24 December 2012

Week 13 - Torres del Paine, Puerto Natales, Navimag (Chile)

The third day of the ‘W’ trek in Torres del Paine national park started with a 2.5 hour trek up the central branch of the ‘W’ to the closed climbers camp, Britanico then a further 45 mins to the Britanico viewpoint. Having left our bags and tent at the campsite the walk felt really easy and we quickly made our way up the valley to the glacier viewpoints. Sadly it was pretty overcast so the view was limited but rumours of a puma sighting spurred us on. 

After retracing our steps back to camp to pack up the tent we carried on a further 2.5 hours to Cuernos, another pay campsite with hot showers and an indoor area for cooking (after the fires they are quite strict on where you can use stoves and where you can set up camp). The second half of the route took us along the lake again and across a stone beach, all of a sudden we were out of the fire zone and there were birds and wild flowers everywhere you looked. All the plots were on wooden platforms so we couldn’t peg our tent and had to make do with rocks and boulders. 

As we got into bed than night the winds hit. Our tent stuck it out for a few hours before a gust of wind pulled up the back and we were left open to the elements (as we’d hired the cheapest tent in town it should be of no surprise to you that it was barely of the standard to survive a British summer nevermind a Patagonian one). We got out and pinned it down again under some heavier boulders. Within 20 minutes the wind had dislodged it again and we realised there was no way we would make it through the night and had to pay a small fortune to stay in the outside dorms owned by the refugio – bunk beds in a sturdy tent shaped like half a golf ball that were so cold we slept in our sleeping bags and liners underneath the blankets.

Day 4 we left Cuernos and the lake side behind and headed further east to the final valley of the ‘W’. We left camp in blazing sunshine, by the time we reached the top of the first peak the winds started and by the second peak the snow started. We ploughed on for 3.5 hours to a refugio where we stopped for a hot chocolate to defrost before heading a further 1.5 hours to our free camp at the base of the torres. We got to the wooded campsite relatively early and spent an hour pitching the tent and building a wall to protect the tent from the winds before brewing a cuppa to celebrate our impressive tent skills. Then we noticed the clouds had cleared and we could see blue sky at the top of the torres so we grabbed the camera and pretty much ran the last 45 mins up the side of a mountain incase the weather was too bad the following day. By the time we made it to the top the clouds had drawn back in and we had a quick glimpse of the towers before the blizzard really started and we headed back down in a white out. That night we were in the tent at 7pm with the snow gathering outside. 

After a very cold and uncomfortable sleep we were up at 4am to pack the backpack with the sleeping bags and stove for a second climb to the torres to see sunrise. It wasn’t quite as dramatic as we’d hoped but still a sense of achievement to know we’d made it with only minor arguments and minor injuries and we couldn’t have asked for better weather. We ate breakfast while the sun rose before heading back to camp to pack the tent for the last time. 3.5 hours later, most of which was downhill we completed the ‘W’ having walked almost 100km in 5 days and sat in the sun drinking beer waiting for the bus back in to town and to civilisation, hot showers and clean clothes. By the time we had put our laundry in and taken back the hired equipment we were shattered so we had an early dinner at an amazing pizzeria on the square before climbing into bed.

The next day we were still feeling pretty worn out from the hike and Rhys’s knee was so sore he could barely walk. Rhys stayed in the hostel to rest while I spent hours trying to find him a decent Christmas present for £5 in town. Rhys joined me for lunch and we headed back to the hostel to watch films and chill.

Our last day in Puerto Natales Rhys arranged to meet up with Simon, a guy we’d met in Bariloche and run into on the ‘W’ to stream the Chelsea game. After the game I joined them and we spent a couple of hours in Simon’s hostel with drinks before the guy Simon was traveling with, another Simon who we’d also met in Bariloche got back from the national park. A few more drinks later and we headed out back to the pizza restaurant for take out.

We left Puerto Natales on Tuesday, Christmas Eve. After checking out of our room at the hostel and checking our luggage in at the Navimag office we had 9 hours to kill before we could actually board the boat at 10pm. The Navimag is a 4 night ferry ride from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt. The boat takes 250 passengers alongside cars and cargo – our boat had cows, sheep and horses on board. It’s not luxurious but it’s better than a lot of the hostels we’ve been staying in, you get 3 meals a day and lunch and dinner are 3 courses and in the cheapest beds, where we were, you got a bunk bed with a curtain around it in a group of 4 beds off of the main corridor, we even had a port hole. 

The first night we boarded, settled in to our bunks, explored the decks, took photos of the sunset and congregated in the bar on the top floor for empanadas, cheese slices and a glass of bubbles to meet the other passengers. We got talking to 2 Australian guys, Ty(rone) and Brad and an English girl, Sarah who became our Navimag buddies for the rest of the trip. The boat left port at 5am on Christmas day.
Camping at Cuernos (the night the tent blew away).
The Torres of Torre Del Paine at sunset.
Cosy, watching the sun rise at Torre Del Paine.
Rhys at a river crossing, day 5 of the 'W'.
Me hiking, day 5 of the 'W'.
Rhys on the home straight of the 'W'.
Rhys at the finish line of the 'W'.
The Navimag in Puerto Natales.
Onboard the Navimag on Christmas Eve.

19 December 2012

Week 12 - Ushuaia, Torres del Paine (Argentina, Chile)

After a bit of research we realised it was going to cost £160 each for a return to the Chilean town, Puerto Williams on the southern side of the Beagle Channel, so we extended our 2 night stay in Ushuaia to 5 nights (this also meant we saved ourselves another 4 passport stamps, our passports are starting to fill up with all the weaving in and out of Argentina and Chile already and they need to last us the two years). Yet again we had a great hostel with 360 degree views of the port and the snow capped mountains from the top floor common room so staying longer than anticipated was certainly no hardship. For the first time since we've been in Argentina we came across protests over ownership of the Falkland islands (Islas Malvinas as they're known here).

The first night in Ushuaia we got talking to two girls from New York/Baltimore, Alex and Bailey, and a northern guy living in Sydney, Matt. Since the weather the following day was forecast to be good we all decided to book a transfer and head out to the Tierra del Fuego national park a couple of kilometres out of town. The end of the world really isn’t as dramatic as you’d expect, it kind of gently fades out, the mountains aren’t as high or as jagged as further north, the wind is calmer and there is grass rather than the scrub in northern and mid Patagonia – feels a bit like home. After walking along the shore of the Beagle Channel and an empanada in one of the lodges we decided to hunt beavers on the beaver route. We got a little lost and walked in a circle and when we finally found the beaver lodges and dams there were no beavers in sight, still some impressive architecture for critters so small mind.

Back at the hostel that night a game of ring of fire started involving a giant penguin, chins on the table for swearing (where Rhys and Matt spent most of the night) and a lap of the room on all fours. Being so far south it barely gets dark, even at 3 o’clock in the morning the sky was still blue. 

Surprisingly enough we spent the next day recovering watching endless episodes of Entourage and only venturing out of the hostel for lunch. An amazing offer for a 9 day cruise to Antarctica came up at 40% off and USD$3,100 each (if you ever want to go check in to a hostel in Ushuaia and be ready for a last minute deal). We were so close to going before we worked out the return date and checked flight schedules and realised it meant that we wouldn’t be able to make the Navimag that was already booked and paid for – it’s also just been pointed out to us that if we’d gone nothing else we’d have done in Patagonia would have lived up to it, we’ll come back.

Our last day in Ushuaia we booked a boat trip out to the sea lions, cormorants and the lighthouse at the end of the world (which isn’t really at the end of the world). The sea was calm and so flat it was like glass and everything is shades of grey, really beautiful. The sea lions were out in their hundreds. The final stop on the boat trip was an island where the indigenous Yaghan used to live naked and slathered in sea lion fat (there’s now only one Yaghan woman still alive and living in Puerto Williams).

We left Ushuaia the following day with a bus to Punta Arenas then on to Puerto Natales, another border crossing back in to Chile leaving Argentina for the last time. At the ferry crossing to get back to the main land the queue was about 3kms long (bear in mind the ferry only holds about 20 vehicles and takes 20 mins), our bus driver didn’t seem to see this and crossed into the oncoming traffic lane and booted it all the way to the front so we were on the next ferry. We arrived into Puerto Natales late that night.

The following day we went to a renowned Torres del Paine talk at Erratic Rock, a hostel in town. It was so helpful in making us plan our route and prepare us for what we were letting ourselves in for on the ’W’ trek in the park – for instance the wind can reach 260km per hour and it is expected that you will experience all four seasons in the 5 day trek – they weren’t wrong. The rest of the day was spent hiring equipment and buying 3 minute noodles and a ridiculous amount of dried fruit.

Monday was out first day of hiking. We were picked up by the bus from the hostel and drove 2 hours to the park where we paid our entrance fee and I managed to immediately lose my ticket which left us panicking that they were going to check it before letting us on to the actual trails. The bus dropped us at the catamaran pier which took us across lake Pehoe to the start of the trails.

As soon as we got off the boat we grabbed our bags and headed out towards Refugio Grey, an 11km hike up to a glacier, the western side of the ‘W’. When we got to the Refugio, we pitched our tent and continued for another hour to a mirador and up to a disused campsite for views of the glacier and of the southern Patagonian ice field, one of only 3 places in the world you can actually see it. The ice field is the world's second largest contiguous extrapolar ice field covering 16,800 km² - 80% of the landmass of Wales. We got back to camp, had a hot shower and ate our 3 minute noodles before bed, just as the rain started.

Our second day of trekking followed the same path as the previous day back down to the southern edge of the ‘W’ and continued along the lake shore to a free campsite, Italiano. As the first day the walk continued through the area that was devastated by the December 2011 fire – started by some stupid Israeli who was pirate camping and decided to burn his rubbish and run off when the wind took and spread the flames. The fire burned for 10 days and destroyed 85 km². A similar fire in 2005 destroyed nearly 3 times more of the park, started again by human negligence, it’s not until the fourth day of the trek that you start seeing the impact of the earlier fire and appreciating just how long it takes for the flora and fauna to recover. As you walk through the charcoaled forests and see the singed scrub you really feel the impact of the fire, the views are still stunning and the lakes and mountains are as breath-taking as ever but it feels quite eerie. 

Day three of the trek falls in week 13….
Rhys, Bailey, Alex and Matt looking for Beavers, Tierra del Fuego.
Beaver dam, like Hoover dam but smaller.
Anti-British poster, Ushuaia.
Sea lions in the Beagle Channel.
Lighthouse at the end of the world, Ushuaia.
Day 1 - 'W' trek, fresh faced, Torres del Paine.
Day 1 - 'W' trek. Torres del Paine. 
Day 1 - Lago Grey, 'W' trek. Torres del Paine.
Day 2 - Fire damage, Torres del Paine.

12 December 2012

Week 11 - El Chalten, El Calafate, Punta Arenas, Ushuaia (Argentina, Chile)

For our second day in El Chalten we had booked a trip out to Glacier Viedma. After a short bus trip with stunning views of the Fitz Roy mountain range we boarded a boat to take us to the glacier. An hour of weaving through icebergs and plenty of photo opportunities later we docked at the foot of the glacier (20 years ago the rocks we landed on had been covered by ice but the only reminders now are the incredible scuff marks, like if I dragged a fork across a freshly iced cake, and the bright colours from the minerals in the ice).

Compared to Perito Moreno there was hardly anyone there as only one bus load had left El Chalten that morning and only 5 of us were signed up for ice climbing. We tied on our crampons, tightened our harnesses and put on our helmets and headed out onto the glacier to the first crevice our instructors thought reasonable for beginners to climb. The instructors drilled holes in the ice to hold the ropes and we rappelled into the crevice – the only way to get out was to master the ice picks and climb. Turns out ice climbing requires a certain amount of upper body strength especially on the compressed blue ice, something I am severely lacking - although I managed to complete 2 of the 3 climbs, Rhys was a star and shot up all 3. It was so serene on the ice, listening to the glacier cracking and the run of the melting ice while condors swooped overhead. 

After a short trek, a stop on the ice for lunch and a 4th climb for those hardcore among us (neither of us even attempted it as if you couldn’t do it you’d just be stuck 20 metres down), the trip ended with the guides taking us to a spot at the side of the glacier where you could walk underneath the ice in a cave glowing blue and handed us a Bailey’s served over freshly chipped glacier ice, unbeatable. 

That night we treated ourselves to a meal out and headed to a BBQ restaurant where we had a ridiculous amount of meat and a wine penguin (turns out penguin isn’t a brand but a litre carafe in penguin form of unidentified wine). 

Waiting for our bus back to El Calafate the following day, we braved the wind to hike to the Condor Pass for views over the town but no actual condors then warmed up over apple pie and brownie at a bakery in town. 

From El Calafate we caught a bus to Punta Natales then after a run around the town to find a bus company with spare seats to get out that evening, a bottle of wine and a game of ‘how many US states can you name’, we completed the trip to Punta Arenas. As we’d already seen a million penguins the previous week and there’s not much else to do in town we spent the time recouping at a hippy hostel, browsing the stores at the duty free zone, eating rhubarb jam and drinking with a British couple and an American couple in town. 

We managed to get a bus out on Monday (buses get really booked up here) and headed down to Ushuaia where we are now – the fin del mundo/end of the world. The trip south was long, a 12 hour journey that you can only do in day light hours because the ferries don’t run at night. The ferry across the Magellan Strait was brilliant, dolphins in the strait were playing in the wake of the boat and followed us half way across but apart from that 45 mins of excitement the journey was uneventful. We’re so used to Chile/Argentina border crossings now that we had the apples and garlic out ready to hand to the guy at customs and can fill out the forms with our eyes closed, urgh.

Rhys ice climbing, Viedma Glacier.

Ice climbing, Viedma Glacier.

Me underneath the Viedma Glacier.

Rhys licking the Viedma Glacier during the Bailey's stop.

Dolphins following the ferry to Ushuaia.

5 December 2012

Week 10 - Puerto Madryn, El Calafate, El Chalten (Argentina)

At the start of the week we were still in Puerto Madryn and following our successful day whale watching had booked a bus trip down to the Punta Tombo penguin colony, the most important Magellan penguin breeding ground on the continent with over 200,000 of the little critters during the breeding season when we were there (more than doubling at malting season). As soon as you entered the reserve you could see penguins sitting on eggs and chicks, under bushes and shrubs and hiding in holes, they were everywhere. It was so cute to watch the parents greeting each other after one had been at sea for 10 days eating, before they switched roles and the other headed out.

On the way back from the colony our bus stopped at a welsh speaking settlement, Gaiman. All of a sudden there were welsh flags and signs written in welsh everywhere. The welsh settled in 1874 because they wanted somewhere secluded where no one would bother them and they knew no one else wanted to live in the Patagonian wilderness – they’ve done pretty well with the place. The village is lush and green with cute little houses with sash windows. Famous for its high teas we thought it rude not to join in. The Ty Gwyn was a quaint little old school café with recipes for welsh cakes and pictures of welsh castles on the walls and for a small fortune we had a pot of tea and more cake than you could shake a stick out (no welsh cakes though).

The next day was a chill day in Puerto Madryn followed by an overnight bus to Rio Gallegos for a connection to El Calafate. We’re getting a little sick of getting off of night buses and needing a whole day to recover so splashed out on a ‘cama’ (Spanish for ‘bed’). The seats were like leather lazy boys with hot meals served and a special helping of a sweet swiss roll filled with ham and cheese, delightful.

Our hostel in El Calafate was perfect, a little house on the hill overlooking the lake. Our first full day in town we took a bus out to the Perito Moreno glacier in the Los Glaciares National Park. At 19 miles in length and 97 square miles in size it was a pretty impressive sight. After a boat trip through the icebergs to see the glacier up close we headed to the board walks to spend a couple of hours viewing it from every possible angle – we have a billion photos to prove it which Rhys very much enjoyed culling. The glacier moves at 2 metres per day so there are constantly bits cracking off and falling in to the water, even a little sprinkle makes a noise like thunder. 

That night we arranged to meet some guys from Bariloche in a bar in town and ended up drinking more fernet and cokes than really necessary. After balking at the USD$1 entrance to the casino we headed back to the hostel. 

Before heading to El Chalten, a colourful little village a couple of hours north inside the national park, we decided Converse and Etnies really weren’t going to be the best shoe wear for serious trekking and spent a small fortune on shiny new trekking shoes (Ceri, you’ll be glad to know it probably means we’ll be home a couple of days early!). 

In El Chalten we checked into the cheapest and possibly the worst hostel in town (over run by loud obnoxious travellers and super basic) and headed for a 6km walk along the track out of town to a waterfall. 

Our first full day we decided to test the new shoes with a 27km hike out to the Fitz Roy mountain range. Boy was it a hard days walk but I have to admit the new shoes made me feel like a spritely mountain goat when it came to the steep bits, shame they didn’t help with the overall stamina. The hike was worth it though, the view was stupendous, absolutely breath taking. At the end of the trail was a glacier lake full of ice bergs at the foot of Fitz Roy. By the time we got back to town we were both shattered and ready for an early night.

Pinguino - Punta Tombo.

More penguins - Punta Tombo.

Rhys enjoying his welsh tea, Gaiman.

Perito Moreno glacier.

Perito Moreno glacier.

Glacier lake at the top of the Fitz Roy trail.

Fitz Roy mountain range.