Patagonia (Chilie and Argentina)

I can quite safely say that Patagonia is certainly one of the best places that I have been on my trip so far- it was awesome!! I started in Puerto Madryn which was a beautiful little place just on the edge of Peninsula Valdes where I went and saw Southern Right Whales which came and actually swam under our boat, then we saw dolphins and giant Elephant Seals (which were upto 4 meters long!) and penguins which were so close that you could have touched them (although we were warned that they are not nearly as friendly as they look!). From here I travelled further south to El Calafate where I went to see the Perito Moreno Glacier which was absolutely breathtaking- it´s an active glacier which means that there is a lot of movement and every time that even the slightest bit of ice cracked or fell it made the most amazing thunderous noises- it was just fascinating- I could have happily spent all day just watching it.

After this I crossed the boarder into Chilie to Puerto Natales which is just outside one of South Americas best National Parks- Torres del Paine so after organising camping equipment rental here, myself, two English lads (who I met in El Calafte) and an Israeli girl headed off to the park for a 4 day trek. Although the trekking was hard going as was absolutely worth it as I was just stunned by the beauty of the mountains, and glaciers and lakes etc. It was quite cold and it even snowed a few times but in all we had a fantastic time. After returning from the trek we stopped off at a couple more towns further south in Chilie and then crossed over the boarder again back into Argentina and travelled down to the end of the world- Ushuaia- which is the most southern city in the world (yes I got the stamp in my passport because I am that kind of person!). I did a couple more day treks here in the Tierra del Fuego National Park where we spent hours staking out the beavers at the dams.

From here I had to do a mammoth 55hr journey to Bariloche which involved 4 busses and a 12 hour stop in the dullest city I have ever been to- in am attempt to entertain ourselves me and Enda (an Irish lad I was travelling with) asked about to see what there was for us to do and the only thing that the locals could think of for us to do was to visit the ecological park. So off we went- however, this turned out to be four wind turbines on a hill which didint even move and that we had to get to by walking through what looked like the local rubbish dump whilst having the local hillbillies release the hounds on us for walking to close to their property, so all in all this could be the worst place that I have visited to date!! But we did make it Bariloche eventually, whilst here we decided to rent a car and do the seven lakes tour up route 40 which is meant to be one of the most scenic route in the world. Unfortunately as Enda didnt have his license with him I had to do the whole 400km and it may have been scenic but I couldnt really appreciate the views whilst fearing for my life and using all my energy just to keep the car in a straight line! This was because the 'road' was nothing more than loose gravel at best and in places just boulders and sand, this coupled with large sections of the road being up and down mountains with nothing but a sheer drop on one side meant that it wasnt the nice easy drive in the country that we had been expecting!!

After Bariloche I visited Mendoza which is south Americas biggest wine producing region and had a few days relaxing here sampling the local produe. In our wisdom we decided that the best way of visiting all the local wineries would be to hire bicycles and do a cycling tour which in hindsight may not have been the most sensilbe idea Ive ever had, but fortunatly despite the potential for disaster I finished the day unscathed although slightly worse for wear but with nothing more than a sore head and a sore ass!!

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