Blogs from Santa Cruz, Argentina, South America - page 13

Maria Chiara and I must be suckers for punishment. After two long plane rides we had finally managed to escape an excruciatingly long and severe British winter when we arrived in Buenos Aires. No sooner had we got nicely settled and acclimatised to the benign late summer temperatures, than we took yet another long flight down to Southern Patagonia and yet more cold! As our plane plunged towards Antarctica, the land below looked like some sort of moonscape. Or possibly Mars. After touching down at El Calafate airport, a minibus trip to the town took us through tundra-like landscape. El Calafate the town has jauntily-coloured buildings akin to what one would expect to see in Lapland or Alaska. Patagonia is the sort of place where civilisation can never really dominate, where the extreme nature of the ... read more

After having a rest day yesterday, we are wanting to do another trek today. Mojo has worked on my calves with some tiger balm and pointy fingers, and it seems to have released the tension in my knees, so we decide to first walk out to the Corrillo Del Salto (a waterfall 4km out of town), and then tackle the climb up to Laguna Capri which is supposed to have great views to Fitz Roy range. The walk out to the waterfall is on a dirt/gravel road and the wind is blowing hard today. It seems that a lot of the Argentines here in El Chatlen for easter have decided to drive out to the waterfall as well. This means that every time a car drives past, great swirls of dust are created, covering us and ... read more

Had our legs not done enough moving in the past few week? Apparently not. So even more walking after the beast of the Torres? Yeh, sure. And in the so-called trekking capital of the world.... weather depending of course, as we soon found out. After a long day of bus rides and waits journeying from Puerto Natales, we were greeted by an unforgettable sunset over the Parque Los Glaciers. As the bus rounded one of the last (long) bends into El Chalten, the sun sank behind the mountains casting out long shadows into the red sky. My camera couldn't do it justice at the time, suffering from repetitive shaking due to the uneven road. I wasn't able to hold it still for a moment. The hostel too was only meters away from the bus stop, looking ... read more

I had a very poor sleep on my last night in El Calafate. Someone in my room had a phone that would beep every minute. I think maybe the battery was dying, but it didn't seem to disturb him. Just me. I only managed to sleep for a couple of hours before it drove to a couch in the common area. So naturally I slept half of the three and a half hour bus ride to El Calafate to try and make up for it. I would have slept for the other half as well, but it was a clear day without a cloud in the sky, and that meant spectacular views of the Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre from the bus. And these are two geological features that don't really make any sense compared to ... read more

Feeling surprisingly refreshed and ready to go after our bus ride down from El Bolson we were keen to make the most of our time in El Calafate, all of the two days we had. The first day was almost a write off after arriving into the town at 1.30pm, then getting to the hostel, sorting out our things and of course showering. It left us a few hours in the afternoon to do a couple of things. First and foremost to do our very routine scan around the town to see what was is on offer and have a look in the abundance of expensive outdoor shops, including a very tempting sale at a Patagonia store. The chocolatiers carried on in El Calafate too, the main difference was that this chocolate tasted amazing! We spent ... read more