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Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia:
With destination Ushuaia, Dad and I boarded the plane from Buenos Aires for our four hour journey to the End of the World or Fin del Mundo. Flying into the small airport, the plane narrowly misses huge snow capped mountain peaks and touches down abruptly with incredible views of the City that lies at the foot of the Andean tail and opens out to the Beagle Channel, facing South East towards Antarctica. Swapping our t-shirts for as many layers of warm jumpers as possible and a thick coat, scarf and gloves, we headed to our hotel taking in the stark landscape and making plans for the next four days. On the agenda was a boat ride along the Beagle Channel to Estancia Harberton to visit the Penguins and the famous Lighthouse at the End of the World as made famous by Jules Vernes, some light trekking in Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego as well as a ride on the train at the End of the World. You will notice here that everything is cleverly marketed the "End of the World" in order to allure tourists to these special locations that really are in some cases just normal tourist attractions in a special location. To add to the list we have a Post Office at the end of the world, a museum and a Glacier. Well, following a hearty lunch we went to the travel agency to book our tours only to discover that the Penguins have gone North already, boat trips are no longer operating to Estancia Harberton and therefore any viewings of the real lighthouse are also not an option at this time; the train is pricey and looked very dull and the glacier you cannot reach because it`s too icy. In addition, the lady informs us that the trekking season is over and it`s also going to rain for the next week. Great. This posed the question, so what can we do?
It turns out not to be so bad as first thought and we were able to take a trip along the Beagle Channel to see the sealions and cormorants as well as the cheats lighthouse which you can argue is still at the end of the world if not the most southerly one. We also booked on to a four X four trip to hidden lakes within the Andes and a non-trekking tourist bus trip into the Parque Nacional. And to add to our positive news, it turned out the rains never came and we had some great weather, so all in all despite the disappointment of the penguins, we had a lot of fun.
We drank Beagle Beer on our boat trip where we did see Sealions frolicking in the Sea and chasing the boat, had amazing views of Ushuaia from the Beagle Channel and took a mini hike on a tiny island where we had great views of both Chile and Argentina. I also got to navigate the boat back to land which was fun and very trusting of the captain!
Our four X four trip was bumpy to say the least and although was fun Dad wasn`t sure what the point of it was apart from some young guy in aviators showing off the capabilities of a Landrover as we really did go over some extreme yet at times uninspiring terrain where he pushed this vehicle to it`s limits. Our trip to the Parque Nacional was impressive; the scenery is amazing especially in Autumn as the yellow, reds and browns of the beech trees is what you would imagine during fall in New England.
By the time it came to leave we were ready I have to confess despite us having found our favourite restaurant so far where the food was so good we went twice. The King Crab was our favourite on the menu which is Ushuaia´s speciality dish (locally known as Centolla).
However, there`s not a huge amount to do in Ushuaia once the sightseeing is done so onwards we headed to El Calafate, (which is similar to what you would imagine a backwater American boom town looks like just after oil has been detected) and to Parque Nacional Las Glaciares.
We had booked a two day boat trip through the National Park where we would get to see close up views of Glaciers Upsalla, Spegazzini and one of Argentinas most popular attractions Perito Moreno. It really was an unforgettable experience and certainly a highlight of our trip. The Glaciers are out of this world with the glacier wall of Spegazzini over 80m high. Floating on a boat with the glaciers looming over, you can hear the ice cracking and at Perito Moreno we saw a huge piece of ice fall from the glacier making enough of a collision into the water to make the boat rock quite violently on it`s side. Perito Moreno is one of the few remaining glaciers in the world that continues to spread at a pace of circa 7km per year whereas the other two are receding at a similar rate. We also made friends with an Argentine couple from Cordoba who spoke no English. It turns out however that an appreciation of the famous Malbec grape transpires words so Dad and Rolo got on like a house on fire. The rest I could translate and for once I don`t think we spoke about the Falklands!
Following the boat trip Dad and I spent a half day fishing at Lago Roca where even from here about 30km from the glacier Perito Moreno we could hear the ice cracking. Unfortunately we weren`t so lucky with the fish and between us we caught one Canadian trout (and I caught it!!). It was fun though and the scenery was amazing. All in all we were lucky with the weather considering the time of year.
From here, we flew back to B.A for a few extra days in the capital before Dad was Heathrow bound. I think Argentina has a brand new fan though.
Following the departure of Dad I headed North to Iguazu falls and then back to B.A for the weekend. As I am following the Patagonian theme I shall write about Iguazu separately as it is possibly the furthest place from Patagonia that you can get to in Argentina.
From B.A I took the 23 hour bus trip to a place called Bariloche, a town I had earmarked as a definite must see since I started planning the trip. It was exciting as here I was really going to get active, get hiking in the lake district and start the preparations for mine and Julia`s mountain climb in June.
My first day in the town, with an English guy I met in my dormitory, sandwiches and water in my bag we headed up the cable car to 2700 metres and the challenging hike called Cerro Catedral. Again, blessed with bright blue skies yet cold temperatures we scrambled our way across the ridge which at times was definitely tough enough to get the adrenalin going. We managed to climb to the peak after a few hours and then started the hard journey of going down, at times sliding down sheer rock face and then finally down a steep but well trodden path passing hidden lakes and amazing rock formations. After 6 hours of hiking, with 5 km to go on a comparatively easy stretch, I trod on a slippery tree root falling on my ankle that I heard go "snap". It was one of those horrible moments where you know something bad has happened as I had fallen straight to the floor and felt sick with the pain. We didn`t have a phone, there was nobody else around and so there was only one option as the darkness was coming and it was getting colder by the minute and that was for me to try and walk the distance to the nearest town. I`m not sure how I managed it but I did with help from the infamous geeky walking pole! Well, I didn`t break my ankle but tore the ligaments which was very distressing as all my initial plans were now unachievable. My ankle was the size of my knee and over the following week I spent my time in the hostel with an ice pack where my entire foot went from black to blue. I ended up spending a lot longer in Bariloche than planned for the wrong reasons but fortunately the people in the hostel were amazing and as the weather wasn`t great during my days of being crippled, loads of people stayed in the hostel with me being equally lazy. I made some excellent friends and we worked our way through the DVD collection and played card games and drank wine (not all day!). I was so bored that one night when everyone went out, I decided to bite the bullet and hobble out for a few drinks with a packet of frozen peas duck taped to the ankle. I managed to come home without them so a cleaner in some bar would have had a perplexed look on their face the following morning as a packet of taped petit pois merged from under a table!
Six days later I was able to walk well enough just about to carry my pack and move on. I headed to San Martin de Los Andes, a cute Swiss like town at the Northern most tip of the lake district perched on one of the famous seven lakes. I arrived at my hostel conveniently near the bus station in order to avoid walking far only to find they had no space despite my reservation. I was by that point in pain, cold, annoyed and not in the mood to just say ok and look for somewhere new. I made the guy drive me to the next hostel which I think is only fair enough!
As it was out of season and the town being so small, there were only 3 others in the hostel. Two Argentines and an Italian and so the common language was Spanish which was good for me. We all had dinner together and as always with Argies, discussed politics for the majority of the time and of course….the Falklands. An Argentinian favourite past time especially when there are Brits around. We then played trivia games in Spanish and so I really had a different backpacker experience all round. The next day I took one of those trips that I generally despise which involves sitting on a tourist bus watching the scenery pass by, getting off now and again to take pics. It was all I could manage at the time and so it had to do, plus I really wanted to do the 7 lakes tour, as it is a must. Again, the weather turned from miserable to amazing for that one day and the views were incredible, it was a great day out as you will see from the photos.
This also marks the end of Patagonia, one of the most scenic places in the world with stark contrasts from one end to the other. I would definitely go back for the walking and mountaineering available as I never really got to appreciate it as much as I would have liked.
From here, Mendoza and the famous wine regions. Also some warmer weather hopefully, can`t wait!
I also add my sponsorship page for the big mountain climb on June 22nd. Julia and I are climbing Pequno Alpamaya, a snow covered peak at over 17,000 feet above sea level with a professional guide. This is going to involve us using technical equipment such as crampons and ice axes, neither of us having experience at this level before so a real challenge. We have covered the cost ourselves for the climb and equipment however are hoping to raise some money for the Chairity called "The Railway Children". For further information, we have our own web page:http://www.justgiving.com/julesandgeorgegoclimbing
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