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Published: March 1st 2014
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We headed to Ushuaia, the most Southey City in the World, as we wanted to book a trip to Antarctica so we spent our first day checking out what was available, unfortunately everything was extremly expensive so we made the difficult decision to NOT go. Once this decision was made we were able to start looking forward & planning our next few days & weeks.
Our first day in Ushuaia was cold & raining, the next day the weather improved so we hiked to Moreno Glacier, we took a taxi to the bottom of the chairlift & then hiked from there (3km up and 10km back). It was a pretty area with little streams & as we got higher we had fantastic views back over Ushuaia.
We had a great day hiking in Tierra del Fuego National Park. We took the bus to the pier in Zaratiegui Bay where we began the Costera Trail, which followed the shoreline through evergreen beech & winter's bark forests. The views from the trail across the bay were amazing with crystal clear waters leading to snow capped mountains in the distance. We stopped for lunch at the end of the trail before heading
to the Cerro Guanaco trail.
This trail is classified as strenuous but has some outstanding views of the Fuegian mountain range and its peatbogs. We got to the start of the trail and the sign said don't start this hike after 12, we looked at our watches it was 2pm, we looked at each other and started anyway. It was very steep and we were conscious of time as our return bus to Ushuaia was at either 5pm or 7pm & we wanted to catch the earlier bus. After hiking up for a little over an hour we popped out above the tree line and continued onto the lookout where we had a fantastic view. We decided to keep going, about 20 minutes later we met someone coming down and asked how far to the top, he said it had taken him an hour to walk down to where we were from the top. We decided we were not going to make it to the top and still make the 5pm bus so we turned around and started heading down.
On our last day we cruised from the port in Ushuaia past the ships getting ready to leave
for Antarctica, feeling a little disappointed but happy with our decision. Again we had perfect weather so it was a very smooth trip on the Beagle Channel. We saw sealions, smelly cormorants (birds), Magellan penguins swimming, the Eclaireurs lighthouse, and had another great view of Ushuaia from a completely different perspective. We also visited one of the little islands & learnt about the pre-European people & some of the plants. Towards the end of the trip they did a raffle for the ship's flag which Gary won. He now must take a photo with the flag in a famous place in NZ & post it on their Facebook page.
We left Ushuaia on the 5am bus to Punta Arenas. This trip included a border crossing into Chile & a boat back across the Magallanes Straights. The only highlight of this 12 hour trip was seeing dolphins while on the ferry, especially the one that decided to ride our wake.
We only stayed in Punta Arenas one night as it isn't really a tourist town . We did visit the cemetery, walked along the waterfront & sat in the main square people watching & having lunch. The cemetery is
similar to Recoletta in Buenos Aires but it's smaller & more spread out.
After lunch we were on our way to Puerto Natalles, the gateway to the Torres del Paine national park which is very well known for the "W" trek. We spent a long time debating if we should do the trek, it's over 4 or 5 days either camping or staying in hostels. We weren't too keen on camping after a days trekking and we didn't have any camping gear. The hostel option was really expensive so in the end we decided to just do a day trip to the national park.
Our day trip began with a stop at the Milodon cave which is where early man and the giant sloth (milodon) lived. From here we headed to Torres del Paine national park. We made several stops, some for photos and others involved short walks. We visited Lake Nordenskjold, Pehoe, the Salto Grande waterfall, Grey Lake & Grey Glacier. As we approached Lake Grey the wind really picked up and almost blew you over! There were several large iceburgs floating on the lake & some had been blown to the shore. The park wasn't as
stunning as what we had read but in different circumstances (ie not on a mass tour & in sunny weather) it would look much more spectacular.
From Puerto Natalles we took the bus over the border to El Calafate in Argentina. We had one full day in El Calafate, as the weather was fantastic & we were unable to take the Perito Moreno glacier big ice walk. We decided to do the Cross Fire downhill mountain biking. We were picked up from the hostel & taken to the bottom of a chairlift which we took to the top of the mountain, where there was great views back over El Calafate & Lago Argentina (lake). The ride down was much more technical than we expected, it included some very steep & tight turns which resulted in both of us coming off our bikes, with varying degrees of awesomeness.
The next stop was El Chalten within Los Glaciares National Park and the hiking capital of Argentina. We stayed 5 nights to make the most of the area. The day we arrived we visited Miradores Condors & Miradores Aguilas, two short walks (8km) with some good views. Our second day we
visited Lago Torre (Lake) & Glacier Grande this was a reasonably flat walk (25km) & had great views of the mountains & Rio Fitz (river).
Our third day was the highlight with a trek (25km) to Lago de los Tres. lt started with an uphill & finished with an even steeper uphill but the view at the top was completely worth it. The snowy mountains & glacier reflecting in the lake, it was just spectacular. On our way back to the hostel we stopped at Lago Capri to paddle & refresh our feet.
It was then time for a rest day so we spent the morning relaxing before visiting Chorrillo del Salto Waterfall (10km). We climbed up above the main waterfall & found a nice large rock & swimming spot. Gary had a refreshing swim before we relaxed on the rock in the sun.
On our last day in El Chalten we hiked (22km) to Loma del Pliegue Tumbado (1490m) for 360 degree views. Just as we started heading down we saw some Condors gliding on the wind currents.
Overall we loved El Chalten & were unbelievably lucky with the weather as we had perfectly blue
skys & light winds. Robyn was regulary getting distracted by the stunning views & tying to keep up with Gary who was on a mission to get to the end of the trail as quick as possible so his Strava upload (www.strava.com) looked as good as possible. The paths were really well kept and easy to follow with signs at most of the turn offs. Robyn loved the cute little bridges over the amazingly clear streams and rivers.
Next stop el Calafate to see and explore more glaciers!
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Russ
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What an amazing place
Hey RobinGary, looks like you are having the most amazing time down there. The scenery looks just fantastic - almost like another world.