Mon 25th Nov - Tues 3rd Dec (Week 9-10)

Mon 25th - Left the hostel in Sao Paulo at 7am - missing our great breakfast - and joined the morning rush hour crowd on the metro with all our bags ! Then caught the airport shuttle and arrived at 9am for our 11am flight - perfect. Took out more Brazilian Reals, and changed them for US$ ready for our black market exchange in BA ! Arrived into Buenos Aires at 12:40 local time, and got the shuttle to our hostel America Del Sur. Spent the afternoon wandering around the area, seeing the port, theatre, cathedral, the balcony where Evita gave her speech, and lots of shopping malls as well. Stunning architecture everywhere, tree lined avenues, and beautiful purple blossoming trees. The port is just like the Thames in London - wide river, boats along the side and big modern buildings lining either side. Changed our US$ for Argentina pesos at a good rate, so feel we can recoup some of our money we had to fork out for our missed flight from Rio ! Had a good Argentinean steak dinner, and tried to sleep in our dorm room with some very loud snoring going on !

Tues 26th - Took a taxi from the Buenos Aires hostel at 8:45am, and got to the domestic airport at 9.05am ! A bit quicker than the 45min of heavy traffic we were expecting ! Got our 11:30am - 3pm flight down to El Calafate to start our Patagonia part of S.America. Shared a taxi into El Calafate with a couple from Belgium, and caught a 4:30pm bus to El Chalten. Lovely 3 hour drive with stunning scenery of lakes and snow capped mountains all along the route. Arrived at 7:30, and walked through the lovely little Alpine-esque town to Rancho Grande hostel. El Chalten seems a mix of Iceland - with straight streets, corrugated iron houses and long straight roads to get there, and the Alps with snowy mountains, and wooden chalets. The hostel even has the ski lodge smell that we love ! Chatted to some people in the hostel about the various treks they've done and enjoyed a nice steak dinner again !

Wed 27th - Spent the morning researching buses around Patagonia and the various treks in El Chalten. The wind was incredibly strong - nearly blowing us over and made it so hard to walk and even catch our breath ! We decided to do the slightly shorter and easier trail today because of the wind, and definitely made the right choice as it was warm and sheltered on that route. Took us 3.5 hours of lovely scenic walking through woods and fields, passing glacial blue rivers and admiring the mountains and glaciers. Finally got to Laguna Torre and sat down to appreciate the wonderful scenery, before our 3.5 hr walk back. Really enjoyed it, but were quite tired and stiff by the time we'd finished the 22km+ walk at 7pm. Enjoyed a beer in the hostel whilst chatting to others about our days, late 10:30pm dinner and slept like a baby.

Thurs 28th - Early start to catch an 8am bus to take us to an alternative start to the Los Tres trail. Started at 9am, and soon met up with our Belgium friends we met on Tuesday, so walked the rest of the trail together. Even more spectacular scenery today - really high, jagged mountain peaks of Mt.Fitz Roy, glaciers, lakes and woods. Most of the walk was fairly flat, but the 1hr steep, gravelly path up to the top view point was a killer ! But as soon as you mount the summit and look down at the lake surrounded by these stunning mountains, all pain and exhaustion is forgotten. And just around the corner is a beautiful aquamarine lake fed by a waterfall from the glacier. Had a picnic lunch there and marvelled at our incredible good luck with the pure blue sky, lack of wind and warm weather. Patagonia was the one place I was really worried how cold it would be, but so far I have mainly just been wearing a T-Shirt ! Just as we were heading back down again, we heard a huge thunderous roar, and a gigantic slab of snow/glacier broke off and crashed down the waterfall and into the lake. Incredible noise and sight !
Headed back down to El Chalten and arrived at 6pm. Pretty long and tiring walk of 25km+ but the scenery and weather just could not be beaten, and we're going to struggle to top today ! Another beer or 2 in the hostel to relax our weary muscles and yet another steak dinner - well, we are in Argentina !

Fri 29th - Caught the 7am bus back to El Calafate, arriving at 10:45am. Mad rush for a few hours to check into hostel, get some lunch from the supermarket and unsuccessfully try and get some cash. We also wanted to buy the bus tickets to Puerto Natales for tomorrow morning, but apparently the Chilean border has been shut for the past few days and no idea when it will open again ! Caught the 1pm bus to Perito Moreno glacier and spent from 2:30 to 6:30pm wandering around all the walkways and just watching it for the big break-offs. Caught a few good ones, including a massive one where a deep blue iceberg popped up afterwards - pretty spectacular. And the noise is like thunder cracking, really impressive. After surprising ourselves with how warm it was in El Chalten, we were taken aback at the wind and coldness at the glacier. I had on 5 layers and hat and gloves and still bitterly cold. Back into El Calafate at 8:45pm, finally managed to get cash out, and buy bus tickets for tomorrow as the border apparently seems to have opened this afternoon. so fingers crossed !

Sat 30th - Caught the 8am bus from El Calafate to Puerto Natales - leaving Argentina for the last time, and back into Chile. Sailed through the border with no hassle, and arrived at 1pm. Attended a 1.5hr free talk on trekking in Torres Del Paine, and decided we didn't fancy carrying our own gear, or camping, so just booked a one-day hike for tomorrow.

Sun 1st - Caught the 7:30am bus to Torres del Paine, arriving at 10am. Had to sign a form, pay the entrance fee and watch a safety video before getting the 30min shuttle bus to the start of the trail. We were a bit concerned when we read the map that said the trail was 4.5hrs each way - 9 hours in total, and we only had 8 hours until the last bus left ! So put our foot down and barely stopped until we arrived at the base of the Torres del Paine 3hr 15mins later. Pretty hard trail, lots of long, steep gravelly uphill sections, and after our previous 2 long walks, our feet and legs were still quite tired. Stunning views once we arrived of the 3 jagged peaks and a beautiful aquamarine lake underneath. Again, we were incredibly lucky with the weather - beautiful blue skies and sunshine, so were in a tshirt most of the way. But once we stopped and the wind picked up, it was into all 5 layers and still a bit cold. Took another 3.5 hours heading back down at a more relaxed pace, enjoying the scenery and taking photos. Got the last bus back and arrived into P.Natales at 10:20pm. Long, tiring, but rewarding day, and had a nice hot shower, an Amaretto and coke, and a hot Milo to celebrate !

Mon 2nd/Tues 3rd - Relaxing couple of days just sorting out onwards travel etc and sitting out the freezing grey windy days in the warmth of our hostel with lots of tea before heading to Puerto Varas on Wed 4th.