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The Truck
Home sweet home Wild, rugged, breathtaking scenery, windy and..........big. Long truck journeys (our transport was more like a truck than a bus) dodgy camp sites and sometimes no camp site at all, (good old huggies) hair raising activities, mouth watering ice cream, delicious steaks, all in all it was a fantastic experience.
There were 24 of us on the tour, mostly English, Irish and Austrailian, with a really good mix of ages.
Peninsula - Puerto Madryn
Penguins!!! funny, I always imagined penguins on snow so it was a little odd to see them walking across a grassy cliff top, still really cute though! We had a fantastic local guide who told us all about the local area and wildlife, she took us to see sea lions, elephant seals and of course penguins! Puerto Madryn is a lovely little coastal town with a long sandy beach, our guide recommended a quaint local fish restaurant overlooking the sea and a fabulous ice cream parlour (I hadn't realised that Argentina is as famous for it's ice cream as it is for it's steaks) both were exceptional. Next stop......
Ushuaia - Tierra del Fuego
The end of the world.... or so they claim,
well it is the southernmost city in the world and my first trek! it was a beautiful coastal walk in the Tierra del Fuego National park which took about 3 1/2 hours, although we tagged a couple of shorter one's at the end so in total it was about 5 hours, and yes I was knackered! I also took a chair lift up Cerro Marital and hiked towards the glaciar, but the weather turned on us and we had to turn back, it was really quite eery with the mist surrounding us. We also visited an old prison, you could imagine the prisoners being told they were to be banished to the ends of the earth! From there we headed across to Chile and to..............
Torres del Paine ........ and its granite tower's - Chile
Our campsite was superbly located on the shores of Lago Pehoe, where we had a fantastic view of Torres. Our challenge on our first day there was to climp up to the Torres viewpoint, so we got up at some unearthly hour and drove to the start of the trail. The weather wasn't looking good but I felt optimistic (that was before I
Puerto Madryn
Elephant seals having a cuddle ahhhh started climbing) all I can say was that it was painful, the 1st hour was really steep and hard going but looking around me I wasn't the only one who was finding it hard. We quickly fell into our appropriate fitness level group, and although I was near the back I wasn't at the back! When we arrived at the base camp for the final assent the weather was still really bad with visibilty down to a few meters, quite a few of our group decided to make the climb and hope the weather would clear, I decided not to after of few of our group were making their down saying you really couldn't see very much and it was actually quite dangerous. The one's that did make it all the way to the top said that they were unable to see the towers! which was a real shame for all that effort. I did a couple of other walks whilst I was there but these were much gentler and not for so long, Torres took 6 hours! One walk was to the gray glazier, the first glazier I had ever seen! we then took a ferry ride past the
Ushuaia
Tierra del Fuego Cerro Maritial glazier..... what a sight, I had assumed that the surface would be flat but in fact it is very jagged. The gave us pisco sour with a chunk of ice from the glazier, what a perfect way to finish off our visit there.
El Calafate- Moreno Glazier - Argentina
Now this was a glazier! it was huge. Whilst taking photos we saw a chunk fall into the water with an tremendous crash, unfortunately however long I waited I couldn't get it on camera. We took a boat ride past the glazier so got pretty close, boy it was cold.
El Chalten - Argentina
I walked on a glazier! definately one of the highlights of my trip so far. It was a really windy day and I must admit it was pretty scary walking along narrow ridges and climbing up and down the ice. Again not what I expected, it was actually quite hilly. We had crampons attached on to our boots and we had to stamp our feet into the ice to ensure we didn't slip, I was so worried about being blown over in the wind that I marched my way over the glazier. We
Ushuaia
Tierra del Fuego National Park - coastal walk also went into caves that were lit up by the sun pouring in through the roof , the ice inside these caves was really smooth like an ice cube.
Bariloche - Lake District - Argentina
Beautiful lakes, fabulous icecreams and chocolate, I think that pretty much sums up Bariloche. We also went whtewater rafting there, most of the group went so we filled 3 boats. What a laugh! until of course our boat overturned on the rapids!! once I knew I was safe and had got myself into the safety position it was wicked, I loved it, such great fun.
Pucon - Chile
This was a really lovely little town, very peaceful with a beautiful lake. We were meant to climb the volcano there but due to bad weather it was cancelled, cant say I was too disappointed as it was going to be a hard climb. Instead I went canopying, where you swing from tree to tree on a rope, bit like Tarzan, or in my case Jane.
End of tour!!!
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michele
non-member comment
hey lady
You are definitely THE most glamourous trekker I have ever seen!!