Today we are heading off on our Antarctic journey! We are doing the Weddell Sea and Antarctic Peninsula voyage on board the Polar Pioneer (http://www.polarcruises.com/antarctica/ships/adventure-ships_2/polar-pioneer_9.htm).

We’ll be back in 12 days with all the details and hopefully some awesome photos!

This is what my hiking boots look like after 7.5 months of travelling. As you can see they are still wet on one side and this is after sitting in a warm room for two days! And don’t even get me started on the smell. Unfortunately Gortex keeps moisture in as well as out. They smell so bad that as we were walking the other day, we commented on how we could still smell them until we realised that we were passing by a sewage leak.

This is what they used to look like:

I walked into a hostel the other day and as we were waiting for the group in front of us to book a room, I noticed that the girl was wearing the same shoes as me. Hers were brand new though. I pointed out that we had the same shoes and she took one look at mine and said “What happened?”

The guy at our B&B felt so sorry for me that he actually tried drying them with a hairdryer.

They’ve even been patched up by a Chilean shoe repairer with suede which I’m pretty sure made them even worse…

We had a few days in Ushuaia before the start of our Antarctica cruise, so we decided to do some trekking. Ushuaia is close to Tierra Del Fuego National Park and there are many treks that you can do here.

One trek that was recommended to us was the Paso de la Oveja. This can be a two to four day trek depending on how long you want to stretch it out and how many side trips you do.

We prepared to spend four days so that we had the chance to do all of the side treks mentioned in the Lonely Planet Trekking book.

Just as we were about to set off, the woman at our hotel told us that a couple who had started the trek, were escorted out by the park ranger. Apparently, he said that the trail was closed. She also said that her son had just finished the trek two days ago and as far as he knew, it was open. So they advised us to do the trek the opposite way, entering the trail just outside Ushuaia and ending in the Andorra Valley to avoid the park ranger. This meant that our first day would be quite hard as we had to climb 840m up a steep valley to the mountain pass and down again before we could find a place to camp. It was already late in the afternoon so we quickly got a ride to the start of the trail. The only problem was that we didn’t know exactly where the start of the trail was. We were dropped off along a dirt road by a fenced off private farm and were told to walk towards the valley until we found an entrance. So we walked along the private farmland until eventually we came across some dogs who started to bark at us. They were so noisy that a farmer came to the fence to see what all the commotion was about. Using sign language and my limited Spanish, we asked him where the trail was and he helped us climb over the fence and pointed in the direction of the trail. We finally came across a ladder, missing a few steps, which led to the start of the trail. It was already 3:30pm so we had to hurry as we only had about six more hours until the sun would start to set and we weren’t sure how long it would take to get to the campsite.

We were told that the turn off to the upper part of the trail would be hard to find and that we should look for a very steep climb upwards. After about an hour, we saw a small trail heading straight up the side of the hill and some rock piles marked the way so we followed it. There were no switch backs. The trail went straight up for 200m with no flat areas to rest which meant that it was a very painful climb, especially since we were carrying four days worth of food and our calve muscles still hadn’t recovered from Torres del Paine. We finally reached the clearing and saw an easier switch back path, leading up the hill to where we were, which we would have found if we had continued along the trail for a few more minutes instead of heading straight up.

As we walked along the narrow slate ridge, we met a British guy who had started the trek from the Andorra Valley end earlier in the day. He said that he didn’t see any rangers along the way but he ran into the couple who had been kicked out as he entered the park. Somehow he managed to sneak in. He warned us that the pass was covered in snow and asked where the next campsite was. We told him that he was only two hours away from the end of the trek and thought it odd that he didn’t realise that he had done the whole trek in one day.

The slate ridge seemed to go on forever and it started to get very cold and rainy so we decided that we would try to find the campsite mentioned in the Lonely Planet which is supposedly just at the bottom of the pass. As we continued, we saw no sign of a place to camp and we could already see the pass so we decided to go on over to the other side and camp at Laguna Caminante. As we reached the top of the pass around 7:30pm, the weather suddenly cleared up and the sun came out of the clouds. It was so peaceful as the sun was setting behind the mountains and there were no other trekkers in sight.

 

The other side of the pass was covered in snow and it was a lot easier than walking on the rocks so although our feet got soaking wet, we didn’t mind.  At the bottom of the snow line we crossed a very muddy swamp. We finally came across a sign directing us to Laguna Caminante which looked like a short and easy walk away. Instead, the trail climbed up over a hill and around, before we had to climb down through a very muddy and wet path the get to the lake. Just before we reached the campsite, we came across a shallow river but there was no bridge or log in site which could be used to cross it. The only way to cross was to remove our shoes and socks and walk across in our bare feet. The water was coming from the glaciers above and it was cold!

It was 9pm when we reached the camp so we quickly set up and made some dinner with our new Doite stove (less than a quarter of the price of the JetBoil and it actually boiled water in three minutes!).

The campsite was amongst the trees along the lake shore and was surrounded by mountains. It was very picturesque. As soon as we finished eating, we quickly packed up our dishes and it started to pore. It was an extremely cold night. My feet never really warmed up and we both slept with our down jackets on.

The next morning was cloudy and overcast. We were planning on doing a day hike to Laguna Superior which was about 1.5 hours away over another muddy hill. We waited until noon but the clouds were still covering the tops of the mountains and it was freezing cold so we decided to continue on through the Andorra Valley to the end of the trail.

 

The walk through the forest was very muddy but nice and the sun peaked out every now and then. There were also many scary log bridges along the way which made it interesting. The mud was sometimes so thick and deep that as we stepped out of it, our boots felt like they were going to come right off! There were many times when we reached a spot where we had to figure out the best way through so as not to be knee deep in the mud. The worst was when Ross would say, “I’m not sure how you’re going to get over that one.” This meant that he had just made it across a big mud patch which would be impossible for me to step over. There were other times, when I was glad to be small. There were many fallen trees on the trail that I could walk right under; Ross had to crawl.  

When we reached the end of the trail, we saw two signs saying, “Closed trail, no trespassing” but luckily we didn’t come across the ranger. After another hour of trekking through mud, we finally reached the dirt road. We had run into some German guys who were just entering the park and told us that it took them three hours to walk along a boring dirt road from Ushuaia. It was getting late and we hadn’t booked anywhere to stay in Ushuaia so we were eager to get back into town. We decided to try to find a farmer and ask if he could call us a cab. The first farm house that we approached was empty, the next one said that their phone credit ran out so we continued on desperate to find someone to help us. Every house seemed to have a big scary attack dog who wasn’t on a leash so it was impossible to even approach the house. I had a few scares where dogs ran after me barking as I approached! So we continue to walk hoping for a farmhouse without a guard dog. We started to get desperate and stopped some cars along the road with no luck. Eventually, a guy in a van stopped, said something in Spanish and motioned for us to get in. We got in, not really knowing if he was a taxi or just a random guy willing to take us some of the way. Eventually, he stopped a pickup truck and motioned for us to get out and go with anther two guys who would take us the rest of the way to Ushuaia. They kindly dropped us off in the city centre and we were lucky enough to find a hostel for the night. It had only been one night but we were glad to be able to get into some clean dry clothes and to have somewhere warm and dry to sleep.

We stayed in Puerto Natales whilst preparing for our trek in Torres Del Paine and also while waiting for our bus to Ushuaia. There is basically nothing to do here but we did manage to get a few good shots of sunset over the lake there.

This is basically a random list of things we wished we knew before starting the circuit. It might be helpful for people searching for info on the circuit as we couldn’t find much online before starting.

Preparing for the Trek:

1. The UniMart in Puerto Natales may be the biggest supermarket in town but much better trekking selections can be found at the smaller markets around town.
2. Chilean customs will take any fresh food off you at the border so don’t plan to bring those nice salami’s from home

The Trek:

1. Start the circuit at the Administration and finish at Paine Grande and get the catamaran back. Don’t follow the way the circuit is listed in the Lonely Planet Trekking book as you’ll miss the views of the massive on the way in.
2. Contrary to the guide book and the info online, you can’t actually buy any real food around the back of the circuit aside from chocolate and tinned strawberries. Some food is available in the W sections but range is limited so this basically means carrying food for all the days you are there.
3. Gas canisters can be bought at the stores around the place but they just throw out empty ones. Erratic Rock in Puerto Natales has just started a recycling program so hike your empty cans out.
4. Most days the Italiano campsite fills up by 2pm (30 tents max) and the ranger kicks people out up to Britanico which is quite the hike with a heavy backpack so plan to arrive early. The other option is to arrive really late when he has no choice but to let you stay.
5. On the odd day when you have nice weather hike like crazy! Especially if you are near the Frances Valley or the Torres Del Paine mirador.
6. Take a very trusty stove with you. You don’t want to be at the back of the circuit when this stops working. (I’d advise against buying a JetBoil system)
7. Take clear ski goggles and two bandanas for the bugs. They will fly into your eyes, ears, hair, mouth continually at the majority of campsites but the following are the worst (Dickson, Grey, and Chileno) It makes cooking very difficult. The ski goggles would also come in handy if you hit a snowy conditions over the pass.

I hope this helps someone!

Day 6 – Mountain Lodge Paine Grande – 3.5 hrs, 11km, 300m ascent/descent

We were exhausted and sore from the previous days trek so we took it slow to the next campsite. There was a really big climb up an extremely windy hill which made the trek slow and difficult. We also noticed a lot more people on the trail as we were now on the more popular W portion of the circuit. Paine Grade lodge was the biggest lodge we’d seen so far on the trek and it even had a small market where you could buy real food! We were pretty excited to be able to get some pasta sauce for dinner. We wanted to continue to the next camp but we arrived quite late and we heard from some other trekkers that the next camp was full and they weren’t allowing any more people to camp there so we decided to stay the night at the Grande camp site and try again tomorrow.

Day 7 – Campamento Italiano and the Valle del Frances – 6 hrs, 12.5km, 650m ascent/descent

We missed our alarm in the morning so we rushed over to Italiano to set up camp. We decided that we’d leave our stuff in the tent for the day trip up through the Frances Valley. We hiked up to the top of the valley, where there was a small campsite called Britanico. From there we needed to hike for another hour to get to the viewpoint but when we reached Britanico, the mountains that we were supposed to see were completely covered in clouds. On top of that, there was a strong wind blowing hail into our faces. We had to wear our sunglasses for protection! We waited a little while to see if the clouds would pass but we didn’t have much luck so we walked back down to the campsite. At that point we were pretty tired so we decided to stay at Italiano and possibly hike back up the valley in the morning if the weather improved.

Day 8 – Refugio El Chileno – 7 hrs, 18km

We woke up to pouring rain so we decided to head on to Cuernos and possibly El Chileno, if we had enough energy. We got to Cuernos in about an hour and a half so we decided to keep going all the way to El Chileno to view the famous torres after which the park is named.  We finally had some sunny weather in the afternoon and it was a pleasant walk until the last hour which was a lot of up and down over valleys which was quite difficult.

We arrived around 7pm and decided to start cooking dinner but I no sooner started the JetBoil and it died. We were trying to cook dinner in the tent to avoid the flies and Ross was taking the stove apart to clean it as we had done previously. Once he screwed it back together, there seemed to be a leak in the hose because a small flame appeared along the hose when we turned it on. We were very hungry at this point so we were desperately trying to fix the thing but it wouldn’t screw in properly. Finally Ross tried again to turn it on and this time a massive flame burst out of the pipes and I saw my life flash before my eyes. I thought that the tent was going to catch on fire but Ross quickly blew out the flame and luckily he managed not to singe his eyebrows off! Even the Germans who sat outside noticed the flame from inside our tent and got a bit of a scare. At that point, we gave up on our stove and were lucky to find that there was still some bread and cheese for sale at the Refugio which we had for dinner.

Day 9 – Torres Del Paine Lookout and Completion of the Circuit – 4 hrs, 15km, 600m ascent / 850m descent

We woke up several times during the night to the loudest and strongest winds we had experienced so far on the trek. One gust was so loud that we could hear other people awake and saw them using their flashlights to see what had happened. The wind was very warm as well which was very unusual. We were so hot in our tent that we didn’t even need our sleeping bags.

The wind was still pretty bad in the morning but it was sunny so we decided to hike up to the lookout. There were many tour groups on the trail as this is what most people come to see. We didn’t have our backpacks so we were going pretty fast and managed to pass everyone along the way. As we were getting closer to the top, the weather started looking like it was going to change.

There was a very dark cloud looming over the peaks. On our way up, we ran into two girls that we had met several times along the trail, Weronika and Annamaria. When we reached the top, the wind got stronger and colder just after we took some pictures, it started to rain so we started to head back down. We were very lucky to see the three towers just before the storm hit. People who were ten minutes behind us said that they couldn’t see them as they were covered in clouds. The rocks on the way up were very treacherous and on the way down it was worse because they were wet and slippery and the wind was very strong. Every time there was a gust we had to stop and brace ourselves while we were pelted with rain and dirt. As the rain got worse, we ran back down to the Refugio which was now getting very busy. No one wanted to go anywhere and soon it was so packed that we couldn’t even move.

As wee had now finished the circuit, the plan was to try to walk down to Los Torres (the start of the trek) and get the 7:45 bus back to Puerto Natales but it was still early so we decided to wait for the storm to pass with Weronika and Annamaria. The manager kept telling our the girls that it was too dangerous to go down the valley as there are some very exposed ridges that we need to cross to get to the bottom. We were getting sick of the weather and the campsite was getting way too busy so we though we would try to go down as we had the option of turning back if it got too hard. The trek down was nowhere near as dangerous or windy as people had described so it was quite easy to get to the bottom. We only had to put up with the rain but we had waterproof jackets and trousers so we were fine.

When we finally reached the bottom, we celebrated with some beer and a large plate of sausage and fries. When we got back to Puerto Natales we ran into some more people from the trek and had Pisco Sours and steak. It was nice to sleep in a proper bed that night.

Torres del Paine National Park is in the southern Chilean Andes encompassing mountains, glaciers, lakes, and rivers. The two most popular treks in this region are the W and the Circuit. Most people do the W trek as it is only 4 or 5 days long and you can stay in Refugios (small hostels serving meals) along the way instead of carrying a tent and food. Since time was not an issue, we decided to do the whole circuit using the campsites along the way.

So we caught a bus from El Calafate to Puerto Natales, a small town two hours away from the park, where we had an afternoon to shop for food and last minute supplies for the trek.

Day 1 – Puesto Seron – 4 hrs, 16.5km

We stayed the night in Puerto Natales at a home stay with an adorable little old Chilean woman and her daughter. In the morning, as we were having breakfast, we met a German guy who had just finished the W. We started chatting and it turns out that he works for the same company as me in London and he is in the office across the road from me. It’s a small world.

So we left on a bus after breakfast to the entrance of the park. After reading the Lonely Planet Trekking in Patagonia book, we decided that we would start our trek straight away from Los Torres. We took a while repacking our bags when we got out of the bus so by the time we started trekking, we were all all alone. It was strange to be the only ones on the trail. It was four hours to the campsite but this being the first day and with 10 days worth of food on our backs, progress was hard and slow. The weather held out for us and and it only started to rain a bit at the end so we were dry but tired when we finally arrived. The campsite was in the middle of a field of daisies and we had nice views of the mountains.

As more and more people arrived at the campsite, we started to notice that a lot of them were young Chileans. Apparently, summer break just started and they were all university students from Santiago. This was their first time trekking and some of them were carrying family sized tents which looked pretty heavy and did not fare well in the windy valley.

Luckily for us our new tent held out well and didn’t have any problems with the wind.

Whilst cooking dinner we met a Irish girl who was attempting to do the whole circuit in six days and a two Californian guys, Mike and Eric, who were pretty hardcore trekkers.

Day 2 – Lago Dickson – 6 hrs, 18.5km

Today we had to climb a steep hill and walk across an extremely windy ridge for six hours to arrive at the next campsite so we set out early. The wind on the hilltop was so strong that it was pushing me all over the terrain. I couldn’t even walk straight! At one point, the wind actually made me fall down. Luckily, I wasn’t hurt. When we finally arrived at the camp, we started to set up our tent and we were soon covered in small flies. They didn’t bite but they would fly straight into our eyes, ears and mouth and were very annoying so we decided to go inside the Refugio to relax. Inside, we met a German couple who were staying in the Refugio and two American ladies who we saw along the trail.

After a cold drink we went back to the campsite to try and get a hot shower. People were starting to arrive so we queued up for the one shower that worked. After waiting for a while, I decided to ask the Refugio manager how much I could pay to take a shower inside (normally the inside showers are only for hotel guests). I knew that the German couple were the only ones staying there and they had already taken a shower. He said that I can’t pay for a shower inside and then said quietly to go ahead and use it but don’t say anything to anyone so I quickly grabbed my clothes and had a nice hot shower inside.

We had heard that there were small shops along the way where you could buy food so we didn’t bring enough snacks and lunches thinking that we could buy some things along the way. We had a look at the shop to see what we could buy and the only thing that they sold were chocolate bars, cookies, canned strawberries, large packets of mayonnaise and eggs. We thought the canned strawberries were an especially strange item to be selling. We found these at every shop but we couldn’t get tomato sauce or pasta or anything else that might be used to make a meal. Luckily we had enough rice for dinner and lots of dried fruit and nuts.

After dinner, the Chilean boys started a football game in the field beside the campsite. We couldn’t believe that they actually had energy to play football. We sat inside drinking beer and playing hearts with the Californian guys, Eric and Mike.

Day 3 – Campamento Los Perros – 4.5 hrs, 9km

Today we woke up to light rain so I made breakfast inside the tent. The trail went through the forest with a lot of steep climbing and it was hard to take a break because the moment we stopped walking we were covered in small flies. We even saw one of the Chilean boys spraying bug spray directly into his face to try to get rid of them but the flies didn’t seem to care. We stopped at a waterfall for lunch but quickly went on as the flies were getting to be too much for us. At the end of the trail, we reached an area of loose rocks and climbed up to a viewpoint where we could see a small glacier at Laguna de los Perros. The campsite was only another 30 minutes walk and was in the forest. It was very cold and damp at the campsite and the only shelter was a small cooking hut made of corrugated plastic with a small wood stove heater. There was also a small shop here but the only thing aside from the usual chocolate bars and canned strawberries, was fatty sausage. We were hoping for some tomato sauce to go with our pasta but they didn’t have any so we had to invent a new dish: pasta cooked in minestrone soup with chopped up sausage. It actually turned out pretty good and compared to our previous two dinners it was a feast.

Day 4 – John Gardener Pass

We woke up early in the morning to start our trek over the John Gardener pass which involved climbing 680m and then an 800m descent. This is the hardest day of the trek and we woke up to rain so the trail through the forest was very muddy and wet. It took a while to get to the top of the tree line due to the deep muddy trail. It was hard work trying to keep my feet dry. As we got closer to the top it got colder and the rain started to turn to hail and then to snow. As we reached the open exposed rock and stepped out of the trees, we could see some people crossing the pass in the distance. All of a sudden a snowstorm hit us and it was a complete whiteout. The snow was blowing sideways in the wind and the trail markers disappeared so we went back into the semi-sheltered forest to wait for more people. The next group to come up the path were three Chilean guys. They were wearing tracksuit pants, no gloves and one guy only had a plastic bag poncho. They were soaked and looked very unprepared. A few more Chilean students arrived looking just as unprepared and they were deliberating whether to cross or not. We advised them to wait until the storm passed and to try again the next day but they were determined to finish the circuit and had to catch their plane at the end of the week so couldn’t spare an extra day. We were freezing at this point as we had stopped walking and the trees weren’t providing much cover so we decided to start walking back and try to meet up with Eric and Mike who are more experienced trekkers so that we could cross as a group.

We didn’t see either of them on the way down and eventually reached the campsite, covered in mud and soaked through our boots, to find them packing up their tent and getting ready to leave. They had visited a nearby glacier in the morning and were planning on going up in the afternoon. At this stage, we weren’t in the mood to go all the way back up through the muddy forest and after telling them about the storm, they also decided to stay the night at Perros as well and we would all go as a group the next day.

So we grabbed the first available spot in the cooking shelter, took our shoes and socks off and put them by the stove while we played cards and tried to keep warm. There were lots of other people who had either turned back or not left at all so the shelter was full and as the day went on, more and more people arrived. We were lucky that the Chilean boys kept chopping wood for the fire (we think trying to impress the Chilean girls who also stayed behind) but the hut was filling up with smoke so our eyes were burning as we took cover from the rain. Ross and I had to make shoes out of garbage bags just so that we could walk around without getting our socks dirty while we waited for our boots to dry out. It was a long day but we did get the chance to finish our Hearts championship with Eric and Mike.

Day 5 – John Gardener Pass Take 2 – 10 hrs, 22km, 680m ascent, 800m descent

In the morning, the weather started to look a lot better so we set out through the muddy forest again and had to hike a lot faster this time to keep up with the guys. When we reached the top of the trees this time, there was only a bit of snow and we could see the path clearly the whole way. The climb up the snow was very difficult and it sometimes felt like we were walking up a black diamond run on a ski hill but we finally made it to the top. Close to the top of the pass, Mike and Eric realised that Ross had a sports / model shooting mode to his camera so they started to pose whilst shouting “you’re a tiger, now a pussy cat!”. It was all very Zoolander’ish and pretty funny. Most people at this stage of the pass are just desperate to cross.

When we got to the top, the views of Glacier Grey were amazing.

 

The wind at the top was supposed to be really strong but it wasn’t so bad for us and it was behind us so it didn’t bother us at all. Ross and I found some softer snow beside the path and ran down the hill. We then entered back into the forest for a very steep and treacherous descent in the mud. The trail was so muddy that we had to grab onto trees in order to keep from slipping. At one stage, there were two possible paths, one with orange markers and one with steps that looked very slippery. I decided that the path with the markers looked less dangerous and Ross decided to take the stairs. No sooner did I take a few steps and I was on my butt sliding down the hill. After hitting a few logs and falling backwards over one from the weight of my pack, I eventually grabbed onto a branch to stop myself. Luckily, I wasn’t hurt so we can laugh about it now. Especially Ross who got to witness my fall and describes it as “watching a pinball machine in slow motion”. Along the way, if ever there was a choice to be made between a very difficult path and an easy one, I always managed to pick the difficult one.

We finally reached the first campsite after the pass called Paso. Our original plan was to stay there but after losing a day to the weather and since it was still pretty early, we decided to try and continue on to Grey where we knew there would be a Refugio and we would be able to celebrate with our friends. It was also positively freezing at Paso and without a fire, spending the afternoon there didn’t seem appealing. 

The path from Paso to Grey went along the Glacier Grey and was relatively easy apart from the dangerous metal ladders that were put up to help us to cross heavily eroded ravines. One was so steep and slippery that we had to take several trips to get our packs, poles and camera down safely.

When we finally reached Camp Grey, we were exhausted. We’d been trekking for 10 hours so we had a few drinks to celebrate and even had a cognac with some glacier ice (which we nicknamed “The Mike”, after its creator. Hopefully people don’t start ordering this in Vegas or the worlds glaciers will be retreating even faster ). We don’t know whether it was the 10 hour hike or the glacial ice but it was smooth.

The Perito Moreno Glacier is one of the highlights of any trip to Argentina’s Patagonia. It is a huge glacier that rises around 60 meters high at the edge and it isn’t receding. Our friends John and Jess had booked onto a mini trek across the glacier so we tried to get ourselves onto the same tour but ended up being an hour behind them.

From El Calafate, we headed down to the Glacier which is about an hour and half away. On the way we stopped at a few view points for some photos of the glacier.

Ross and I overlooking half of the Glacier		The southern edge of the glacier

 

It’s hard to comprehend how big the glacier is. We were only seeing a small part of it. Getting back on the bus we headed to the view points at the front of the glacier. We were dropped off here and had two hours to walk around and hopefully see part of the glacier break off and fall into the water. Unfortunately glacier watching is not an extreme sport so it requires a lot of patience. Whilst we were there we only saw some small chunks fall off but they still made a lot of noise. It sounded like thunder cracking only a few feet away!

Photo taken at the very front of the Glacier.

 

We then headed off for our Mini Trekking on the glacier. Since the glacier moves up to two meters a day at the centre, the ice trekking takes place on the far edge. We headed to the boat launch to get a quick ride across.

When we reached the edge of the glacier we were divided into groups and sent to get crampons. Most people were dressed for the occasion, GoreTex jackets, waterproof trousers, and hiking boots except for one girl wearing Ugg boots and skinny jeans. The outfit was quite comical.

We were let up the glacier by a couple of local guides and in all spent around an hour and a half on the ice. Compared to the glacier walk we had done in Canada previously we were practically allowed to do what ever we wanted. In Canada we weren’t allowed to walk separate from the group and had to sign our lives away in waiver documentation. Here, after a quick two minute demonstration about how to walk in crampons we were away.

Ross and I climbing an ice river	Ross on the Glacier

Ross and I on the Glacier

 

After about 45 minutes it started to pour down rain so Ross and I got a chance to try out our waterproofs but this unfortunately prevented many photo op’s!

At the end of the trek, they had set up an ice bar and we all got served Scotch on the rocks with fresh glacier ice. We just kept thinking… "they wouldn’t have let us do this in Canada!”

Cheers! Drinking on the ice.

 

Whilst we were waiting for the boat to come and pick us up, our patience with Glacier watching paid off. A huge chunk of ice about 30 meters high (about half the height of the glacier) cracked off and went crashing into the water. Luckily I had the camera out and pointed in the right direction just as it happened!

Ice breaking off the glacier and crashing into the water

 

It sent a massive wave through the otherwise placid lake and just at the moment the boat picking us up was docking on the shore and seeing the waves, quickly powered up and sped straight on into the wave. It wasn’t until we saw our boat go up and down over the waves did we realised how big they were.

Final views of the glacier

Afterwards, we went back to El Calafate for a final BBQ dinner with our friends from Los Glaciers National Park.

We flew down to El Calafate in Southern Patagonia which is the central hub in Argentina for the Los Glaciers National Park. We’d planned to spend a few days here booking our travels and preparing for our hike into the northern region of the park around Mount Fitz Roy. El Calafate is a bit like a skiing village in Europe and it is also full of Gore-Tex totting Europeans. We had decided to camp in El Calafate to give us a chance to try out our new tent and cooking equipment. Upon checking in to our camp site, we quickly realised that the staff didn’t speak a word of English and we struggled to even ask if we could stay for a couple of nights. Luckily the English couple standing behind us spoke Spanish and were able to get us checked in. We later met up with the couple, Toby and Emily, for a few beers and decided we’d head to El Chalten together to start our trek. Ross actually invited us along with them but luckily they were cool with that .

The next day we spent booking bus tickets, buying food and cooking supplies for the trek. We also decided to cook dinner at the campsite which meant using coals on the supplied BBQ’s. Borrowing some coals off our new British friends, Ross tried lighting them with a few scraps of newspaper. After a few minutes and a lot of smoke, the Argentinean family next door took pity on him and kindly showed him how to light a fire .

Trekking Day 1:

The next day we got up early, packed up our tent and boarded our bus to El Chalten. When we arrived at the Information Centre at the entrance to the Los Glaciers national park, we ran into an American couple, John and Jessie, who we’d met for about one minute at breakfast at our hostel in Buenos Aires. They were planning basically the same hike as us so after finding our British friends from the campsite we suddenly had a little trekking party of six.

Since we had a perfect day we decided to head to Mount Fitz Roy (basically because the photos at the info centre looked the best). As we approached the first lookout point, we heard a lady screaming “Martina! Georgio!” and looked up to see her running down the path. When she reached us, she was hysterical and yelling in Spanish. All we heard was “Bambino!” and we understood immediately that she had lost her children. Seeing the state she was in was quite frightening and we all felt bad for her so we dropped our packs, and the guys fanned out along the track looking for her children. After what seemed like a long time but was probably only about five minutes, we heard someone yell that she’d found her children and everything was alright. Feeling sorry for the children and the amount of trouble they’d be in we headed to the view point and we got our first up close glimpse of Mount Fitz Roy and it was a great looking mountain. It was completely different to Nepal and the Himalayas and whilst about half the size, every mountain was easily identifiable and unique.

One amazing thing about this park is that all of the water is 100% drinkable. We were able to fill our water bottles at any stream that we walked by and the water tasted great!

Heading on we got to the first campsite on a pretty spot by a lake with views of Fitz Roy but seeing as it was only 2pm and a perfect day we decided to head onto the next campsite which we reached after a couple more hours. Setting up camp we started to prepare dinner but quickly realised our brand new and state of the art cooking stove was basically a pile of rubbish. We’d bought a JetBoil system it wasn’t a jet and certainly didn’t boil anything. Several hours of repairs later and with the help of John we’d got it kind of of working but well enough to make our instant four cheese risotto.

Trekking Day 2:

We woke up to find the mountains completely covered in clouds which is pretty common in Patagonia. We’d actually been unbelievably lucky on day one to have unusually perfect weather. So we decided to head on a day hike to see Laguna Piedras Blancas instead of the more common hike to see Fitz Roy up close in the hope that the clouds would clear in the afternoon. After about two hours we’d reached what we though was the path but after climbing a hill full of massive boulders and sending Toby, John and Ross up ahead to check it out, we realised this was completely the wrong path. Heading back down to the main path we quickly reached the real way up to the lake. After about half and hour of scrambling over massive boulders and several retakes of the easiest way up we reached the lake which had unbelievable views of Glaciers Piedras Blancas. We had a snack there before heading back.

Scrambling over the boulders
		Ross and I at Lake Piedras Blancas

After getting back to the campsite Mount Fitz Roy was still completely covered in cloud to the point where I would have believed there wasn’t actually a mountain there at all. It was also New Years Eve and Jess’s birthday so we decided to head with them onto another campsite this time at the bottom of Mount Torre.

Breaking camp and heading out, it was already about 6pm but luckily the sun sets about 10pm at this latitude so we had plenty of day light left to make the 3 hour journey. All of us completely underestimated how tired we were from the first day and the afternoon hike over the boulders and it was tough going. After about an hour my shoulders were killing me but we kept going and after another gruelling two hours we reached the campsite and started to make dinner.

On the way to Campamento De Agostini

Once again we had to play around with the JetBoil but this time it didn’t want to co-operate. After staring at it trying to boil water for about half an hour we borrowed Toby and Emily’s’ much simpler gas cooker and finished preparing our meal. It was now getting close to New Years and amazingly the other couples had managed to trek in two bottles of wine and a bottle of local whisky to celebrate. We’d struggled to carry our pack’s so I have no idea how they also carried the booze. Generously they shared it around so we had a great new years under the stars celebrating with our new friends.

Trekking Day 3:

Waking up a little later this morning, we set out to see Glacier Cerro Torre at the bottom of the mountain but unfortunately the mountain itself was still covered in clouds.

Glacial Ice

View of the Lake

After breaking camp we setup off back to El Chalten for our final night before heading back to El Calafate and onto Puerto Natales to go to Torres Del Paine National Park in Chile. After about three hours trekking we got back into town and setup and a nice campsite on the main street which had hot showers! Even though it had been only three days of trekking we felt like it was a god send! After a few victory beers with the team at the campsite we headed to a nice Argentinean restaurant which advertised Bife de Lomo on the outside and it didn’t disappoint. After a great meal here we found a bar where we continued to celebrate our successful trek. Many drinks later Ross and I headed back to crash in our tent. The other guys kept partying which some of them regretted a little bit the next morning.

Cerro Torres trek view point		Final meal back in El Chalten

Back to El Calafate

Today we basically sat around (and had some delicious bacon and egg waffles for breakfast) until our bus back to El Calafate in the evening.

Having survived the British Airways strike and making it out of Heathrow on Christmas day we arrived at Buenos Aires 16 long economy class hours later. When we read in the Lonely Planet that there are many taxi touts at the airport we were thinking ‘Oh crap, not again like India’ but upon arriving we realised that the touts were merely just taxi stands with bad rates and absolutely zero harassment. Pure bliss as far as we were concerned.

We hadn’t planned to do anything in Buenos Aires apart from eat steak and drink wine so we set out on our first night to find a good parilla. We ended up at this great no frills restaurant where we had bife de lomo for only 5 pounds! It was delicious!

The next day we went for a walk through the Sunday market, a huge market spanning several blocks of a closed off streets all the way into the centre of town.  One popular item that they sell is a cup and straw for drinking mate. Mate is an herbal tea that is very high in caffeine and drinking it is a tradition amongst Argentineans. They don’t normally serve it in restaurants so you have to buy the special cup and straw and make it yourself. Unfortunately we didn’t have room for it in our bags but I figured we’d probably get a chance to try it at some point during our trip.