Buenos Aires to Santiago

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Sorry it´s been so long. Planning to do a trip at a time (the whole thing being 5 trips) so BA to Santiago ...

After leaving Buenos Aires we have a 5 day drive to Ushuaia broken up with a day in Puerto Madryn where we got to see Penguins, Seals and Sea Lions but unfortunately no Orca´s. I absolutely loved seeing Penguins, they were so cute (see facebook photo).

Finally got to Ushuaia, the most southernly point you can get to in the world except Antarctica. We went for a beautiful walk in the national park and went to the most southernly point that you can walk to. Unfortunately it is a little underwhelming as there are lots of islands you can see further south so it doesn´t feel like the end of the world (plus there was no sign to say it was!!!). It absolutely chucked it down with rain after the walk (last of the hot weather for a bit) and we went clubbing and got drenched!

Next stop was Torres del Paine national park where we did most of the 3 day ´W´ walk (labeled due to the path looking like a W on a map). Saw some georgeous scenery and was satisfying to complete the walk (good training for the inca trail too!). The first day was cloudy so we didn´t get a good few of the famous towers (pointy mountains) unfortunately. Got our first look at a glacier when we went on the Grey Glacier ferry and got to drink whisky with Glacier ice!

To continue the Glacier theme we went to Moreno glacier which is the largest and one of only few glaciers that are getting bigger. Again had a boat trip in front of it. While we were there bits of glacier kept falling off which sounded a bit like thunder. We were hoping a large bit would fall off or the ice dam to break like it had done on that day 4 years ago (and does roughly every 4 years) but unfortunately it never did! The Moreno Glacier is near El Calefate where we stayed. It is a pretty little town where we had the most amazing Steak ever. Still haven´t tasted better yet and we are about to leave Argentina for the last time....

Next we went to El Chalten where we got to walk on Viedma Glacier. Absolutely amazing. The Glacier is undulating rather than flat so we were continually walking up an down ice hills, going through tunnels, into caves and walking on thin pathways on the peaks of the hills. One of the highlights of the trip undoubtably (although favourite is still Igassu falls). We finished it by drinking Baileys with Glacier ice since it was St Patricks day. The evening was very eventful as some people had done a trip to a different glacier and then never came back. It turned out that one of them had hurt her knee and was unable to walk back so had stopped in a camp site. Thankfully they returned safe the next day. That day we walked to Cerre Torre to a nice look out.

Back in the truck to Baroloche, a swiss inspired town famed for it´s chocolate (as you can imagine it was my heaven!). We walked around the town which was pretty although a bit touristy and took a chairlift to the top of a hill where you get amazing views of the town and surrounding mountains and lakes. We went white water rafting which I enjoyed immensely. We went through lots of short steep rapids and I didn´t fall out at all (we did deliberately flip the raft in a safe part later so we got in the water). We also went on zip wires in the trees which I really enjoyed too. We ate in town one evening and had a chocolate fondue - mmmm mmmm!

Next stop was Pucon where we were meant to be climbing an active volcano. Unfortunately the weather conditions were bad and we weren´t able to do it. Steve went hydro speeding instead which is going through the rapids with a float! (not really my thing but he enjoyed it).

Following a very picturesque and long drive we arrive in Santiago. Our final stop on this part of the trip and where we change guides, truck and traveling companions.

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