toogreytogrind

After traveling for 20 + hours we arrived in a hot Puerto Madryn. My back was giving me problems again and I just wanted to get to the hostel (Hostel Hi Patagonia), which was the other side of town. When we arrived we were told that there would be a BBQ - Parrilla that night, Lisa was ok with salad and I was fine with eating copious amounts of meat. I even managed to introduce some Americans to the delights of morcilla - black pudding. Earlier on in the day we organised our bus out to BA, our trip to the valdes peninsular for the day after, and some shopping.

Returning to the hostel at night for the parrilla we were told that the tour company would now be picking us up at 8:30 - extra hour in bed and more beer.

Península Valdés: Lisa woke up and said it´s 8, we rushed out had some breakfast and I was cleaning my teeth when the tour bus arrived. The journey seemed quick, well, I was asleep most of the way.

First stop was to see the lobo marinos - Sea Lions. Noisy little buggers they are as well. The males - los machos, are constantly fighting and making lion noises. It is like watching a comunity of individuals with their personality quirks. We did see some more wildlife at this stop a little peludo (armadillo but hairy as well) that seemed to be lost and was wandering around the cafe at the top.

Pingüinos: We had already seen but as always comical to watch. How they can climb cliffs I don`t know. Apparently this type of penguine never sees snow nor ice - they like the beach.

Elefante marinos - Elephant seals: The complet oposite form sea lions these animals were very quiet and inactive, but good to see for the size of these things.

This trip is going to be EPIC. We have a 4-5 hour bus to Rio Gallegos a 4 hour wait and then a 17 hour bus to Puerto Madryn. But it does sound good, it´s one of the Welsh speaking areas of Argentina.

We arrived in Punta Arenas on a Sunday ie it was dead as a dead thing that was dead. While trying to find the Hostel (Hostel Betty) I spotted a restaurant called La Mercado. After checking in we went back to La Mercado to find that Sunday was Kareoke day at La Mercado and the machine was being well used. This place had more of a social club feel to it than a restaurant. I asked for the bill and the waitress asked if we wanted a free pisco sour. Why not! I´m glad I did as it was the best pisco sour I´ve had ever.

The day after it was midday before we made it out. A good job that things start late here. We booked on to the Pingüino trip, which goes at 4pm.

Ok, 8pm and we´re back from the trip to Otway to see the penguins. I did like how it was set out and there was plenty of information. This is the way to view wildlife, not in a zoo. It still felt quite intrusive, but the penguins seemed happy enough and I guess that´s what matters. It does get you thinking about evolusion though. Little torpedo like birds that swim so graceful, and waddle about on land.

Also my back has taken a turn for the worse and is now really hurting. I relaxed my lightweight ideals in Bolivia as it was looking like there wasn´t much more traveling left, and I now have more kit, which isn´t good. One more reason for traveling light.

Day 1
The start of the day couldn´t have been easier with the bus picking us up from our Hostel (Hospadaje Maria). But on the trip I started to not feel too good, with stomach cramps. I thought it could be the start of food poisioning but we´ve not had any such problems in either Chile and Argentina. Lisa had to carry more gear as I was finding it really too much. We finally got to the camp. After some lunch and a chile out Lisa started off to the mirador de los torres de paine. I needed some rest. After about one and half hours I started off as well. The mirador is at the top of a steep bolder field. This is one of the most interesting sections on the ruta, and with my rucksack back at the tent I could make good time.

Back at the tent we had some pasta and talked about what time we needed to get up for the following day. Looking at the distance we had covered, we had a long way to go on the second day.

Day 2 and Day 3
I was going to write about these two days but although they were not that long ago I can´t remember them too well. One thing I do remember is being in a refugio and being asked to complete a questionaire. One of the question was what was your motivation for doing the W ruta. This did have me stumped.

Day 4
This was a tough day. Not for the distance, but for the weight we were carrying, my pack was lighter now with most of the food eaten. But I had a full 45 litre pack with the mat, tent, pit and water strapped to the outside. I´m not sure on the weight but it was too much, my ankles and back were giving me some pain.

There were some interesting river crossings to spice up the slog. Followed by some steep climbs, maybe they weren´t that steep but they felt it, and I was having problems keeping with with Lisa.

Day 5
This day was a easy day, a walk up the hill at the side of the camp. We took the ferry back to get the connection with our bus. The ferry was $11,000 - 11 quid. A lot for a half hour trip but they do have you where they want you.

A short 5 and half hours on the bus and we were in Puerto Natales. It only took so long due to the usual Chilian border crossing, where they look through all our stuff looking for food and meat.

Puerto Natales, quiet is probably the best word to describe this place. Most people are just here waiting to move on to the Torres de Paine area, for which we now have our tickets. Although we still need camping gear. Yes we are camping! Quiet is one word to describe Peurto Natales windy is another. Not sure how well things are going to pan out, although my back has been better maybe something to do with better quality beds.

The bites that Lisa recieved from the horse flies in El Chaltén were looking really bad. I did ask if she wanted to go to a farmacia but she was playing it cool! Back at the hostel after seeing the bits she wasn´t playing it so cool and was keen to get to the farmacia asap. Well the farmacia staff were keen that we came back at 9 to see El Medico. We came back at 9 only to discover we hadn´t changed our watches for the time difference. At 9 Chile time, I told the story to El Medico and he seemed interested that we were in El Chalten. Turns out that there are some parasites that live in cows and some had been trasmited by the horse flies (vector) to Lisa who now has them living in her face. An injection in the bum, some cream and some antibiotics came to $30,000 pasos, ie 30 quid.

El Chaltén to El Calafate is a short bus ride, only 4 hours. That´s with the driver driving slow and a half-way stop. In Bolivia this would be a 2 and half hour trip.

We were stopping at the Marcopolo Hostel just outside town up a steep hill. Well it seemed steep to me my back was not good, again. There was a good kitchen here and more important some good food to be bought in town. El Calafate has cash points which is good as it´s expensive here. But why spend 6 quid on a steak when you can get one from the super for 60p.

One of the main attractions here is the Perito Moreno glacier. The hostel had a trip and so did lots of agencies for 90 pasos, shop around you can get 60 paso bus there and back. There is an enterance fee of 40 pasos, again steep. The glacier speaks for it´s self. There are many glaciers around this area, I can´t coment on the others but this one is worth a visit if not the 60 pasos $$$. The glacier is moving into a lake and if you just wait you can see chunks falling into the lake. Even the smallest of chunks makes lots of noise. The bus back was at 1pm so just a morning, so I think two nights for El Calafate would be enough.


$$$: I think Agrentina is one country where renting a car could be benificial. The trips are expensive, this cost would off set the cost of a car and you can cram more in doing it your self, and see more. Many a time you pass places of interest on a bus where you could stop in a car, also there are free camp sites in fantastic locations.

Born due to it´s location, flat land in a valley near the Cerro Chaltén which became Fitz Roy after the climbers to first climb it. Also near by is the Cerro Torre range just to give extra value for money. And you do need value for money here as things are expensive. The whole economy here revolves around climbing, trecking and moutainering.

The first day the ranges were covered with cloud, and it was cold and windy and this is summer. The day after Pachamama was pleased with us again, and we had the gift of clear weather. We went for a walk to the lake Lago Torre to see the glacier but the Cerro torre range was in the clouds. It was an easy walk of about 6 hours.

Another days walking involved going to the tres lagos and to see Fitz Roy close up. A bit more of a longer day in perfect to warm weather. One anoyance was the horse flies that were out and swarming.

I got a email from Alistair form Gravity Bolivia. Not good news he said that there will be jobs in February. Febuary 2009! I don´t know but certainly feels like I´ve been taken for a ride, no pun intended. I think keeping someone waiting on standby could be advantages for them just incase they need someone at short notice. So now for plan B, which is ........................

The next stop on the trip was El Chaltén, the newest town in Argentina. It´s located in deepest Patagonia off the famous or infamous Ruta 40. We did look before about getting down this way and there seemed to be towns so we thought that there would be no problem. It turned out that the best way down here was with a tour with the Chaltentravel tour company. The tour was a 12 hour bus journey on Ruta 40 a dirt road to Perito moreno, I have no stats but I´m guessing the suicide capital of Argentina, and the hotel was as a Brazilian put it a shit-hole. The next stage of the tour is another 12 hour plus trip dirt road as well to El Chaltén.

Easy init!

These parts of Patagonia are only open during the summer, and the high season is Jan and Feb. In other words to find accommodation is difficult and the weather is the best it gets. Today we had snow and it made the news. So it´s not that usual for this time of year but it´s certainly cold and windy down here and we´re heading south.

All this was good as it helped to clear our fuzzy heads. We met up with our Irish friend last night to have a few drinks. We met in the Wilkenny which was very quiet when we arrived at 9, but by the end of the night it was packed and people were dancing, that´s on a, a, ....... What day is it?

We went for a trip around the park llao llao, which was fantastic but the bus back was a nightmare, too crowded and holding on to the rail had given me a bad back. Not sure how bad the back is at the moment, guess I´ll have to see how it is in the morning. Not that there is much I can do as we have a two day journey to El Chalten.

This trip is not so simple.
The bus leaves on odd days ie we have to travel on the 11th. There´s not that many companies offering this service and we had to book a tour. Two days of traveling with accommodation.

One thing that has been coming more and more noticeable down here, is that it has been staying lighter longer. In Central America 6pm and it goes dark like someone turning off the lights. Whereas, down here it´s gradual and gets dark about 10pm. I guess further down and it will be light all night. Not good for insomniacs.

Well I´m in a internet café because, well the weather is quite British today. Rain, wind, more rain. It is the lake district after all, and like rain forests it´s got to come from somewhere.

We should be meeting up with our Irish friend (from New Years) from Dublin tonight for drinks. Just drinks!

We prebooked El Estacion Sur Hostel as it was the cheapest place in town we could find with places still available. It´s not fantastic but it´s cheap and has friendly staff. Overall impression of Bariloche is not what I expected, both San Martin and Pucon have more of a ski resort feel to them and less towny.

No body seems to want to speak to me in Spanish, maybe they want to practice their English. But it still seems to me unfair that they get to practice their English and there´s no resiprocity. Maybe it´s just that my back is now hurting with I guess a knot due to carrying my bag or the long bus journeys.

Another thing I´m getting sick of is LP on a shoe string, again La Andina, on Elflein 95 is not in. This place is where the locals go for some cheap food, it`s not fantastic but certainly worth the money, which the more and more I think of it LP on a shoe string is not. I´m getting sick of the sight of it.

We´d had some good times in Chile but Argentina was back on the books, we remembered it as so much cheaper than Chile. Probably one of the most beautiful border crossings, gravel tracks snake through, woods of monkey puzzle trees, at the bases of snow capped peaks.

San Martín is expensive and difficult to find accomodation. You guessed it we hadn´t booked and all cheap hostels were as I was told "completo, completo, completo...". Also, all the prices for food and hostels I remember from the north of Argentina were very inflated. It certainly looks like a nice place to spend some time but if you are traveling on a budget you need to book ahead to get somewhere cheap. We paid up for two nights and got our ticket out of here. The other thing I forgot about the hostels in Argentina is that they have "Wet Rooms". Lisa says that they are trendy and all the rage. You have a shower and the whole of the bathroom floods. A 5 minute shower leads to 15 minutes of pushing water arounds with a squeedgy thing trying to get it dry. You then get changed walk in to the bathroom and get your socks wet.

With the cold I still have I don´t really feel like doing any of the many sports and activities that are on offer.

Thing that take my fancy:

Mountain boarding: Think snowboard with wheels and dirt tracks.

Fly fishing: After my success with fishing for pyranahs I think it´s time to move on to something a bit more choosey about it´s food.

On the subject of food the Lonley Planet on a shoe string guide seems to have a different idea of what is cheap. Pizza Cala av San Martin 1129 never got a mention but it was one of the only budget (but good food and cheap drink) places in town.

Well with New Years and the weather we´ve been waiting a few days to climb Volcan Villarrica. While we were waiting the near by Volcan Llaima made the BBC news by erupting. Just to remind us that climbing volcanos is different to mountains. But that is a comfortable distance away and the area was evacuated.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7167639.stm

Volcan Villarrica is the main backdrop for ski town, and visible on most advertisments around town etc. But Claudio the owner of the Backpackers Hostel, where we were staying, was keen for us to see it close up. Maybe also owning the tour company as well had something to do with it. I wasn´t feeling too good with catching a cold from Lisa but it was a go.

An early morning rise and we set off at 4am in a minivan. We had done other sunrise tours and they are painful but worth it. With this climb more so, you are walking in the dark up a slog which could be done with the ski lift if it was working. You can eventually see the valley getting brighter and the outline shadow of the volcano with with the trail of smoke. At this time you can´t see the top "el cumbre", just the snow field. After passing a ridge el cumbre came into view, and seemed close but it was much further than it seemed. The walking was not that hard, just a bit boring. I certainly done a lot more difficult climbs. But that´s not the point as this is a volcano and they almost seem to have personalities are their activity affects the local weather system. The snow and ice was coming to an end the oposite to moutains. Also it was getting hotter and some of the rock was not rock but dust covered ice.

El cumbre has the usual coating of sulphur, but on other volcanos I´d not been able to see the crator. Well I´ve seen crators but not the "hole" I´m sure there is a name for it. One thing I was not ready for was the noise. There was constant crashing and banging coming from the hole. A little bit closer inspection and you could see bits of red. It was very difficult to get a photo but I got one with a bit of red ash. I was as close as I felt safe but not comfortable, there are odd clouds of fumes that make you choke.

Getting down was quicker and more fun. We were all issued with a nappie made of cordura to protect the hire kit. There are ruts worn into the ice with peoples bums. You get the idea. Some of the nappies have Gaffa tape on as a repair. This type of repair makes the nappie more waterproof and faster. So fast that you end up bouncing out of the ruts and on to the ice.

The snow and ice eventually comes to an end and it´s a slog back down to the ski station and the mini bus back to the hostel. It felt like a full day and about 6pm certainly not 1pm, but with the exercise done for the day some guit free food and beer was on order.

As always volcanos have proved to be very interesting, mistical, scary places to visit and I think I´ve said in other posts, they are a "have to do" on a trip like this.

We came down to Pucon to celabrate the new year and are staying in the Backpackers Hostel. We had drinks and a meal in the hostel with some of the guys, a couple from Belfast and a single guy from Dublin. We went to the beach just before 12 to see the fireworks and to see in the new year with a 2 litre carton of gato negro vino tinto.

After talking to some locals, we were told that the place to be was Mamas and Tapas. While in Mamas and Tapas the guy from Dublin asked me and Lisa if we wanted a threesome.

New Years day was far from productive. We still haven´t done anything here.