Patagonia

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Hi all,

Im back in BA staying at my friends Katherine and Ryans. However its only a flying visit as I get another overnight bus to Mendoza. From there I will make my way to Santiago in Chile for next weekend. The last week and a half I have spent in Patagonia, in Puerto Madryn, El Calafate, and El Chanten.

Puerto Madryn
Puerto Madryn is a smallish city on the Atlantic Coast. It was founded as a port for Welsh settlements further inland in Patagonia. However, there is not much of its Welsh heritage remaining, and by and large it resembles a small Spanish coastal town. The beach runs the length of the town centre but was far from fantastic. The main reason for going to Puerto Madryn is to visit the Valdes Peninsula, which is a Unesco world heritage site and a fantastic nature reserve. If you have watched a nature programme about Killer Whales it will in all likelihood have been filmed at the Valdes Peninusla as it is possible here to see the Whales feed on baby seals. Now I had arrived very early into Whale season so it was unlikely I would see them, however I had been told they had been spotted in the bay only days previous. In the event I missed out on the Whales, but I did have the opportunity to see Elephant seals, penguins, turkey vultures, Llamas, Patagonian mocking birds, white foxes, and black widow spiders. The trip was made interesting by the guide who had a genuine passion in the wildlife and nature in the reserve and enlivened topics I would normally have a merely passing interest in.

The hostel I was saying in Puerto Madryn was excellent, and on arriving there I was informed that there was a bbq that evening. In my last blog, I wrote that not staying in El Bolson was the first call I had got wrong, well the BBQ was the second. I decided to save myself some money and make my own dinner that evening. However, all the lads I was knocking round with were having the BBQ accordingly I had to watch while they got laid into a veritable meat feast. It would have been easily the best meal I would have had in Argentina and I had missed out! Ahwell lesson learned. From now on I wont turn down a BBQ in South America.

The final thing of note in Puerto Madryn was the cinema. We went on Friday night as the films were in English with Spanish subtitles. Now it certainly wasnt a British multiplex experience. The ticket cost 1 pound, and before the film there was a burlesque show with 4 girls and 3 guys dancing and singing, and a raffle! In the end the film called Death Sentence, was an anti-climax.

El Calafate
From Puerto Madryn I made my way to the far south to El Calafate. El Calafate is itself a pretty non descript place and has a semi - permanent feel. However it is the closest town to the Moreno Glacier. Named after the Argentinian scientist who proved that the region belonged to Argentina and not to Chile. I have to admit im baffled as to how you go about proving that. It is a spectacular and unusual glacier in that it is still advancing forward. Indeed you can watch the ice collapsing under the pressure of the forward movement and falling into the lake. A sight and sound that is incredibly impressive. The glacier is indeed a spectacular sight but I would offer two criticisms of the experience, one you view the glacier from a series of viewing platforms facing it, there is no opportunity to hike in the mountains beside it unless you pay for an expensive guided trek. The second is the dual pricing. Despite proclaiming the the Glacier is for all on the national park literature, admission is 60 pesos for foreigners, and 20 pesos for Argentinians. A tad hypocritical I would suggest. Im an opponent of dual pricing as I believe that as a tourist I am pumping money into the local economy and I shouldnt be abused by being made to pay a price 3 times that which locals have to pay. That said the glacier was worth the money, and my photos will probably do more justice then my words.

El Chalten
My next stop was El Chalten. A small town located in the heart of the Fitzroy mountain range close to the border with Chile, which is labelled the home of Argentinian hiking. It was only founded relatively recently as an attempt to ensure that there was no encroachment by Chile into the Argentinian side of the mountains. While famed for its hiking and amazing views its also notorious for its weather, where rain and clouds blight the stay. I had met quite a few people who had been and none of them had good weather. Indeed when headed there I was reminded of mine and Anna´s trip to Sappa in Vietnam 5 years previous. Another mountain town famed for its views, where for the whole time we stayed there Anna and I experienced none of the views but a lot of cloud, rain, and mud. In the end I need not have worried. I got 3 gorgeous days weather wise. Made all the better by the fact that when I left on Friday morning it was cloudy and very wet! Arriving in El Chalten I bumped into Helen and Chris, who I had gone hiking with in Bariloche. I ended up straight out on a hike with them and there friend Sam. This hike and all the subsequent hikes were pretty tough, though enjoyable, and always affording fantastic views of lakes, and the mountains. Mount Fitzroy was the most distinctive along with Mount Torre, both snow capped jagged peaks. Again photos do better justice to the sight then my words. The 3 days spent there were fantastic though I was hiked out by the end and my feet glad of the rest.

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