Los Torres del Paine
After Russ and I lost our third travel partner, there was nowhere to go but down, so we headed south. I let Russ handle this next adventure, and he proposed a trip to Chile, so we boarded yet another bus and headed to southern Argentina where we could easily cross over to Chile. We were very relieved (understatement) to discover we didn’t have to pay the $130.00 tax that US citizens must pay to get into Chile because we bussed in rather than flew.
We arrived in Puerto Natales, which is a little port town that borders Parque Nacional Torres del Paine. Puerto Natales reminded us of a sleepy Oregon beach town, minus the beach, plus many tourists. We arrived towards the end of the trekking season, which was perfect, as we were therefore able to easily find a hostel, and plan our next step. After much debate we decided to head towards Los Torres del Paine and trek the “W”. The “W” is half of the whole loop and takes anywhere from four to five days. As it was nearing my birthday (and on that day I wanted to be showered and well fed) the “W” seemed like the appropriate choice.
Russ and me on our final day of the trek, in front of Glacier Grey
Of the trek, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. It was my first ever real backpacking experience, and as far as that went… I am proud. Lucky for me I was with an expert, who always was the first to get up and motivate me with good humor and fresh warm mate.
Some highlights of the trek:
1. seeing the sun-rise on the granite towers
2. Being kissed by a supply boy on a horse (in my defense, I thought he asked me for a peso… not un beso… oops… sorry Russ)
3. The realization that the tent was in fact water and wind resistant
4. Seeing avalanches
5. A hot shower, and a beer,,. Finally on the third day
6. Glacier Grey
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| Los Torres del paine |
After the trek, we were full of fresh air, and ready to bear the bus fumes of Buenos Aires once again.
Long time coming…Russ, Gabi and Emma’s Patagonian adventures
Ok. So it has been terribly long since I have contributed to updating the blog. So.. here I go.
After the trip to Brazil (in February) Gabi, Russ and I decided to head south and explore Patagonia. We left Buenos Aires just four days after returning from Brazil, on the 14th of February. There is no more a romantic way to spend Valentines Day than a 20- some odd hour bus ride; luckily I think that holiday is pretty stupid. Our first stop was Bariloche.
view from our hostel
In Bariloche we found the perfect little hostel (a chill place) where we were able to recover from the long bus ride. The hostel was a ways from town in the middle of Otto Mountain. Although it was a trek to get to the hostel, the view was more than worth it. We spent our time in Bariloche hiking, swimming, cooking, card playing and reading… a theme that repeated itself throughout the trip. While hiking in Bariloche we all felt right at home amongst the pine trees and green shrubbery; we could have pretty much done the same thing in Oregon, and there on a much smaller budget.. but instead of looking at it in a negative way we decided to just be happy that we felt so close to home.
gabi and me swimming in the very cold water
We explored Bariloche for about four days before we decided to put our camping gear to use. We camped at a nearby lake (Lago Gutierrez) for four nights. To our joy and surprise we were all sitting around the campfire when one of us happened to look up and notice that there was a lunar eclipse. Lunar eclipses are pretty cool in and of themselves, but when you are camping, away from any city lights and just happen to stumble across one, they seem to be even more magical. We spent the four days swimming in the very cold lake, hiking, reading, cooking and playing with two puppies that lived on the campgrounds. Once we were good and dirty, we felt it was time to move on.
We took a two-hour bus ride to the nearby town of Bolson. It is known as quite a hippie town, and coming from Eugene I felt right at home. Using our Lonely Planet (our Bible) we found the perfect little hostel. It was about a mile out of town, in a little shack-like place.
We shared the shack with two other couples… poor Gabi. The three of us were piled into a very small loft. In Bolson we explored the feria (which had great food and crafts) and took one day to hike to a waterfall and the toothless Indian head or some call the toothless hippie head, both un-PC, (but I must admit it did look like a toothless someone). This day hike turned into quite the adventure as we ran into some wild bulls,,, and Russ (who I guess had seen too many bullfights in Spain) made us wait until they passed on the side of the trail.. for at least an hour, before heading back. (there is more to that story, but I don’t want to embarrass anyone… Russ). We stayed in the shack for three nights, and through talking with other travelers decided to hike to Glacier Azul.
we are trying to imitate the toothless indian head in the background
The trek to Glacier Azul began with a taxi ride to some random place and about a mile trek to a “bridge”. This bridge has a one-person maximum limit on it, and would not be considered legally crossable in the states. It was a suspension Indiana Jones-style bridge, with rotten and missing boards. Gabi at first decided she would rather try and forge the river, but the currents were too strong, and we were therefore only left with one option. The bridge made all of us a little light-headed and sweaty, but we made it safely across after about 40 min a piece. Once over the bridge, it hit us that at some pt in the near future we were going to have to cross that thing again, but we promptly put that out of our heads as we had a 7 hour up-hill (rather up-mountain) hike ahead of us. Once we finally reached the campgrounds I felt as if there should be a band and champagne glasses waiting, but alas, people hardly even noticed the feat we had just accomplished. It could be that they had all done the same thing to get there… but that’s besides the point- for me, it was a big deal. Luckily we reached the Refugio just in time to set up our tents and start a fire for dinner. We spent the first day relaxing and taking in the beauty of the surrounding area. I do believe it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, it quite literally took my breath away the first day we arrived. We relaxed, and were able to take hot showers.
Refugio
We decided the next day we were going to hike up even further to take a look at the glacier (my first ever). The hike up the mountain to the glacier was like a rocky scramble. I kept thinking… if my mom could somehow see what I am doing…she would be so mad at me. It was steep, windy, and scary. But luckily we all three made it up intact and were able to enjoy the glacier and bright blue-green lake puddle at the bottom of it. We stayed up there for a good hour before the even scarier hike down. Climbing up something is quite different than sliding down it, which is how the second half of this journey went. But again, we all made it safely to the bottom. We stayed at the campsite for another night and headed back down the mountain, which took much less time. Although hiking down the mountain took less time, there was still a bridge at the end of it, and we were low on food and water (which we had given to a sad bunch who had only made it half way up the mountain, with no water, who looked desperate for a drink). All three of us took to the bridge bravely, this time actually taking some pictures, no longer afraid that they might in fact be the last pictures ever taken of us. Anyhow we made it back safely, but then realized… there was no way to get a cab back to the town… and the cab had taken us a good 7 miles at the beginning of this journey. We walked and walked and walked… I think after all we had been through, this was the closest we had all come to cracking. Luckily there were blackberries lining the roads so we found a little extra strength to make it back. Once back we headed to the shack to see if there was any room and luckily there was. That night we showered and had the best steak dinner I have ever had.
Russ crossing to safety
From Bolson we took a 12-hour bus ride to Puerto Madryn. Unfortunately, Puerto Madryn was not at all something any three of us liked, so we spent one day doing a very touristy circuit of the big park, where, on the up-side, we were able to see penguins and seals, or something.
we arrived in Puerto Madryn just in time for the sunrise.
We got out of Puerto Madryn as quickly as possible and headed about two hours away to Gaiman. Unfortunately, Gaiman, was not too much better. It is a small Welsh town, and they pretty much only have tea and little cakes. So we were there two nights, when Gabi decided she had better head back to Buenos Aires as she was flying home in less than a week and wanted to spend some time in the city.
This is where Russ and I sadly said good-bye to Gabi and (our gin rummy champion queen.)
Quite literally the only thing to do in Gaiman, except for the recycle park, but it is too dangerous to go there as the mosquitos will eat you alive. This tea house was particularly famous because it was visited by Princess Diana… and also…as you can see, kinda creepy
for more pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/hart85/RussTravelPictures
