http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/BrynninPatagonia/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from BrynninPatagonia en-us Sat, 19 Dec 2009 22:58:03 +0000 Sat, 19 Dec 2009 22:58:03 +0000 After a week in the Atacama Desert I caught a bus back into Argentina to spend some time in the Andean northwest. The bus trip was relatively uneventful except for some minor altitude sickness and the discomfort of having to sit next to an incredibly racist Argentine police officer. Smiling he actually asked me what I thought of 911. I just stared back at him in disbelief and told him he shoul http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Salta/blog-154540.html The Atacama Desert in northern Chile is an experience of a lifetime. Not only it the driest desert on earth receiving an average of 14 mm a year although last year only 4 mm which contrasts interestingly to the 4 m that Parque Pumaln receives on the Aisn penisula down south but it's packed full of amazing outdoor activities including geysers hot springs flamingofilled lakes salt flat http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-149020.html On March 10th my lovely parents popped into Puerto Montt for two weeks of traveling through the Lakes District of Chile and Argentina. For me this meant two weeks of staying in rooms with my own bathroom and eating something other than empanadas de loco and fried salmn with papas fritas. We started our travels with a few days on the island of Chilo to visit both historic wooden churches and M http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Puerto-Varas/blog-149013.html After parting ways with David who headed north to hike Volcn Lann I ended up heading toward Cocham Valley which is fast becoming a mecca for climbers. The valley is known as the Yosemite of South America for its granite batholiths that rim its edges. Because it remains icefree for much of the year its gaining popularily among international climbers partially to the hard work of Daniel http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Ensenada/blog-135656.html After resting up in Chaitn and eating amazing seafood like the local marisco stew called paila marina David and I headed into Pumaln the worlds largest a private nature park open to the public. The park was founded Douglas Thompkins who also started Esprit and North Face to protect the temperate patagonian rainforest and its enormous alerce trees. It is open to the public who only mus http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Aisen/Carretera-Austral/blog-135649.html At this point in my travels getting around by public transport became difficult so I ended up relying almost exclusively on hitching. Actually getting from Los Alerces across the border to the Chilean town of Futaleuf proved to be an adventure that involved a total of seven cars for a trip that wasnt more than 85 km. I rode across the physical border in the back of a pickup truck which didn http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Aisen/Carretera-Austral/blog-135644.html Continuing farther south from El Bolsn David and I spent the next few nights in Parque Nacional Los Alerces near the town of Esqul. The park was created to protect the coniferous Fitzroya cupresoides a gigantic redwood like tree found in the temperate rainforests of this region of the patagonia. Although we were car camping we lucked out with a beautiful spot on a winding river that connect http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Chubut/Esquel/blog-135641.html Given that the mountains around Bariloche were snowed in I decided to head south to the town of El Bolsn the handbag named so because it sits at only 200 m elevation surrounded by lush mountain ranges.This town became sort of a hippy haven starting in the 60s and is now famous for its microbrews ice cream and chocolate. I couldnt have been happier...After resting a bit at a hostel outsid http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Rio-Negro/El-Bolson/blog-135637.html After four days in the car on the infamous Ruta 40 I was itching to get back into the mountains and decided to do the 5 day Nahuel Huapi Traverse connecting 4 refuges in the mountains outside of Bariloche. On the first day I hiked up to Refugio Frey which is well known to climbers around the world. The refugio was located on the edge of a very shallow alpine lake that reached up to mid shins http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Rio-Negro/San-Carlos-de-Bariloche/blog-135632.html Visiting this UNESCO World Heritage site was a highlight of the trip see Route 40 for more description.The drawings are mostly of the outline of hands and of the 800 some hands only 40 are of right hands meaning they were painted using the left hand. The drawing also include hunting scenes of guanaco guanaco and women giving birth armadillos and maps. They used iron oxides for the red http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/Perito-Moreno-Glacier/blog-127936.html After seeing the glacier I spent the night in a very tourist town called El Calafate that offers little other than access to the glacier and the Fitz Roy mountain range from the town of El Chalten. My plan was to head to El Chalten for a few days of hiking before catching a flight up to Esquel in the lakes region. Over breakfast that morning however I started chatting with an Argentine guy a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-127931.html Today I caught a bus from Puerto Natales Chile across the border to the Argentine town of El Calafate onto the famous Perito Moreno Glacier. The location of the glacier make it remarkably easy to see so at any given time there are hundreds of people wandering around the 7 different levels of viewing platforms. Its incredibly active so for the 3 hours I was there watching the glacier I regu http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/Perito-Moreno-Glacier/blog-127925.html This past week I was occupied with an eightday trek in the Torres del Paine National Park in southern Patagonia Chile. Torres is known for having cold windy rainy weather and it definitely lived up to its reputation. Just approaching the park the enormous peaks appear to be surrounded by swirling black clouds I started the trek out by hiking up to the base of the Torres a series of 3 gran http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Magallanes/Torres-del-Paine/blog-126439.html Today I did a tour of the summer breeding grounds of Magellan penguins. It was about a two hour drive away and we then got aboard a zodiac to take us to the island in the middle of the Beagle Canal. Almost all of the penguins are Magallan but there are 12 pair of Gentoo on the island as well. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Tierra-del-Fuego/Ushuaia/blog-122846.html I just spent the last 3 days doing a hike called the Paso de la Oveja that goes around the mountain range behind Ushuaia joined by Claudia German and Fred French. We had wonderful weather the first day and ended up camping at Laguna Caminante another gorgeous alpine lake. That evening some guys camping next to us invited us over to share their fire and drink yet more mate. They turned out http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Tierra-del-Fuego/Ushuaia/blog-122554.html The flight into Ushuaia the southernmost city in the world was amazing and gave me wonderful views of unique string bogs see Wikipedia from the air. My first few days were sunny with no wind and in the low 70s. Im staying at the Southern Cross Hostel which is actually an extension of Israel packed with 23year olds who have just completed their military service. My first full day I decided http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Tierra-del-Fuego/Ushuaia/blog-122547.html Before heading down to the southernmost city in the world I hung out in the Paris of the South Buenos Aires for two days. My hostel was filled with 20year old Auzzies and Brits who kept true to the Argentine night life that starts around 2 in the morning. Walking around the streets the first day I gave myself a nice sunburnit really didnt occur to me to put on sun block and after winter i http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/blog-121250.html Leaving in two days for a 3 month trek through Patagonia I can't stop thinking of little things that still need to be addressed. Have I returned all my library books What about my taxes Will Robin kill my plants Ah heck none of that will matter in a short time. The most important things to focus on are which 3 t'shirts to bring for this 3 month journey and whether the catfood stove wil http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Wisconsin/Madison/blog-119503.html