Day 46 - 50 Patagonia

Day 46 - Travel Day

Today was a sad day for me as our cruise was over. Still excited for the upcoming parts of our trip, but I was enjoying the exploration of the waterways of Patagonia and I was really enjoying meeting the other people on the cruise and getting to know them. Kristen on the other hand was excited to get off the ship as the waters have been a bit rough for a few days. After exchanging contact information with the Italian and Swiss couple and the journalists, we disembarked from Via Australis.

We put our feet on solid grounds at 9:30 am and our flight to El Calafate wasn't schedule to leave until 1:00 pm. Our tour company arranged for a guide to take us to the airport, but first we went on a 2 hour city driving tour of Ushuaia.

Our very first stop was to the camera shop as our camera would not autofocus. We were both pretty bummed about it as the thought of loosing our good camera was depressing. As I described the problem to the worker, our guide noticed that the switch on our lens was on "M" instead of "A". I switched it to "A" standing for autofocus and bam it worked like a charm. I would say that it was the most embarrassed I was for sometime, but reality is it was the most embarrassed I was since attempting to sing YMCA at bingo night less than 48 hours earlier. Either way embarrassing. Sometimes a potential complex problem has a simple solution. We both assumed the wind and rain was the cause, but we somehow slipped the switch. Lesson learned!

We spent the rest of two hours taking in the views of Ushuaia, which is a gorgeous town on a hill. We learned a lot about why it was a town and it's significance to Argentina, a way to secure the Beagle Channel. Many of the roads were rocky, hilly, and winding, so not the most ideal two hours after four days on a boat,but it is what it is. We hope to one day come back to Ushuaia before visiting Antarctica.

The airport in Ushuaia was architecturally interesting. I hadn't been in an airport with such a steep slope in the roof, but makes sense with all of the snow the region gets. Our flight left on time at 1:00.

The flight was uneventful until the pilot announced our landing when all of the sudden we spent 15 minutes being thrown around by the wind. I am not usually affected by the motion, but this was unpleasant. Poor Kristen can't catch a break. Thank goodness she left on the scopolamine patch.

The wind in El Calafate was crazy. It wasn't quite Cape Horn wind, but it was howling and whistling loud. Our driver loaded our bags and we settled in for what turned out to be a very windy three hour car ride to El Chalten. Multiple times Kristen informed me that she was worried for our safety and that based on her calculations, our tall van was wider than our base and we were at risk of being blown over. When she asked the driver, he confirmed that many tourists vehicles do get in a wreck on this road, but his record was clean. That didn't quite calm Kristen's worries, but not sure it was possible. Once again, the wind was strong enough that even I was a bit car sick.

After three hours of windy driving, we arrived safely to El Chalten and to our hotel Los Cerros. The hotel was great and we were excited to be here despite wind gusts of 50 mph. We met our guide for the day and checked email where we learned that we were able to secure our apartment in Portland (more to come on this)! Dinner was included at the hotel and was once again over the top, but delicious. The wind let down some, but we might be in for a long night of window shaking and wind howling. Hopefully tomorrow will bring calm winds and clear skies.

 

 

Day 47 - Las Torres

We woke up at 6:00 am to steady rain and wind, so we delayed our hike from 8 to 9. Our hotel made a "box lunch" for us (not actually in a box, but came in a hiking bag that we transferred to our hiking packs). Our guide was well experienced in the area as he had been rock climbing and guiding here for over ten years. Even though we are fairly experienced hikers, we wanted to hire a guide for a few reasons:

1) we did not know the area. Even though we knew the paths would be well marked, we had no idea what kind of animals or dangers were in the area.

2) the weather turns here very quickly and we wanted the experience of a local in case of problems

3) it gives us a way to meet a local who lives here and knows the area. We enjoy learning about how the locals live and it is a nice way to spend 18 hours of hiking.

4) we get to learn about the area: the different hills, wildlife, plants, history, etc.

We continue to be amazed at how smart the guides are. It is rare that they do not answer a question. I know they don't make up much as they have all answered at one point that they do not know.

The hike started out with sun, so took off a layer. Twenty minutes later the wind and rain picked up, so we put on our rain gear. An hour later, the wind really picked up so we had to eat lunch at the campsite instead of the glacier. Luckily at lunch though the sun came out and we were able to escape the wind. About an hour after lunch, we discussed taking off our rain gear as the sun was shinning and it was getting warm. Within ten minutes, more rain! The last 30 minutes was dry before mild rain as we walked into our hotel. Within minutes of being back, high winds and down poor. It has been that way for the last five hours or so. We were lucky to avoid the strong rain. Lesson here is that they are not joking with the expression "if you don't like the weather, wait ten minutes." Because of the weather, we did not get to use our nice camera for pictures. We both reflected today that we were lucky to have good gear. Despite the various weather conditions we were also dressed appropriately. It was annoying to always be switching layers, but at least we were dry and warm!

As for the hike itself, here was the tour description of our the day:

After breakfast, you will start a full day of hiking a Patagonian classic: Mt. Torre, famous for its beauty but also for its climbing difficulty. This is the pinnacle of trekking Patagonia. Every year, countless expeditions attempt to reach the summit, but only a few succeed. After a half hour of hiking, you reach the viewpoint of the Fitz Roy River and Margarita waterfall. Continue for another 30 minutes until you reach the Mirador del Cerro Torre, a lookout facing the Cerro Torre and Adelas ranges. From this point, the trail descends into the valley. The trail ends on the shores of Laguna Torre, offering a stunning view of Mt. Torre surrounded by the Egger and Standhard spires and the Adelas range as a backdrop together with the glacier Torre. You will have time to enjoy the view, eat lunch, and rest before returning on the same trail to the town of El Chalten.

Hiking Details: 12 miles / Elevation gain: 1200 ft /Average time: 7 hours

We did not get to see the summit of Mt. Torre as the clouds of rain were rolling in. However, we were able to see glacier Torre and Laguna Torre. Despite the highest wind at the Laguna, we were able to enjoy it. It still does not get old seeing glaciers, especially glaciers that go into the water, seen below in our video.

 

At lunch we got to enjoy mate (a tea like drink with caffeine slightly less than coffee) a traditional herbal drink. At learned that the host prepares the dry mate herbs and pours in the hot water. He/she then passesto one guest, they drink all of the liquid before passing back to host. The host pours in more water and passes to the next guest. This goes on for all guests, before the host takes their turn. It continues until someone says "Thank You" symbolizing they had enough. Mate is meant to be enjoyed when relaxing or socializing. They rarely take it to go. There is a special stray that prevents the herbs from going up the stray. It took us about three sips to finish your turn. It tasted like a green tea and was fun to try. I think it would be fun to try this with friends in the states instead of beer or wine. However, our culture does not really accept sharing of one stray.

We took in the culture by participating in an afternoon siesta after the hike. Despite the heavy wind and rain, we decided to try the area brewery as they were supposed to have good food and beer. We put back on our rain gear and walked the quarter mile to dinner. It was not a let down as Kristen enjoyed a huge salad and me a meat empanada and locro (Argentinian stew). It was neat to eat dinner at a small brewery where everyone there was eating in their rain gear after a day of playing outside hiking. It is interesting to see people from all over the world in one small brewery. Additionally, it was interesting to see a small brewpub in a small Argentina town that had an extra gluten free menu.

The local heladoria (where they make ice cream) was on our block, so we stopped in to try a few flavors. Delicious.

We spent the rest of the evening preparing for our long day of hiking to Mt. Fitz Roy and in a few days to Torres del Paine.

We also switched our room from twin beds to a queen. We thought we had been getting twins beds here and on the cruise since we have different last names. We were trying to respect the tradional Catholic culture, but it turns out the tour company noted us for twins. Not sure how that happened. The receptionist came and asked up if ewe wanted one GED after the housekeeper cleaned our room and noticed the beds pushed together.

Kristen and I tried to stay awake to maybe catch some stars, but at 1130 Kristen fell asleep as I was talking to her. Lol. It is crazy that you still get some light at 1100 pm and need to wait until after midnight to catch stars. We were both excited to be at the end of the world to experience some amazing stars. However we have not had one night with the opportunity since the Milford Sound.

Day 48 - Fitz Roy

We both had trouble waking up this morning, but we made it to 700 am breakfast. It feels a bit wrong to eat cookies for breakfast, but they seem to pass here as granola cookies. We both have scrambled eggs with a variety of fruit and for me cookies. We also have gotten used to toast with a slice of cheese. There is no peanut butter to be found here.

We started the day off with a 40 minute van ride with eight other people along the river. I think I fell asleep through most of the pretty drive. We were lucky today to have great weather.

Here was the tour description of our day:

Today's segment of trekking Patagonia includes a full-day hike to the Laguna Capri base camp (Fitz Roy base camp). The hike towards Fitz Roy features spectacular views of the massif. The peak was sacred and venerated by local Tehuelche groups who believed the mists enshrouding it were volcanic ash, calling it Chalten (God of Smoke). You will begin hiking south from El Pilar, passing Laguna Piedras Blancas on the way to Laguna de los Tres, at the base of Mt. Fitz Roy. Three glaciers drain into this emerald lagoon with majestic Mt. Fitz Roy towering above. Stop en route for lunch and then resume the hike to Laguna Capri, where the image of Mt. Fitz Roy is reflected. You'll enjoy spectacular views of the sweeping Patagonian steppe and Fitz Roy, highlights of any Patagonia tour. After a full day of hiking, return to Los Cerros hotel for a good meal and night's sleep.

The weather for this hike was spectacular. We had some spitting rain and some strong winds early, but by the time we summited to Laguna de los Tres it was warm with perfect skies. Laguna de los Torres was unbelievable. To see such beautiful water with a glacier dumping into it with huge granite peaks towering above, PRICELESS. This backdrop has to be the most beautiful setting I have ever seen in person.

The water was so perfect, you could drink it. I really wanted to swim in it, but the glacier makes it pretty cold. Plus, it wouldn't be drinkable then. I finally gave in and drank some glacial water. Some of the most refreshing water I've ever drank. It was different from the water we drank in the Milford Sound. It is has been very hard for us to drink the water despite all sorts of references saying it is ok. There really isn't much livestock or other ways to contaminate the water source especially high in the mountain, but it just feels wrong to drink it. We had lunch at the lake and it was hard to leave even after about 30 minutes of relaxing. However, we knew there was 7 miles back to town and we had one other lake to see.

Laguna Sucia, the "dirty lake", was also spectacular. It wasn't quite as impressive as the first lake since we were looking down on it. An awesome perspective for sure, but there was something about being at the water/glacier level at lunch. They call it the "dirty lake" as it is much more cloudy than Laguna de los Torres since it has much more moraine it in from the glaciers.

Our guide shocked us when we started to come down. He asked if we felt adventurous and like climbing. Of course, we were both high on life right now after summiting to Laguna de Los Torres, and were up for anything. I actually think I could have gotten Kristen to skydive had he asked us. Anyways, we decided to go off trail down the mountain to avoid the same fairly crowded paths back. This was soo much fun. We carefully went from rock to rock down the side of the mountain. We would not have done this for sure on our own. You couldn't actually since you would have no idea where to go. Having a guide who knew this like his personal back yard was so worth the extra money.

We spent about an hour or so hoping from rock to rock making our own path. My go pro camera was out of battery again, so I was only able to capture some of the experience. We just loved being off path taking in the Patagonia scenery like we were the first to touch many of these rocks. That is what it felt like. We played a game keeping track of negative points if you moved a rock when you stepped on them. I ultimately "lost" so I had to buy ice cream later in town. He challenged Kristen to step like a puma, light weight on each step, by using our pulls to take much of the weight off the actual rocks. This technique was sometimes easy while others impossible. I think I slide three times to Kristen's two.

One of the cool things about passing people on the trail was was seeing all sorts of people from many countries and of various ages. Patagonia has always and continues to attract people of all levels of fitness from all over the world. We passed people in what appeared to be their 70s taking their time and hiking along the valleys taking in the views. There were many other people doing exactly like we were doing. Additionally, there were people camping and spending days in the park, hiking peak to peak. Furthermore, there are people here with high fitness and adventure climbing up the various rock faces. Pretty cool that all of these different people with different goals can be together in very small town in the middle of no where. I wish I could watch the climbers as I find it difficult to image climbing these high peaks.

We stopped to take many different pictures along the trek home. We were both pretty sweating as the sun was warm today. We ultimately hiked 23 kilometers back to town where I bought beer and ice cream for the three of us. Pedro told us about how he volunteers for mountain rescue and a few stories from this. He says he goes out about five times a year. They have special back boards that allow two rescue workers to wear the board like a back pack, one in the front and the other in the back. We were also shocked to hear that they don't go out just to get bodies, but only when there is a chance of rescuing someone (search and recover). The family has to pay to get the body out from someone who fell and died. I guess I understand as it is dangerous to carry someone on your back as you hike down a mountain.

The ice cream at the heladoria was phenomenal and I don't say that about just anything. After saying our good byes to Pedro, we made it back to the hotel to shower before heading out to do laundry. At this point it was 6:30, but the laundry place did our two loads for $80 pesos or about $13 USD and they were done at 8:30! We bought our bus tickets from El Calafate to puerto Natales in two days. We were able to get a 5:30 am bus that should arrive at 1300 for a 1430 departure into Torres del Paine where we start our hike for five days. We went to eat dinner at the local winery, but the chef was off today to watch a soccer match. Sucks for us, but kind of cool that the place is that local and he surely deserved a day off. We ended up eating dinner at the hotel. Kristen enjoyed her salad and I enjoyed lamb ravioli. Lamb is what Argentina is known for and I have had two great and different lamb dinners. People warned us that it would be difficult for vegetarians here in Argentina. Kristen hasn't found it that difficult as she has had some of the best meals on this trip.

We were pretty tired and went to bed "early" at 1030. I say that because it is still fairly light out at this hour.

Day 49 - hike and to El Calafate

Early rise this morning at 6:00 to get breakfast at 6:30 and out the door hiking at 6:45. We had a transfer to El Calafate at 3:00 and we wanted to summit one of the hikes Pedro thought we would like. We decided to hike Loma del Pliegue Tumbado which he estimated would take us seven hours. It was a bit chilly and windy when we started, but the weather seemed to get better the past two days at about 930 or 1000. About an hour into the hike, the wind became very gusty making us stop a few times after almost being pushed over. However, we continued on into the forest where we were blocked from the wind. We started to come out of the woods at the top of the hill and Kristen almost flew right back into me. We quickly ducked behind a tree. She yelled what I thought was "there is a hole down here" where I pulled her closer into me, however, she yelled "put your pole down here" as she was off balance. Luckily we were stable and quickly sat down with our backs to the wind and last remaining tree. We waited about ten minutes until we decided to go back into the woods down the hill for some protection. We sat here for another 15 minutes, but we started to get cold. I didn't appear that the wind was letting up. We were only a few hundred meters from the lookout, but we knew it could be dangerous. Our guide told us yesterday that it might be too windy once we came out of trees and he was right. We ultimately decided to return to town. Ironically, yesterday we discussed how it stinks to always have to hike to the "saddle" before then summiting each day and how we wanted to start doing that and camping the night so we could see more summits. Today we hiked to the saddle and didn't even get to see one summit! Oh well, you win some and loose some. We questioned ourselves all the way down, but we were reconfirmed of our right decision at the bottom when it was still very gusty and raining.

The weather in Patagonia truly does change all of the time. We felt very fortunate to have such an amazing day of hiking with beautiful skies yesterday. It made two days hiking in various levels of wind and rain worth it. The hiking here is awesome, but does come with some dangers as the gust of winds can be forceful as we had some 50 mph. That was also reconfirmed on our walk through town as we passed a gentleman with a new cast on his arm that Kristen confirmed was wrist fracture. Pedro said it was the most common injury as the wind gusts knock people over.

We ate our boxed lunch at the hotel. I absolutely loved my chicken sandwich. It was made with the best tasting white bread, tomatoes, chicken, cheese and some type of mayonnaise. After three straight days, I would love to eat it for lunch for the next week. Kristen felt the same for her vegetable sandwich.

We loved El Chalten as it was a small, but friendly village with multiple trails leaving from the town itself. Amazing hiking without having to drive each day. I highly recommend Los Cerros as we loved our stay here. The one frustration we continue to have is the lack of decent internet. They had internet at the hotel, but it was painfully slow to where many websites timed out. Life is much easier when you can quickly solve a problem on the internet.

We moved our transfer from 3:00 to 1:00 to get into El Calafate earlier. We both slept during the 2.5 hour ride.

El Calafate is much bigger than El Chalten. Luckily our hotel is two blocks off the main road. We unloaded our bags and headed for the Glacierium. Tomorrow we get to walk on the Perito Moreno glacier. And by walk, I mean trek for three hours with crampons! We read multiple reviews that said it was great to learn about how glaciers form and the regional glaciers before going onto Perito. And everyone was right. The museum was fantastic. We watched a well done 15 minute film on flying over glaciers. Despite having no audible, the video was stunning. A few days prior, I was telling Kristen how it would be cool to helicopter over the glaciers. They showed a 3D film, but it was only average as we had to close one eye the entire time to get the 3D effect. We spent another hour learning about how snow compacts into glacial ice over time. The time depends on the amount (weight) of he the snow, it's temperature, and it's elevation. We learned about where ice was across the world and how it all formed millions of years ago. We also learned how the shapes of the glaciers are formed, which we go to see in person the following day. Rocks act in two interesting ways. The small rocks melt the ice faster, so we saw the streams of water having small rocks (called moraine) in them. The bigger bolders actually keep the ice below them cooler than the surrounding ice, so you get what they call a table rock with a rock or boulder sitting on top of a small piece of ice.

One of the funniest parts of the museum was visiting their underground ice bars. We have had opportunities to visit these before, but they never seemed appropriate and always too touristy. However, it seemed like the perfect time to finally visit after seeing a glacier museum. It cost us an extra $200 pesos ($35 USD) for 25 minutes and open bar. It was a blast. They had upbeat US music playing and different colored lights reflecting different ice sculptors and the ice bar. We each had two ice glasses of beer in our 25 minutes as there was always a line. We didn't mind as we had just as much fun taking pictures and taking in the surrounding ice. Despite having an extra coat on, 25 minutes was an appropriate amount of time. 35 minutes would have probably been ideal, but we couldn't have last a full hour in there.

We headed back to town to dinner at La Tablita. Despite the roasting of the lambs at the entrance, we both enjoyed the ambiance of the restaurant. Despite reviews saying it was expensive, we felt it reasonable. Where else can you order bottles of wine at a restaurant for $13? The food was presented well, but it was average. Kristen was a bit grossed out by the "traditional Argentinian lamb" as it came to the table with bones and all. I found it ok, but not better than Los Cerros in El Chalten.

We strolled through the grocery store for some snacks and headed back to rest up for our long day of ice trekking tomorrow.

Day 50 - Perito Moreno Glacier

Rise and shine this morning at 6:00 to get ready for a 7:00 departure to trek on the Perito Moreno Glacier (Big Hike). We ate breakfast at the hotel, grabbed our hotel provided lunches, and our already prepared day packs and boarded the bus at about 7:15. We picked up about thirty other people on the bus before our hour long bus ride to the Bajo de las Sombras port on the shore of Lake Argentino. Once we got into the park. We stopped for an hour viewing the glacier from across the water. It was windy and sprinkling a bit, so an hour was plenty. Because it was raining we got to see a rainbow over the glacier. It was awesome. Seeing the blue face of the glacier was nothing like the glaciers we saw on the cruise. The size of the face was huge. We were fortunate to see multiple pieces fall off into the water, some huge pieces. The magnitude of this glacier is something I can't describe. It was beneficial that we got to learn a lot about the glacier yesterday at the glacierium. The Perito Moreno Glacier is one of the fastest growing glaciers in the world which is why we were able to see some calving today.

Once we arrived to port from our viewing area, we took a quick ride across the lake to start our day of trekking. We had to walk about an hour until we finally arrived at the point at which we could step on the glacier. We wore a safety harness in case they had to pull us up from a crevasse and crampons. Crampons are metal spikes that make it possible to hike on ice. They go on the bottom of your boats and strap on them tight. They were surprisingly easy to use. The taught us how to walk up hill with our feet pointed out, down hill feet straight knees bent, and side ways with one foot pointed downhill. The key to success with crampons was to take small steps and keep your feet wide to avoid the spikes from tangling.

Being on a glacier was magnificent. Who would have ever thought it was possible and why would you want to do such a thing? But it was awesome. We hiked for three hours up and down varies glacier hills and embankments. We saw huge drop offs caused by rivers and lakes, all on the glacier. The water and moraine melt the ice causing streams which further cause bigger drop offs, holes, and mounds. We both were shocked at the moraine which made the glaciers look like the end of your drive way when the snowplow comes through, dirty looking snow. It is soil and rocks that are blown from the mountainside from the high winds. By the end of the day, the moraine (and sun) had melted the ice just enough to where is sunk in the ice about a half inch. This left beautiful looking white ice in the afternoon.

The real treat was when we got to see deeper into the ice which is where the true amazing blue colors are. This some caused by the higher compressed molecules in the "older" ice. You got to see blue where the water had eroded the top layer of ice. The blue colors was just beautiful to see.

The one hard thing to comprehend was just how massive this ice field was. We saw it into the mountain side, but it was hard to imagine it running for hundreds of miles north to south. We took hundreds of pictures as each time you climbed a hill or mound, we saw something that made us go "wow, take a picture of that!" I had the perfect technique down for the camera as it was windy and sprinkled on and off. I had the camera around my neck and kept it between my down North Face jacket and my gore-tex wind breaker outer shell. This kept it accessible and protected from the elements. I simply unzipped my outer jacket, put my outer glove into my jacket and pulled out the camera for a quick snap.

You had to wear gloves on the ice even when the wind was calm, since it was so sharp and was a guarantee cut otherwise. Walking polls were not any help on the glacier as they aren't sharp enough to actually grip the ice. We luckily have the right gear as multiple layers was exactly what was needed. I ultimately had on four layers on top and two on the bottom with two gloves and a hat and gore-tex hood.

We ultimately had a blast walking on the ice. The excursion was only for people 18-55 as it is pretty physically demanding. They did have a mini-trekking for anyone not up for five hours of hiking. Because it was more limiting, the pace of the group was pretty good. We ultimately had some stragglers after lunch, but even my feet were ready to ditch the crampons and hit solid ground. I haven't put lot of thought into top ten experiences yet, but this will most likely be high on the list.

We ended up getting home at 6:30. We tried to get a load of laundry done, but everything was closing down, so we are hoping to wash one hiking outfit in our first hotel in Torres del Paine. We tried to catch pictures of the pink flamingos, but they were too deep into the marsh for a good glimpse. I got some pizza across the street from the hotel and added captions to our New Zealand pictures. I wanted to get that blog out since we had a decent connection for once. I need to get the pictures backed up in the cloud so I can delete them off my ipad so we can sort Patagonia pictures. This trip is the first time I really wish I had a 64 gb ipad.

We spent the rest of the night packing for our five day "W" hike through Torres del Paine. We leave at 5:30 am for a full day of bus hoping to get to the park. The hotels are spread out in the park and you hike from one to another. We won't get able to bring two bags each, so we have to bring the bare necessaries only. We left the other two backpacks and our now full duffel bag at the hotel in El Calafate in their locked storage. It makes us nervous to leave our stuff for five days, but we really have no choice and people do it all of the time. I ended up bringing my ipad and iPhone as I was haunted by them being stolen. Plus I have plenty of room in my hiking pack and they aren't that heavy. It also allows me to catch up on my blogs.

Kristen got to bed about 10:30 as I spent an extra 1.5 hours saving videos and pictures for the New Zealand blog.

Click the link below for pictures

https://picasaweb.google.com/101721597279495771132/SouthernPatagonia?noredirect=1

 

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