Another Walk in the Park

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MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! The day we left Torres del Paine national park, a tourist decided to burn some toilet paper which went horribly wrong.This resulted in the park being evacuated of all 400 trekkers and over 1200 hectares being burnt, a camp site, and two refugios razed to the ground. This has created chaos amongst the travellers. Really sad, and the park still remains closed and may do for many weeks to come. A couple of days were spent in el Calafate catching up on a bit of admin. we also took a day trip out to Perito Mereno Glacier. This glacier is huge - 5 kms wide and 30 kms long. It creeps forward on average 2 metres per day. We saw a few large chunks of ice break from the glacier. What a loud noise that makes! Then off on another adventure to el Chalten to visit Park National Los Glaciers, WOW! Mount Fitzroy and Cerro Torres were seen in their full glory. The weather was very kind to us and we got to view both peaks in wonder. Blue skies, magical fluffy clouds, glaciers, Condores, glacier streams, avalanches, glaciers (have I mentioned that already?), craggy mountains, boulders, tree roots, bull dust, waterfalls. We've seen and experienced it all. If you ever come to Argentina make el Chalten a must see, we thought it was fabulous. Next stop Bariloche, will keep you posted.............

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