Patagonian winds...
Howdy folks! How´s it going? Well been a busy... week is it? I have no idea :) Never end up writing everything so have a little list so hopefully manage to finish my thoughts... There was 12hrs time difference so has taken a bit of adjustment, as has eating at 10pm and getting up at 6!
Patagonia is absolutely stunning - a lot more desert-like than what I was imagining - but the hills and scenery are brill.! Where we are travelling is near the Chile-Argentinian border so oodles of mtns and glacial lakes everywhere...
We have been to El Calafate which was really nice - stayed at a really cute little hotel on the shores of Lake Agentina and had some very delicious chocolate - the dark chocolate isn´t bitter at all - very different and very tasty! We did a ´short´ drive to Moreno glacier and went on a boat ride there and had a walk around... there were bits of ice breaking off all the time - it was amazing - the sound and the waves it created! Had a yummy meal of Patagonian lamb where they smoke it over the fire for 6hrs - with roasted veggies for dinner (conissited of 3 types of potato + pumpkin) - Argentina is a lot of lamb and potatoes... breakfast and lunch has been cheese and ham sangas (we are all getting a bit tired of that one!)... Prices are so so....
2 days ago we made our way to El Chalten - which means smoky mtn - named because the main peak there typcially has a cloud at the top of it so they orginally thought it was a volcano (also called Fitz Roy). El Chalten is a tiny little village that is getting úpdated´as we speak which is a bit of a shame... Anyway so we did a 24km walk - took 11 hours!!! - to a lake at the base of Fitz Roy - was pretty tough - esp towards the end of the day, but definitely worthwhile. Had to crouch down a couple of times because of the strong winds... Had an amazing massage the following day by the little old argentinian woman and then had a pizza and a hot chocolate that had a scoop of home-made icecream in it (very yum!). We then had to go back to El Calafate last night (4hrs) - passed through a dust storm on a stinky hot stinky smell bus -there is a sign on the bus that says not to take off your shoes, obviously some people didn´t pay attention... The driver finally turned on the a/c when we were about an hour away...
We then had to get up early (again) to make our way across into Chile to Puerto Natales (Puerto means ´expert´- lots of the places around here are named after thé éxperts´who helped define the Chile-Argentina border or who explored the place...). At the border crossing they open everyone´s bags to see if you are bringing in any fruit or seeds etc - makes for a very long process. The 5hr drive from El Calafate to P. Natales was pretty interesting - saw some guaracos (alpacca things), rias (like emus), a fox, and lots of sheep, and of course the scenery... Puerto Natales is pretty good too - everywhere we have stayed has had lots of backpackers. And have already had some chilli in Chile! :)
We are off camping for the next few days at Torres del Paine - should be great, although am not sure about the walking - am still a bit sore! Doing about 7hrs tomorrow (starting at around 10 after a 2hr bus ride to get there), and then 8hrs the next day and the day after... altho the good news is that there are showers available - and some places where you can get beer and other treats at the same sites (what kind of camping is this?!)
Have had some American treats along the way... including an American on the bus today saying ´looking at those sheep, they are on the green grass and not the brown grass´... and their general ignorant comments...
The group is pretty good... altho there always has to be a...... ´special´someone - and that would be Janet... she is 64yo American - true American... and yes she does really well - she zooms around the mtns pushing past you like an energiser bunny but good grief - some of her questions and comments are unbelievable! The other night after we came off the bus, Janet stops smack bang in teh middle of the door way to exit the bus station adn turns around to us and says ´where do we go now?´´ - well first thing would be to get out of the door way to let the 30 or so people trying to vacate the bus station go... and then follow the rest of the group to the taxi rank where we are all meant to be catching taxis - like we were told about 5 mins beforehand - she like to be led by the hand pretty much... - probably one of those things where you have to be there i suppose...
My room buddy is Kelly from NYC and that is working out great... There is girl - Carmela from Melbourne and we figured out that we will be meeting up again when we do the Inca Trail so that is exciting...
Anyway have managed to add a couple of pics... enjoy!
First night at dinner (Kelly is getting served, Carmella is beside her)
Patagonian lamb cooking
Moreno glacier
Fitz Roy Mtn
- 1st photo is from along the walk - you can see two ´little´mtns at the front with a plateau in the middle - that is where we walked to. 2nd photo is at the top
