he told us - in Spanish - that he had no reservation for us, the place was full, and other people had been duped and had been arriving looking for beds as well ALL DAY! We said ok - no stress - can you please call us a cab back into town then (it was quite far out). Instead he called up a nearby place to see if they had room (they had JUST 3 beds left) and then he...

took us there in the back of his van! This is our 'yay we have somewhere to sleep tonight' faces

The place (El Pueblito Hostel) ended up being fantastic (see - things really do always work out in the end)! The staff was amazing - helped us plan the next day and showed us the last 3 beds in the place in a cute room with amazing views of the mountains. Everyone else who was staying there was Argentinean though - so we couldn't really chat much with other people. We shared that last bottle of white wine from Mendoza and made a yummy pasta dinner. Afterwards we went out to the 'bar' building out back - they have a rule that the lounge MUST be vacated by 11pm so that people can sleep - SO fab! We had a nice local brewed beer, and slept SO well that night!

Day 79 - January 16

Today we had a nice sleep in (til 10) and then had a lovely breakfast with locally made jam (one of El Bolson's specialties) and then packed up our bags (the lovely guys at the hostel said we could leave our bags there all day while we were out exploring)

El Bolson was the first town in the country to become a non-nuclear zone and also the first to be named an ecological municipality. Or as Steve said ´there are a LOT of friggin hippies here.

We got a cab up the a very dusty mountain to the starting point of our hike - Platforma del Piltriquitron. From there we walked up a steep path to Bosque Tallado which is a carved forest attraction with amazing views.
Me & Steve hiking up



Me in the carved forest
El grito de la tierra by Vazquez (all of the carvings are by local artists)
I love this one

Murray posing with a great view of El Bolson in the background

Oh gosh we miss our little office in London!!
Sleeping beauty -isn´t this just amazing!
Murray petting the Puma


Oh - notice my new hat!! I finally found one that fits, is comfortable and totally shades my face YAY!
Showing off our VERY dusty feet after the walk up! The we hiked another ten minutes up a VERY steep trail to Refugio Piltriquitron.

The hike was definitely worth it for the views!!
And we saw this red headed woodpecker working away on our way back down!
We also saw this guy carrying a MASSIVE load up to the refugio - wow - just wow.
Steve and I working our way back down the mountain
We had a lovely lunch in town - including our first empanadas! One spinach and one carne - both Fabulous!!
The we caught a bus for 40 minutes to the National Park to see Lago Puelo. The beach faces the Cerro Tres Picos mountains - really beautiful!
We walked along the shore for a bit and sometimes had to cross through deeper COLD water to keep going
Such pretty water
Crazy Steve and Murray decided to jump in for a swim in the river that leads into the lake (all glacier water by the way....)
I think Murray´s face describes just how cold it was!!
The scene down by the lake..... more hippies
Careful of that camera!

Then it was back to quickly collect our bags, take a quick shower, and head off to wait just outside the bus company office (there´s not a central bus station in town) at 11pm for our bus. It was nearly an hour late (which had us quite worried... especially since it was just the three of us and one other guy waiting there). But it finally arrived, and we got on a nearly full bus (I guess most people started from Bariloche)

Day 80 - January 17

WOW what long bus ride! No movies on the bus, and we couldn´t use the laptop because the whole ride was on a gravel road (way bumpy)! So we read, slept, read, slept, looked out the window at the flat land, and read some more!

But now we can say we did the famous Route 40! (700 km from Bariloche to El Chalten)
We only took three stops all day. A quick one in the morning and the evening, and one two hour stop for lunch in a very quite town for lunch.
And some beautiful sunsets

Day 81 - January 1

We arrived in El Chalten at 4:30 am, wearily put on our backpacks and wandered off to find the hostel that we had booked in Bariloche. When we got there we found out the reception guy didn´t start until 6am, so we sat in the breakfast area with our heads on the table for an hour. When the guy got there, we showed him the booking that we had made and then realised that the girl in Bariloche had made a mistake - she had booked us 6 nights in El Calafate rather than3 night in Chalten and THEN 3 nights in Calafate! So, the hostel was full, and we had to figure out some what to get our deposit back (the reception guy was of no help in that respect). Murray and Steve wandered off to find another place to stay and eventually found a not so great hostel that had three spare dorm beds for us. We still hung around the first place though until about 11 when we could check into our hostel! They did serve us some very expensive apple cake and coffe while we were waiting though (and the most amazing hot chocolate Murray has had in South America - really just a large cup of melted chocolate - yummm)!

Understandably we were shattered by then. So after a quick walk around town we found the place where our friend Antonella (who we met on the gap tour - she was with us from Rio to Buenos Aires) was staying (she just happened to be in town at the same time as us) and left her a note about how to find us. Then we went back to the hostel, popped in our ear plugs and slept from 4pm to 9pm. Murray slept quite close to the wall since he was a bit uphappy about having been assigned the top bunk of 3!! It was really high up - scary! At 9 we met up with Steve and ended up a great little reatuarant. Had a nice meal (more fab empanadas), a nice cold beer, and then went back to the hostel and went back to bed! After two nights on a bus it was really necessary!

Day 82 - January 19

We slept in a bit and then left by 10 to move our stuff to the hostel where Antonella was staying. It was a quite little place called La Nativa. It really was just someone´s home on one side, and rooms on the other side as well as their little kitchen. But it was clean, we got a three person room for only a few dollars more than our spaces in the 12 bed dorm room we had the previous night, and the owners were lovely! Oh and I must say - I was impressed that we were able to book the whole thing in Spanish and chat to them a bit as well!

After catching pu with Antonella for a bit, we went off to meet Mark (the Swiss guy we met on the bus from Bolson to Chalten), picked up the packed lunch we had ordered, and set off for our first big hike! Me & Mark at the entrance to the National Park
Stunning view of the glacial river that runs by the town
Murray, Me & Steve posing for a pic

Our hike was to Laguna de los tres - which is at the bottom of Fitz Roay mountain (which are the peaks you can see in this photo)
There was also great glacier views
Mark and I at the view/rest point
Mark, Murray, Me & Steve - WOW what a view - it just kept getting better!
There was some pondering....
IT was a 25 km (15 miles) hike in all! (12.5 km each way)
Me & Murray & Fitz Roy
The boys
The water is so pure (straight from the glacier) that you can drink it! We filled up on the way - it was so cold and lovely!
It really was a pretty hike

Murray & I marching away


Evntually we made it to the top! Took us 4 hours to get there.
Me & the gorgeous laguna de los tres
The glacier
Lunch time on the rocks!
There was another laguna on the other side of the peak which was also gorgeous
Murray & I
Murray & Steve decided to test out the waters - brave guys - it was FREEZING cold!!


Murray at the laguna
Then we had to walk back, after a great 2 hours at the laguana, with a stop for water refills of course!
Relaxing stop on the way back (greatly improved by the dried pineapple Steve whipped out)
El Chalten

We got back around 10pm, went back to the hostel and showered and then went out to dinner at the same place as the night before (because we knew the food was great, cheap, it was close and the the service was fab. In true Argentinean style we didn´t finish eating unil 12:30, then went back and got some completely exhausted sleep.

Day 83 - January 20

Today we had a great sleep in!!! After finally getting up we decided to go out into town for a bit of shopping (which really was only 3 shops - it´s a really tiny town). As we were leaving the hostel we noticed that there was a bowl on the floor in the kitchen with hot dogs defrosting in it (they don´t have a fridge) ... and the dog was licking them!! The land lady finally noticed and shooed the dog out of the house.... later that afternoon we saw them eating the hot dogs for lunch ewwww! We managed to find a few things in the shops though which was great - some rain covers for our bags and a compression sack for our fleeces yay!

When Antonella got back from her morning tour we went out to tea with her & her friend Kirsty to say goodbye (she was off that evening for Puerto Natales). Then we headed off at 5pm (you can do that here since the sun stays out til midnight every night) for a hike to Laguna Torre.

It was a 22 km hike in total - and well worth it for the views.



It was still tough though (especially with sore legs) lots of hills up and down and up and down!!This flower is a zapalito de la virgen

We got back at 10pm, showered and then went out for a bite to eat at ... you guessed it - the same place (called Ahonikonk Fonda Patagonia). They have the most amazing spagetti bolognese - nearly more than even Murray could eat in one sitting!

Murray was a bit hungry after his hike and LOVED his lasagna (which curiously was filled with steak instead of minced beef)! Stebe loved his too -and we all loved the cold crisp Quilmes beer!
After saying goodbye to our favorite waiter, we popped out to catch the sunset
El Chalten is a bit of a dumpy town (it was only established about 20 years ago... so the streets aren´t finished and the buildlings are hodge podge) but we really liked the people and all the FREE amazing hikes!

Day 84 - January 21

We got the early 6am bus to El.Calafate which is 220 km away. It only took four hours, then we checked into our hostel the Marcopolo. They only had dorms, but we actually ended up getting the whole downstairs floor of a little townhouse like building which meant we had plenty of space for our stuff yay! We spent the day booking our tours for the next two days, shopping a bit, taking advantage of the wi-fi and just relaxing in the tv room. We made our own dinner at the hostel -well, Murray made it while I finished blogging. Then we shared a lovely bottle of red wine with Steve before falling into an exhausted sleep (the sun setting at midnight really messes with you - we always think it´s earlier than it is)!

Day 85 - January 22

Today we got up early to be picked for our todo glaciers tour (all of the glaciers). We drove the hour to the Parque Nacional de los Glaciares in a big tour bus with a ton of tourists, then paid the park entrance fee and got onto our boat to start the tour at Punta Bandera Port.

It was freezing on the boat - so we treated ourselves to some gorgeous hot chocolates
Even colder outside on the deck!!
Our fist view of the first glacier we went to see - Glacier Spegazzini. It has a surface area of 66 km squared and is 25 km long with a width of 1.5 km. The special characteristic is the height of it´s front which measures 80 to 125 meters at it´s highest point, which makes it the highest glacier in the National Park. Little vegetation surrounds the glacier due to a fire that occurred over 60 years ago.
Steve pointing out a little ice berg Next up was a biggie - Upsala Glacier. In spite of its big retreat in the last years , it still has the biggest surface among the Patagonian continental ice. It owes its name to the Swedish city of Upsala, whose university sponsored the first studies of glaciology in the area. The hieght of its walls fluctuates between 60 to 80 meters and it has a surface of 595 km. It´s length is 60km and the width of the front is between 7 and 5 km. The total basin surface of the Upsala glacier is 1000km squared. The depth of the lake in front of the glacier is about 1000 meters.

Now look at these next 5 pictures in quick succession - they are of a big chunk of ice that we saw fall off the glacier!! Pretty amazing!!!!!!!!

Cool huh?

Lovely view
There was huge icebergs ALL over the the lake (Lago Argentino)

Icebergs are a large mass of ice broken off rom a glacier by ablation and water movement. They usually have 15% visable and 85% hidden under the surface of the water.




We also made a stop in Onelli Bay to see Laguna Onelli where we could see the Onelli, Bolado and Agassiz Glaciers converge. Due to the regular ice detachment from these glaciers the lagoon is constantly filled with small icebergs.


Just a taste (cold)!
Just kidding!
Another cold dip in the water!
Ohhhh this one looks big
Yup - it is!
This time I tried the water as well -FREEZING!!!

Tour t-shirts (pointing out the highly anticipated guinea pig they are looking forward to trying)

And the volley ball girls on the back


Then it was two hours back ot the port, most of which I sat in my seat and slept (it was a LONG day - nealy 13 hours)!! We got back at 8pm and Murray made us a fantastic risotto and chicken sandwichs for the next day AND bought us gloves while I finished off the blog.

Day 86 - January 23

Another early morning - we got picked up at 7am (difficult when it´s hard to get to bed before 1am)! Today we had signed up to go on the Big Ice expedition to Perito Moreno Glacier.

This impressive glacier is 30 km long and has a surface of 195 km squared. It is the most amazing and most famous glacier of the Parque Nacional (the north of the park is what we saw in Chalten). The front of the glacier is 4 to 5 km long and extends on the south end of Argentine Lake, and rises 60 meters high above the lake.
First we went to amazing viewing point
Us at the viewpoint
Murray without a pouty face - I like this photo!







Then after a 15 minute boat ride to the other side of the glacier, we did a short hike to the spot where we would pick up our cramppons (i.e. pieces of mets with spikes that you strap onto your boots so you can walk on the ice) Then we walked some more - to the spot where we got our harnesses

And finally we arrived at the spot where we would go onto the ice!!
After putting on our crampons of course! The guides had to help - they were pretty darn old fashioned things but they really did help you to walk on the ice!
We were shown how to walk up and down hills, the most important thing was to walk Straight down a hill - you really had to fight your natural instinct to turn sideways, but it did work well, and you had to stamp with every step to really get the spikes to sink into the snow and ice for grip
We had the smaller English speaking group!
Our guide showing us a SUPER deep hole that the water wore away - you could see down for ages!

deep!!!

We walked around for ages - about 4 hours in total

The blue color of the ice is due to compacted ice (pressure forces out the oxygen and just leaves the hydrogen) and the reflection of sunlight
Me getting a little bit of help from the other guide over a steep bit


It was a tough hike - our guide took us all over the place - we had to jump down small hills, over streams, hike tall parts - quite exciting!








Lunch break time at the blue lagoon restaurant as they called it! Man it was cold to sit! (even through my windproof jacket and a fleece which was my seat)



jump!!



This was a big one! Murray actually ended up jumping back so Steve could take a photo of him jumping... but they he was back a bit too far and ended up soaking his entire boot! opps!
thumbs up from Steve









Towards the end of the hike they found us a hole that we could walk through
It was gorgeous, but very cold and dripping wet



Murray stomping away




cold!! We actually refilled our water bottles as well - the water was so crisp and cold and lovely! The boys
Quite a view Me & Murray & Perito Moreno Glacier


This was the boot dip jump
Steve tasting the ice

And in the tunnel
Burrrrr it´s cold and wet - get me outta here!

I conquered you glacier!
Lovely view on the hike back


On the boat ride back they even gave us a glass of whisky cooled down with a chunk of glacier ice - pretty cool!!!

Overall the glacier day was AMAZING! We had such a great time - an experience that we will remember forever!

That evening we just packed up, and went to bed early - SO exhausted!!

Now we are in Puerto Natales - and this morning we leave for our 5 day trek of Torres del Paine. Our bags are BURSTING full and heavy (please pray for our feet)! We are all super excited though. We are all booked in at mountain lodges along the way, now we just have to walk there! We even have our own little cooker, pots, pans, cups, and food for most of our meals (that is why the bags are so darn heavy)!! Will try and post when we get back before we head off to Punta Arenas:)