20th Jauary - Peurto Madryn

We left El Chanten on 17th Jan. It was raining when we left the town, but cleared up as we left the mountain area. We drove, and drove, and drove - long stretched on Route 40 on gravel roads. There were no towns or settlements. We saw a couple of guanaco herds, 2 herds of horses, a dead armadillo and not much more!

About 4.30 we arrived at a UNESCO World Heritage site. This was the Caves of the Hands, where about 9000 years ago the locals blew colouring over their hands and left negative prints on the rocks.

From there we drove until about 8pm when we arrived at a camping site. So it was tents up, dinner to cook, and bed. The stars were very bright there as there were no lights at all. The electricity generator was turned off at 11pm.

Next morning, 18th, we drove some more through yet more pampas lands. Still on Route 40. We drove through a horrid little town, where we stopped at the supermarket to get what we could. The town was all gravel, and very dusty.

All these days there was a consistent 40-50kph wind blowing off the Andes - lots of dust.

We drove on to Camerones, as there was no camping spot to be found before then. Passed through Comodore Rivadivia, a port city servicing the oil industry, which is on the Atlantic coast.

It was 10pm and dark when we got to Coamerones, but we were a day ahead of schedule. Again, tents up, scrambled eggs for dinner as too late to cook.

Next morning was sunny and warm. We packed up camp and at 10am collected our guide and drove into the National Park for 26ks to a penguin colony. There are 26000 breeding pairs of Magellenic (sp?) Penguins there, and you can walk through the colony on a board walk.

Leaving the National Park we rode on the open top deck of the truck to the main road, lots of fun but very windy and dusty. Saw a live armadillo.

Left Camerones and headed along Route 3 to Puerto Madryn where we arrived about 8pm. We passed the scene of a fatal car accident on the way. The road is very narrow by our standards, well sealed and in good condition though. We are a night ahead of schedule so have three nights here instead of 2.

Peurto Madryn is a port and beach settlement. There were thousands of people on the beach when we drove through to the camp site last night. The camp is on a hill beside the beach. It is again hot and sunny! 32 degrees. The thermals have all been put away!
Today we have a free day and so finally get to the internet and catch up on things again. Tomorrow we are spending the day going to a wildlife reserve to see sea lions, etc. Then two long driving days to BA.

It is one of our groups birthday today, so we are having a special dinner and a Penguin Party - dressing as penguins - tonight. The camp will be busy as there are 4 other overland trucks expected today, all heading to BA.

16th January El Chalten

Yesterday John did a 22k walk with mates, and Liz did a glacier walk.

Today we had a sleep in. Breakfast was at 9 am, then we went out about 11am and had coffee. Tyhen we went  to a Condor lookout. There were no condors to be seen - I think it meant a bird,s eye view of the town! However there was a great clear view of Mt. Fitzroy and surrounding peaks. 

We wandered back slowly into the little town. Had a siesta, then went to a closeby waffle restaurant for their Waffle 2004, a waffle with apples, cinnamon, run and icecream.

The next few hours were spent chatting to fireind in the bar. Dinbner was a chicken steak, very nice and huge - we shared one between us.

Tomorrow we have a 7am breakfast, then hit the road. We are bushcamping for the next few nights, so won{t be updating. Only 6 nights until we reach Buenos Aires.

Weather has been great- for here! Fine, sunny but windy as.

 

 

 

15th in El chalten

El Chalten

Today John joined Lisa and John and walked the 22km up to Cerre Torres. There were beautiful views of the surrounding peaks. The walk was quite hot, with no wind and quite a bit of climbing involved. The end of the walk was at a glacier lake with views of Mt Fitzroy, at 3600 odd meters.

 

Liz went on a glacier walk. This involved a ½ hour bus trip and one hour  trip by ferry to the Viedma Glacier, then walking on the glacier, walks through ice caves, wearing of crampons etc. The trip ended with Baileys on ice – a liqueur for those not familiar with the experience.

 

Tonight we went to local eatery and had steaks, lamb ragout and fine Argentinean vino. The weather was beautifully fine and warm with lots of opportunity for great photos

15th January - To El Chalten

We left El Calafayte on a fine summer morning, not needing our jackets! The trip to El Chalten was 185kms through more Patagonian Steppe as before.

This is a new tourist town, growing in a topsy turvey manner. Some streets are newly paved, others have gravel spilling out over the main roads. Many houses under construction. Currently about 1300 residents, most of the town closes down over the winter.

We are in a hostel, very nice and clean, Good cooking area, nice meals, pity about the lack of ventilaition - there are no opening windows anywhere and the heaters are all on full. Made for a very hot, stuffy night in our 4 person bunkroom which we are sharing with John & Lisa.

We ahd dinner at the hostel, after a walk around town. The crumbed schnitzel was the sixe of a dinner plate, and the steak was delicious.

Today Liz is going out onto a glacier, John is walking a local walkway with some of the others. It is fine and sunny, though cloudy. Seems like it is always windy here!

Internet is very slow, a sattelite connection which is also expensive.

 

Update, 13th January

We last update this from the Refugio on 10th January.

 

That night was very cold, but we were snug in our sleeping bags, and the tent did not leak!

 

On 11th we took the ferry back at 10am across Lake Pehoe. Riki, our driver (from Dunedin) was there to pick us up in Cindy (our truck), and took the 8 of us who returned back to our next camp at Lake Pehoe. So we re-erected our tents and had a late breakfast! Did our washing and went for a short stroll. Then just relaxed....had a sing-along around the camp fire in the evening.

 

Next morning we were up and ready to leave by 8.30. We drove 40 mins, to a point where we were picked up by a smaller bus for the sum of 2,500 pesos one way, and driven over a very narrow bridge (ie only centimeters to spare with the mirrors turned in!) and then another 7 ks to the start of our walk.

 

This was a 9km climb up 2500 feet to a stunning view of the Torres del Paine. We started on a good track, climbing steeply in places, before heading through forest on an undulating track. THEN the last 45 minutes was scrambling over boulders up a track. It was steep and a very loose surface. At the top it was snowing lightly, and there was a 50kph wind blowing, so it was very cold. You will have to see the photos to see the view, which was amazing. It took 3 hours 45 minutes for us to climb up.

 

The downhill was easy! We were back to the bus transfer in two hours! All in all a very tough but satisfying day. In the evening we had a half lamb, which one of our group butchered into suitable cuts to barbeque (he is a trained butcher) over an open fire. Liz was on cook group, and helped prepare the fried potatoes, onions and coleslaw. A very much enjoyed meal.

 

Today we were up at 6.30. It was raining, but fortunately our tent was under a shelter. Liz was cooking breakfast - sausages, tomatoes and scrambled eggs - so John packed up the tent. We left at 8.30 and drove back to Puerto Natales to drop of gear which some people had hired. Then we headed for the border and went back through into Argentina.

 

We have now had 6 Chilean stamps in our passports! We drove down Highway 5 and the famous Route 40 back to El Calafayte. Lunch was crackers and pate while driving. We are staying for one night in the same hostel we were in for New Year´s Eve. Tomorrow we are off to El Chalten where we will be staying for three nights at a hostel. There we will be ice walking on a glacier....after that we will head back into summer weather!

10 January - Torres del Paine

We are unsure of the date but think it is correct!

We arrived at the Torres del Paine National Park and took a catamaran over the lake to the Park Refugio. We set up our tent, had a shower (welcome after bushcamping) and went for dinner in the Refugio. >Dinner was a 3 course meal which cost 10,000 Pesos (US$25) each. Prices are very expensive here as everything has to be brought in.

After dinner we went to our tent and had a good night´s sleep. There was a bit of rain in the night. In the morning it was cold and wet, at about 9.15 we set off with Lisa and John to walk to Glacier Grey. The walk right up to the Glacier was about 4 hours each way... We climbed up about for about 2 hours through bush and then over rockier terrain. We could see the Glacier, and the icebergs in the lake which had broken off it. However it was very cold, wet, sleety and about a 50kph head wind, so we decided to return to base.

Spent the afternoon in the Refugio reading and having a drink with our friends. The day actually cleared and it was quite pleasant outside.

This morning we set off in fine, overcast conditions for the French Valley. This was a hike of about 4 hours each way. The first two hours was through scrubby forest and around a lake edge, and was quite easy going. Then we went up the valley. We climbed about 2000 feet up the side of a lateral moraine, and there was some scrambling over large rocks and boulders. The view was stunnings, 2600m mountains up close, with huge glaciers all over them. There were frequently bits of the ends of the glaciers falling off, with loud banging to be heard, all quite spectacular!

John took hundreds of photos of the landscape - kept holding us up!

We had lunch and then descended back to camp. All showered and clean and ready to relax for the evening.

We are staying tonight, then going back on the catamaran to camp for two nights at another spot in the National Park. The following day we intend to walk up to see the Torres del Paine, three granite peaks each of about 2800m.

Friday 8 January

Yesterday we spent the day driving. Left the hostel at 6am and headed north from Ushuaia along the main state highway north. We recrosses the border back into Chile and returned to the mainland on the ferry.
The border guards decided to scan our bags this time and to check the vehicle for forbidden fruit. A fairly cursory inspection.

So we drove all day through steppe land, coercing about 700ks in all. Lunch was a pasta dish on the roadside. Camp long bushcamp along a sideroad. It was a beautiful spot with a view
over a lake. A lovely calm evening. We were very warm in our tent.
This morning we set out at 8.30 and drove till about 10 30 when we reached Puerto Natalis. This is an inland seaport, town of about 18000, which services the teeming industry in the nearby national park. Along the way we saw a fox, rheas, guanacos, (llamas), some cattle and lots of sheep.
We have been to the supermarket and stocked up with food for the next five days treking. Not easy as they don't have the range we have at home.
Now we are having lunch at a cafe with wifi so using the iPhone to write this.
Soon we depart for the National Park. We are going camping Ans treking there for five nights and will do the "W" walk. A Google search of Torres del Paine should give you an idea of the
landscape.
Weather is overcast and cool but it is currently fine.