Blogs from El Chaltén, Santa Cruz, Argentina, South America - page 24

Well, after leaving Dawson Gav in Buenos Aires we boarded a 36 bus hour ride south to Rio Gallegos. This was the first time I spent two nights, and an entire day on one bus. Thankfully Jord and I got seats just behind the staircase so we could stretch out our legs. Poor Ryan had to sit beside a stranger for most of the way having to constantly jostle with him for space. Horrible food, dubbed movies, stenches from caged humans (well seated ones anyway) and spurts of unbearable heat made the ride hardly bearable. I haven´t calculated the distance I have travelled since March 11th, but March 10th was the last day I slept in a bed (until last night -and it was beautiful). The amount of travelling I have done since February started would ... read more

Yet more news since last time - we are engaged! We´ve spent the last week or so in the mountains around El Chalten (Fitzroy range) mostly camping and trekking. Ben and Subhani have headed on to the rest of their travels after Ben joined us for the first day of trekking (Subhani quite sensibly staying indoors in the horrendous weather!) though we are planning to meet up again in the Argentinian lake district for a drink or two before they head to Chile and Bolivia. We havn't yet managed to get out of bed before 10am without Ben there to get us organised in the mornings! The first couple of days were pretty bad weather wise with incredible winds and a fair amount of rain, howether things eventually picked up and we trekked to a fantastic ... read more

Fuimos hasta El Chalten todo por ruta 40 la ruta mitica de la Argentina, pero parece que nadie la recorre, me dedique a contar los autos que cruzabamos en contra solo 3 fueron desde la ciudad Perito Moreno a El Chalten unos 600 km., el estado de la ruta es muy bueno fantastico comparada con la Carretera Austral, con decir que enganchabamos 5ta, pero como no nos andaba el velocimetro calculabamos la velocidad con el cuentavueltas a 2500 revoluciones deberiamos estar en 90km/h. El paisaje de la ruta es totalmente distinto a lo que se puede uno esperar, lo pueden ver en la foto, parece una llanura pampeana reseca y sin alambrado, claro si las estancias son enormes la carretera circula por medio de la estancia y solo se cruzan guardaganados cada tantos kilometros, cuando empezo ... read more

Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales Further details from our last entry (for other travelers) about transferring from Puerto Varas to Puerto Montt airport. From P.Varas, we caught a local minibus from Av. Del Salvador (in front of Cafè Real) to P.Montt bus terminal for $1000p each (about 30min trip, buses about every 15min). Then took the large ETM bus to the airport for $1200 each, buses every half hour and trip takes about 20min. We stayed one unexciting night in Punta Arenas on 14th Feb at Residential Roca (about one block south east of the main plaza on Av. Magalles) which was clean enough, if a little noisy, on the main street for $6000 each (with breakfast). Caught the Fernàndez bus to Puerto Natales for $4000 each (about 8 departures daily), takes less than 3 hours. ... read more

After the hot, sunny (if rather windy) day on the 14th we awake the next day for our second day trekking in El Chalten to find the rain pouring down. Now back home, the Brits would look out the window, and be almost resigned to the fact that they were now going to spend the day getting wet. The Argentinians (and Italians!) have a slightly different outlook - they're not so keen on going out when it's raining, so the trek was cancelled, and we piled onto the bus for an outing to a lake instead. Desert Lake is about a 2 hour drive from town, along the typical gravel road, and the rain persists, and drizzles down most of the way there. We've all been given packed lunches - much the same as the previous ... read more