Ice age to the end of the world

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Crossing the border once again into Argentina, I arrived in El Calafate keen to see the famous Perito Moreno glacier. After a hike of about 1 and a half hours in the surrounding forest, I found a spot away from the crowds and sat back and watched the glacier in action. The glacier is one of the most active in South America and I was treated to a superb show of ice avalanches. During my 3 hours or so sat at the lookout I witnessed huge pillars of ice come crashing down, the creation and collapse of an ice cave, and a river disappear. It was compelling viewing in a truly beautiful location, and a great experience.

El Calafate itself is a touristy town but not without charm. There is a nature reserve a short walk from the centre and I enjoyed an hour or so there bird watching. I also sampled one of Calafate´s bars with a Londoner called Barbara. We thought it would be rude not to have a few beers after the fun outing at the glacier and, not wanting to let down the reputation of the English for drinking, ended up staying out until very late.

Next up was El Chalten, some 3 hours north of El Calafate, also located in the Patagonian ice fields and the base for the Fitz Roy mountain range. El Chalten is a small village but it is growing rapidly. Unfortunately the weather was poor when I visited, but I did go on a hike to Lake Capri, which took about 3 and a half hours. Visibility of the surrounding mountains was restricted by the clouds but I enjoyed the walk nonetheless.

The next morning I caught an early bus back to El Calafate and then an afternoon bus back over the border to Chile and Puerto Natales, ready for my 4 day excursion to the renowned Torres del Paine national park. Another early bus on Wednesday morning took me to the park entrance. I had decided to do the ´W´ trail, which meanders around the main mountain peaks in the shape of, yes you guessed it, a W. The first day was fairly straightforward, a 6 hour hike beginning with a steep walk uphill leading to a valley. Walking along the edge of the valley was rather precarious due to the extremely fierce wind. I have heard stories of people actually being blown off the edge and I can certainly believe it. The next hurdle to overcome was a climb over boulders up to the lookout over Las Torres. It was hard going, with the snow and wind not helping, but it was well worth it. The view at the top was spectacular, with the towers standing majestically over a beautiful green lake. After coming all the way down again I made it back to my refugio (basically a large wooden hut) situated in the valley. I had a fun evening with my fellow hikers and met a Chilean girl called Carolina. Carolina stood out from the crowd in that she was actually Chilean. She claimed to be the only Chilean tourist in the entire park, and she was probably right.

Day 2 began by retracing my steps back to the beginning and then setting off west. Most of the trail faced Lake Nordenskjold, and the scenery was absolutely beautiful. The lake was a stunning turquoise colour, contrasting brilliantly with the green of the forest and the red of the firebush plant. The sun shone for most of the day, which was a blessing. You never know what you are going to get in Patagonia - you can have sunshine, rain, wind, and snow all in the same day. Being a weather forecaster here would be a challenge to say the least.

When hiking alone in a vast national park it is easy to feel a sense of complete solitude. Imagine my surprise, then, when I came around one corner to be greeted by someone yelling "Well, if it isn´t Stu!". This was an American guy I had met on the ferry the week before.

It was a 6 hour walk to my next refugio, located at the foot of Los Cuernos (´The Horns´ - if you stretch your imagination a little then the peaks of the mountains bare some resemblance to the horns of a cow). The walk is reasonably easy and the trail clearly marked, although there are some minor trails which can be confusing. At one point I mistook one of the minor trails for the main trail and ended up totally lost for a while before getting back on track. When chatting to Carolina at the refugio that evening, it emerged that she had got lost in exactly the same place. Apparently the fact that she got lost was all my fault. She reckons that the only reason she took that route was because she followed my footprints. I mean, come on.

Carolina and I reasoned that if we were going to get lost we may as well get lost together, so for the remaining 2 days we hiked together. Day 3 was always going to be the hardest day, with a total distance of 26 kms. The most challenging part was the tiring 3 hour hike up the French valley to the British camp lookout. It was well worth the effort though. There was more superb mountain scenery as well as glaciers and waterfalls. Once we had made it back down the valley we then had to endure a 2 hour walk into the incredibly strong wind. We were being blown all over the place and by this point we were both shattered. After a full 10 hours hiking, we were extremely happy to make it to the next refugio called Paine Grande, by Lake Pehoe. On arrival I was given a voucher for a free welcome drink. Never has a welcome drink been so welcome.

When I woke up on the final day, Saturday, I wasn´t sure if I could make it out of bed, let alone do any more hiking. Carolina had endured a terrible night´s sleep but we had a lot of ground to cover and had to leave the refugio at 7.30am. The day did not get off to a good start. We had walked about 15 minutes uphill, with my legs killing me, when I had this nagging doubt whether we were going in the right direction. We studied the map and the horrible realisation dawned that we had indeed taken the wrong trail. Thankfully, it mattered not. We managed to make up the time by covering the 11 kms to the Grey glacier in 3 hours, followed by another hour uphill to the lookout over the glacier. The Grey glacier did not calve as dramatically as the Perito Moreno glacier but it had a different kind of beauty which could be well appreciated from the height of the lookout.

We had to trek back to the Paine Grande refugio in order to catch the catamaran at 6.30pm, and we were aided by the wind blowing behind us for once. We made it back in time, and so it was mission accomplished! Looking back, Torres del Paine was a fantastic experience. In 4 days I hiked about 80 kms in total around some of the most stunning scenery I have ever seen. The park really does have it all, and I doubt there is anywhere else that can boast such a wide variety of wonderful natural beauty.

After the half hour catamaran trip across Lake Pehoe I caught a bus to take me back to Puerto Natales, where I spent the night before boarding an afternoon bus to take me even further south, to Punta Arenas.

I arrived in Punta Arenas on Sunday afternoon and then set about trying to find my hostel. As I was crossing a road there was a sudden blast of deafening car horns. I wondered what on earth was going on, and assumed that Chile´s favourite football team, Colo Colo, had just scored. Soon after making it to the hostel I logged on to the BBC website and saw the ´breaking news´ that Pinochet had died. Judging by the dancing on the street, many of the people here are clearly very happy that their former dictator is dead, but some must surely be lamenting the fact that he was never brought to justice. Just the day before I had been discussing Pinochet with Carolina. She told me that her uncle had to flee to Costa Rica to escape Picochet´s regime, splitting up her family. She has never met her cousins.

Arriving in Punta Arenas is one thing, getting out of the place is quite another. I had to wait 2 days for a bus out, but I know of others who are still trapped there now. It is a lively enough town, the biggest in southern Patagonia, but there isn't an awful lot to keep you occupied.

After a 12 hour bus journey today, I have made it to the end of the world. Yes, the world is square after all. The bus just suddenly crashed into the side of the planet, it was all very eerie. Okay, that may not be entirely true. But I am in the southern most city in the world - Ushuaia. First impressions are very good but I will reserve my findings until next time...

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Comments

[Marc]

good morning ted(well it is here) i am enjoying the tales of your travels very much (much more than the ashes anyway) i look forward to the next installment, make it soon the third test starts in 30 mins and i guess i will need a chuckle soon. take care buddy