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Published: April 17th 2007
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To Tierra del Fuego, the ´land of fire´
Disclaimer: It has been two months since we updated this blog...if anyone has tried to check it since then...sorry to dissappoint. But here comes the long anticipated two months in brief (hopefully brief..) summary.
We´ve basically been doing a two month national parks tour, hiking a lot and sleeping in our tent about 40 of the past 60 nights. From a small town in argentina called Junin de los andes we made our way out to Parque nacional Lanin, a beautiful series of lakes that lie beneath the impressive shadow of Volcano Lanin. We found a spot to camp with a series of mini cliffs to jump off into the clear, crisp water below.
We cruised rapidly through a touristy town called bariloche, complete with a giant chocolate company called ´la turista´ which is testament to the type of town. We took a 20 hour or so bus south to Rio Gallegos, Argentina´s hamilton or regina equivalent. A desolate, sort of depressing place with constant, unrelentless wind. It is an unavoidable hub to head south to the island of tierra del fuego.
We hoped on another bus and made
River Crossing
Lago de la caminate - tierra del fuego our way to Ushuaia, passing through Chile, ferrying across the straight of magellanes and arriving on the great isle of Tierra del Fuego.
Ushuaia was ´todo bien´ or all good... ask anyone that lives in ushuaia como estas? and the answer with out fail is todo bien. That phrase also sums up our experience at the southern tip of the continent. We started with a two day hike through 2 amazing valleys conected by the paso de la oveja or pass of the sheep. Beautiful red, orange and yellow mossy wetlands characterise the area. We also spent 4 days hiking around parque nacional tierra del fuego, a mix of rain, cloud, a bit of sun, and more rain all in one day is quite common. Also are the introduced rabbits which run rampant, as a result we bore witness to a native fuegian fox run by empty mouthed as he stalked his prey and then walk by a few minutes later with a lifeless bunny hanging in his mouth. He slowed down and looked our way, bunny hanging in mouth, as if to say ´what did you expect?´
Torres del Paine to the Carretera Austral and beyond
Sadly
leaving tierra del fuego we made our way to puerto natales in the south of Chile. We did a 9 day trek through parque nacional Torres del Paine. Carrying our 9 days worth of food, Dave, Becky, Crystal and I set out on a beautiful sunny day to explore the wonders of the park. The trail took us on a large circuit around spectacular mountains, passing by the largest peice of ice we´ve ever seen. It was unreal. Three days into the hike, with the sun shining overhead, and after already hiking 6 hours that day we set out for another 4 hours hiking uphill to the Paso John Gardner as it´s called, and down to camp for the night. When we reached the pass, we could see a huge sheet of ice covering the entire valley bottom in both directions. At the south end, the ice finally toed into the lake where we would sleep 2 nights later. Overall, a spectacular hike. Eating crackers, cheese and sausage while sitting and contemplating the hugeness of the ice was a highlight.
From Torres del Paine we heading back to argentina to visit parque nacional Los Glaciares. Another massive sheet of
Jay navigating
Paso de la Oveja - Ushuaia ice called Perito Moreno Glaciar was a highlight, this time instead of hiking for 3 hard days to get to it we rented a car and drove to within 100 meters. As a result of the easy access we had to share it´s wonder with more than just the 4 of us. Still amazing, and upon camping close by and hiking up to the summit of Cerro los Cristales, we were granted a beautiful condor´s view of the surrounding lakes and glaciers. Side note: crystal opted not hike to the summit of her namesake mountain, choosing to drink a fine box of vino with becky down by the lakeside. The only mountain she chose not to hike was the one named after her...nice one crystal!
After hiking through the cerro Fitz Roy area of el chalten, seeing condors flying high over head and massive woodpeckers trying to give themselves a headache, we opted to take a less travelled route back to Chile. We caught a ride as far as the road would take us north, hiked 4 hours past a lake, lago del desierto, camped and then crossed the border on foot the next day during a 6 hour
us
Paso de la Oveja hike. A boat that runs once a week took us across to a town called villa o´higgins. A town of 500, in one of the most inaccessible parts of chile. Thus began our journey north up a road called the Carretera Austral - ´the southern road´. We bused our way and hitch hiked our way for about 2 weeks up the road. Met lots of funny, interesting, wonderful people along the way. The stories from the Carretera we´ll share with you in person, that way we save some fun stories and this blog doesn´t get any longer.
A couple highlights i will mention from that journey were:
spending dave´s birthday in a little rufugio in the woods with a wood burning stove inside and two massive, agressive bulls outside.
waking up in our tent to the whole world shaking.... the tremors of a nearby earthquake.
meeting nicolas in the small town of chaiten, who took us into the temperate rainforest and gave me a charrango lesson (small andean guitar)
meeting Rita and Dante also in Chaiten, spending my birthday with them and having dante take me to his woodworking shop and teaching me a few things
First of 8 camps...
Parque Nacional Torres del Paine as well as giving me a few of his tools and some native woods to work with.
Catching a ride across the border with a chileno couple named Juan and Zoila, who shared their lives with us and not only drove us 4 hours with them but then took us out for dinner and wine and icecream.
And now here we sit in El Bolson argentina....tomorrow we move north to mendoza where we hope to work for a few weeks with a local family on their farm....
Espero te ver pronto...
Jay and Crystal
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