Pictures!

I figured I should get these sorted before the crazyness of being back in Calgary catches up to me. My favorite ~180 photos of Argentina and Chile are now up on facebook (silly place, but easy):

Argentina Part 1 - Iguazu, Salta, Mendoza and Bariloche
Chile - Puerto Montt, Torres del Paine
Argentina Part 2 - El Calafate, El Chalten, Puerto Madryn and Buenos Aires

The Last of Patagonia

Puerto Madryn was our last stop in Patagonia and our last new city before returning to Buenos Aires (and then home). After the winds and mountains of inland Patagonia we were looking forward to the ocean and warm breezes. We got the ocean, but until this morning those warm breezes were blowing pretty cold!

On the bus to Madryn we met up with our Swiss friends and made plans for visiting the two sights near town – Reserva Faunistica Peninsula Valdes and Punta Tombo. Upon arrival, tour bookings was taken care of by the eager staff at the hostel and we were off!


Reserva Faunistica Peninsula Valdes

This peninsula is located about an hour north of town and is home to a variety of marine life from birds to seals to whales. We´d booked a bus tour which included an English speaking guide and a chance to spot some marine life close up. Like all tours we´ve taken, this one involved a lot of driving, a few angry Spanish people and an extra long lunch stop at a very expensive restaurant (which we avoided by eating sandwiches on the bus). But we did get the chance to get close enough to elephant seals to touch the ugly monsters (not that we did, the sign warned ¨puppies may be squished¨!). We spent over an hour sitting on the beach within spitting range of a hundred large elephant seals, watching them lumber around and listening to the farting sounds they make when they sneeze. The seals are there in large numbers right now, just sitting on the beach, waiting for their fur to molt off. Not a bad way to pass 5 weeks or so...

After the seals we went to see the real stars of the peninsula, the southern whales. We´re pretty near the end of the whale season, and its possible that we spotted the very last of the whales in the bay. They come to the area to mate and to raise their young before heading back south for the summer. The majority of the whales had already headed south, but we did get close up views of a mother and her calf - close enough that I could have touched them from the boat.

The elephant seal pups from last year (looking cute).

Momma whale poking her head up to see us.


Punta Tombo

Punta Tombo is the largest breeding colony of Magellanic penguins in the world. Its a couple hours south of Madryn, but we couldn´t stomach another tour (which always include a stop we don´t want to see). Instead, a car was rented, a picnic packed and Jon got behind the wheel to drive. Because we didn´t leave at the same time as the tour buses, we arrived late enough in the day that the hoards of tourists were leaving as we arrived and we had a couple hours of almost just us and the 170 000 penguins. You can get amazingly close to the penguins and its really a pleasure to watch them waddle around and even swim in the ocean. Penguin chicks were just starting to hatch, and furry babies could be seen sitting on their parents feet.

Penguins as far as the eye can see. Each hole is a nest and in each nest are two penguins...

Stretching after a good grooming. Penguins spend a lot of time cleaning their feathers...This guy was enjoying the peace and quiet after the tours left. He may also have been working on his tan...

The Rest
Puerto Madryn is a sleepy little town but after touring for two days we were happy to sleep in, try and locate our laundry from the laundry service and enjoy amazing icecream. We´ve walked the beach, dabbled our toes in the Atlantic ocean for the second time this year and gotten our fill of browsing stores filled with whale decorated t-shirts. With only another 1/2 day in town we´ve got just enough time for our laundry to be found (hopefully) and another few icecream flavours sampled before we continue on our way.

Enough with the glaciers already!

After Torres del Paine, we caught a bus back into Argentina for a little more mountain viewing. Parque National Los Glaciares is just on the other side of the border and offers more spectacular hiking and the granddaddy of all glaciers, Perito Moreno. Apart from the scenery, the towns we visited had nothing going for them but we endured high prices and mediocre food for the chance to view some of the nicest mountains we´ve ever seen. Oh, a just a few more glaciers in case we hadn´t gotten our fill of ice...

Our first stop was the big glacier- Perito Mereno. We skipped the tour (since we´re way over budget by this point) and simply took a bus out to the glacier for a few hours. We´re glad we didn´t spend longer, as the glacier filled up with tour buses shortly after we arrived. We can´t handle the crowds of people pushing around and retired to eat avacado sandwiches from a view point after only an hour. Still, even with all the people, the glacier was spectacular and we´re glad we made the trip for it. As you can see, it was a little cloudy and chilly at the glacier front, but back in town the sun was shining and we warmed up with a hike to see the local flamingos.

After only one day in Calafate, we were ready for a change and we headed north to El Chalten. We´d been warned that El Chalten was not the finest of towns, but that didn´t prepare us for the partially finished pile of buildings that our bus driver claimed was town. It was windy, dirty and ugly! The main drag (which was really all that there was in the town) was un-paved and contained, well, nothing. Maybe I´m being a little judgmental, but our first impressions of the town weren´t good. The bright light was our B&B and the apple pie at the nearby panaderia.

Luckily, El Chalten has more going for it than its buildings (or lack of). Treking to the mighty Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre can be started right in town which is the only reason why you´d endure the endless winds and dirt of El Chalten. Unusually, the day we decided to start our trek was clear and windless and within a few hours we could see Mnt. Fitz Roy ahead of us. Its the highest peak in the area and portions of it can be seen from town when the wind isn´t howling.

We´d given ourselves 3 days to hike and camp in the area, so we weren´t too disapointed when the peak clouded over as soon as we were within range of the view point. Later, when we did attempt to climb to the view point, the incredibly strong winds kept the viewing to a minimum. Thanks to the borrowed treking guide, we knew there were other sites to occupy our time and spent the rest of our afternoon looking at yet another glacier.

The next morning was perfectly clear (which could explain why we were so cold at night), and a sidetrip along the valley before breakfast gave us crystal clear views of Fitz Roy without the wind. We could have spent all day watching ice fall from the glacier but there were other mountains to view.

(Fitz Roy and other peaks with glacier and lake)

Setting out from camp we met our Swiss friends day-hiking our three day trek (crazy) and from them we heard that the second big peak in the area, Cerro Torre, was visible. People in town say that you can only see it 5 days of the year so we´d expected to find it clouded over when we arrived to camp at its base. I think the townies are wrong about the visibility frequency, or we´ve used up all the clear days, since the peak was visible for 3 days while we were there. I found it less spectacular than Fitz Roy, but easier to enjoy as its only a 10 minute walk from camp. Usually we don´t have time for sitting around when we hike, but this time we found ourselves with a whole afternoon of free time. Again, luck was with us and it was hot, really hot, in the valley. Fleece jackets were shed and 4 glorious hours were spent basking in the sun, and yes, waiting for glacial ice to fall.

A not so early walk to the lake rewarded us with reflections of the peak and an absence of other trekers (rare). We look our time getting back to town, but all was well in Chalten when we arrived, with the wind still faint and the sun shining. The circuit that we completed was short (30km?) but probably one of the nicest hikes we´ve ever done. If you find yourself in El Chalten and the weather is nice, we highly recomend!

Into Chile

We were both a little nervous about crossing into Chile from Argentina - we´ve never had to cross a border by bus before and we were loaded down with fine chocolate and wine. In order as we were seated on the bus we were presented first to Argentinian border guards to get our exit stamp and then to Chilian border guards to get an entry stamp. Other than a long look at Jon´s passport photo (those sideburns throw them off) we were into a new country hassel free!

Crossing into Chile from Bariloche hadn´t been in the original itinerary. But the lack of buses heading down to Patagonia on the Argentinian side prompted us to change plans and book berths on the ferry from Puerto Montt, Chile, to Puerto Natales, Chile (home to the famous Torres del Paine National Park). The ferry was a little out of the budget (at a whopping $370 US each) but seemed to be the least painfull way to make it south.

Puerto Montt, our first stop in Chile, was disapointing. We found it dirty and full of drunks when we arrived by bus but our guest house was nice and our fellow travelers welcoming. The next morning, things looked a little better in town, especially since we were leaving and the drunks were still sleeping it off. We lugged our bags to the ferry check in (along with 200 other tourists) and then left to purchase a few more motion sickness pills (Jenn) and wine (Jon). We returned later in the afternoon for a final check-in before setting sail (behind schedule already).

The ferry is a combination cargo ship/tourist trap which allows approximatly 200 people and an assortment of semi-trailers to be carried through the Chilian fjords south into Patagonia. We were settled into a massive 22 person dorm, sub-divided into sets of 2 bunk beds. Luckily for us, our bunk mates were wonderful and didn´t even snore!

We spent the next four days crawling at a snails pace through some outstanding scenery. There were only 12 hours of very rough seas, in which I curled in first my bunk and then the bathroom while the boat swayed madly. Jon is unaffected by such things and he read and dined and slept through the night.

But the boatride was worth the seasickness. We got about 50% sunny weather (which I think is pretty good) and we were the first trip of the season to visit the large, advancing glacier enroute. Very spectacular!

We´re now in Puerto Natales, Chile (the ferry arrived last night) and madly doing prep to get on the trail tomorrow. My rough night on the boat has cost me, I have now caught a cold and am snifflying and sneezing my way around town while wiping my nose raw with cheap kleenx. Its chilly, as expected but it hasn´t snowed (yet).

The mighty ferry.

Mountain views.

Snow.

Glacial rocks.

Glacier Pio XI

The front.