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Published: November 18th 2011
Day 35 - Tuesday 15th November
5 minutes from the completion of the hike yesterday my big toe started to ache, and instantly I realised my gout was starting to act up. By the time I reached the end of the trek and we were sitting at the hotel restaurant I could feel my whole foot heating up and swelling so I quickly took one of the gout tablets I had bought from home, but I knew it was too late.
During the night my foot ached badly but not too bad so I assumed that I may have dodged a bullet….wrong. Both of us considered how lucky that I didn’t get a gout attack on the hike as it would have stopped us in our tracks. I knew that hadn’t drank enough water on the last two days of the hike was the real cause of the attack, combined with drinking orange juice for breakfast and beer with dinner.
Shelley’s cough was as bad as ever and she had been up a fair bit through the night so we took the opportunity to sleep in a bit. We had two days in the small town of Puerto Natales and the
original plan was for us to do some sea kayaking but in our present condition and the high winds in town it just wasn’t going to happen. As much as we wanted to just sleep all day we had things to do so we headed up into town to do some chores. We must have looked a sight walking up the street, with me shuffling along like a geriatric and Shelley coughing up a lung every 5 steps. First stop today was dropping off a huge pile of laundry, which constituted nearly every piece of clothing we owned. Next was getting money from the bank and then it was on to the bus company for our bus tickets out of town.
Our final stop was at the chemist so Shelley could pick up some drugs for her cough. Because I had the camera bag on I decided to wait outside while she picked up something. I was sitting on one of the many hundreds of benches on the streets of Puerto Natales enjoying the sunshine when Shelley came bursting out of the chemist with tears streaming down her face gasping “water”. She had been waiting to be served when she
was hit by a massive coughing fit, and couldn’t stop and came running out to me to get water. After a gulp of water she got her breath back and went back inside the security guard came over to her and gave her a cup of water and the woman behind the counter immediately pulled out cough medicine and lozenges. This was perhaps Shelley’s best ever pantomime as she hardly had to say a word. It was also another example of how great the people in South America have been to us so far.
With our daily chores done we headed back to the hostel and sat down in the lounge room and worked on our blog. About 8.00pm we made some long overdue phone calls back home and then headed out for dinner. Found a great restaurant up the road and got a fabulous lamb roast, which made a nice change from pizza and pasta. The problem with the change of course is that it was a lot more expensive. By the time we left the restaurant my gout toe was really starting to kill me and it was a real struggle to get home. The temperature had dropped
significantly and the wind was picking up so it was great when we finally made it home.
Day 36 - Wednesday 16th November
I am unsure who suffered the most during the night, I Scott was in absolute agony all night with my gout toe to the point where even the bed sheet on it was giving me pain and I was awake till 3.30 with it. Shelley had her own problems, coughing all night to the point that she was being physically sick, she too didn’t drop off till 3.30. The hostel we are staying at is really lovely but the room is tiny and it isn’t one of those places where you feel you can sleep in till midday at. So despite feeling completely shattered we were up at 8.30 and having breakfast downstairs. My toe was throbbing so badly that it was difficult to move so I resolved that today would be spent within the confines of the hostel. Our room wasn’t very big but the lounge area downstairs was large with funky lounges and a bookcase full of interesting books. It felt sort of decadent to spend two days basically doing nothing but I had
always pencilled these days in as “recovery”, but I never actually planned on us to be just laying around.
Spent the day reading and relaxing and in the afternoon went up to our tiny bedroom and packed our bags. My main backpack had been used on the trek and all that we had left behind had been crammed into Shelley’s, so this repack was a complete pack from scratch. For dinner we wandered once more up to the pizza place which was cheap, had good food and a great vibe. We had spent so many days in this town that it actually felt like home and was kind of sad to be going. It is funny when we are travelling that we always call our hotel/hostel, home, as it is when we are on the road and the longer you stay in one place the more it feels like home.
Day 37 - Thursday 17th November
The alarm went off at 5.45am and thankfully we both had a much better sleep so it was easier for us to crawl out of bed. My toe and Shelley’s cough had eased so this made our morning exit easier as well. We
had our bags packed and downstairs for a quick cup of coffee/tea before heading off to our bus. Didn’t leave the hostel till 6.50 and then I had to shuffle as quick as I could along the 4 blocks to our bus which left at 7.05.
Neither of us was really up to a 5.5hr bus journey but we couldn’t stay in Puerto Natales forever so we just had to move on. The bus travelled for an hour till we got to the Chilean border, where we stopped at a cafeteria/souvenir shop where everyone piled off and then back on again. With everyone on and accounted for we moved 20 metres down the road to the border admin building where we had to get off and get stamped out of Chile.
With everyone back on board we travelled 2-5 kilometres further down the road to the Argentinian Border admin building so we could get stamped into Argentina. It always feels strange being in this weird no man’s land on borders where you have left one country but not quite in the next, as if you are in purgatory. Once in Argentina we trundled along in a bus that made all
sort of noises that seemed to indicate to us that it was in a bad need of a service. The air conditioning didn’t work either so we just about boiled in our tin can, under a near cloudless sky. The terrain was almost featureless with just endless rolling hills corralled by wire fences, with the occasional flock of sheep.
Eventually we came over a rise and before us lay this incredible vista of the snow peaked mountains of the Andes. It is amazing how these mountains just seem to pop up out of nowhere and how huge and jagged they are. The bus continues on for another hour till finally at 12.30pm we made it to El Calafate. Both of us where feeling ill by this stage after such a stuffy hot journey, but we managed to get off, get our bags and find a taxi.
We had booked a hotel through booking.com yesterday and had chosen a hotel that was close to the eastern side of the town so when the taxi headed out of town in a westerly direction I immediately questioned his sense of direction. He assured me that the address that I had shown him, (I always write the hotel name and address on a notepad before reaching a town), Was out west, and sure enough it was…way out west. Instead of the hotel being 100 metres east of the centre of town it was in fact about 2500 metres west of town. This is the second and hopefully the final time we have been duped by the maps on booking.com.
Got into the hotel foyer and there was no one around and had to wait about 15 minutes before anyone turned up. After we booked in we were shown to our room, and what a room it is. It is two storeys with a lounge, bathroom and full kitchen downstairs and a huge bedroom with balcony upstairs. The room is costing us $80 aussie dollars a night but we are hoping to cook some meals here over the next few nights so it should save us money in the long run. The guy running the place wanted us to wait for his partner to return so he could talk to us about doing a tour around the area. We did end up hanging around for an hour settling in but thankfully didn’t have to face this guy as we weren’t really that interested in doing a tour through the hotel.
We walked into the centre of town which took about 35mins with our current condition and had a look around the shops which are all very expensive so it was definitely only window shopping. Stopped and had a beer and the cheapest meal we could find at an open door café with other tourists, the local dogs and a hundred flies. Afterwards we went to the supermarket to buy supplies for the next couple of days and grabbed a taxi back to the hostel. Our breakfast was delivered on a tray to the door for the next morning, it included bread, cornflakes, gingerbread slice and jugs of milk and juice. The kitchen has a toaster and a coffee plunger so we are set.
Day 38 - Friday 18th November
Both had a great night sleep and my coughing is now nearly gone and I feel much better, Scott is also on the mend. We made breakfast and enjoyed having some space to ourselves. Headed into town to book some tours for the next couple of days, checked a few places and discovered that all the prices and tours are the same. We also had a major choice to make do we get a two day bus journey to Bariloche which stops overnight at a dodgy hotel or a plane flight that would take a couple of hours. We decided to have lunch and decide which option to go with, the first café we went into the food seemed great but it was too expensive so we got up and walked out. It is not the first time we have done this and will not be the last as we have to watch the budget and no one knows us here, we found somewhere cheaper and had a great burger. Well it may seem clear the logical answer to bus or plane but guess what we chose, the bus, which is so much cheaper and goes along the famous Route 40…ask me when it is all over if it was worth it.
We booked the bus tickets firstly to El Chalten which is the next stop and then onto Bariloche and our two day tours of the Glaciers near El Calafarte for tomorrow and Sunday.
Stopped at the supermarket for a few odds and ends and it appears that none of the supermarkets have shopping bags and very few boxes available, so it was an awkward walk back with a box that was falling apart.
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Murray Williams
non-member comment
Keeping Up appearances while Taking a Break.
Hi Guys, Great to keep following you during your treck, had no idea you were going so far south until a expanded the map a few blogs ago, look incredibale and you could skip rock to antarctica. just so you know, i am printing your blog bit by bit for a travel diary, and I will make you read it all on your return. Look forward to reading about the bus trip, looks like some of those PowerPoints of various roads in S.A. Cheers you two...