Patagonia

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Patagonia! We flew straight into Base Camp, Patagonia, otherwise known as El Calafate, the kind of place people stock up on Gortex gear and have a big last meal before launching into Patagonia proper.

The first item on our itinerary was a day walking on Perito Moreno, a huge, advancing glacier that spills into Lago Argentino. Before you get too excited parents; the walk had a strict age limit of 45! Looking at the glacier from the lookout was truly impressive, we saw huge chunks of ice crash into the water below so large Tom swears the impact created rideable waves (in case it’s not obvious Tom is keen to get back to a coastline)!

Once strapped into some crampons and on the glacier it was hard to take in the scale of the mass of ice. You were more focussed on putting one foot in front of the other and not plunging into a huge crevice than looking at the moving chunk of ice covering an area larger than most cities. A very cool experience indeed.

Next stop was a town called El Chalten which is at the foot of the Fitz Roy range, a spiky mountain range with pretty lakes and forests. We had perfect weather to walk and enjoy the views. At night we rewarded ourselves with yet more huge steaks, this time with a fried egg and chips; heart attack on a plate, luckily we had earned it.

From El Chalten we crossed the border into Chile for the start of the famous 4 day ‘W’ trek, a rite of passage for Chileans. The sunny days were spent meandering along the track taking in the views of glaciers, lakes and walking through absurdly varied ecosystems (rainforest one minute, dry and barren the next). We had one day of absolutely relentless sideways rain and wind. We quickly regretted not spending the extra $10 on waterproof hiking pants (by that we mean trousers for those in Scotland, mind you waterproof pants would have been good also) and just got the head down and trudged through the mud counting down the km’s to the shelter at the end of the day so we could enjoy another night of mediocre pasta cooked on our little camp stove. Still, it was good to experience the crazy weather that Patagonia is known for and it certainly made the trails quieter, separating the weak (Chileans, Americans) from the strong (Australians, Kiwis, Europeans).

All hiked out we made our way back to Puerto Natales, an isolated port town with plenty of local spit roasted lamb to get the hikers back to full strength and waited to board the 4 day Navimag ferry through the Chilean fjords north to Puerto Montt. We were due on the boat at 9pm however due to a crazy day of high winds the boat wasn’t able to dock and after a long evening of waiting around, we eventually got on the boat and into bed at 2am. No big deal though, felt sorrier for the staff having to turn the boat around in such a quick time and probably spend the whole night getting set up.

Along the way, we enjoyed excellent views of yet more glaciers and mountains. It was definitely not your luxury cruise but fine for us backpackers. We shared a tiny room with an Argentinian couple who couldn’t speak a word of English and with our very limited Spanish meant four days of awkward smiling and waving ‘hola!’. Also on the boat was what smelt like a large amount of cattle; as the days went on the smell got stronger. The highlights of the cruise were seeing dolphins, orcas, sea lions and whales alongside the ship. Also Tom doing karaoke and Lucy dancing for a large crowd after yelling ‘bingo’ at the wrong moment.

We’ve now checked off enough of the tourist must do’s to allow us to head back to the coast and get back surfing. We make our way to Santiago today on a 12 hour overnight bus (which Lucy is really excited about as the chair folds right down like a bed) and then on a flight to Arica, near the Peruvian border, a town which is renowned for its surf. Early forecasts suggest some swell is on its way…

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