Chile Argentina Chile Argentina Chile Argentina...

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Today I write to you from my little cabaña, beachside at Tulum on the Mayan Riviera in Mexico...one of my favourite beaches in the world and a great place for some much needed R&R...

My 10 week sojourn in South America has come to an end. Four countries; ~14000km; ~160 hours on buses (many of those very hairy indeed); 150kms (if not more) trekked; one near-death experience (well, two if you count the explosives the striking miners threw at our bus in Bolivia...); hundreds of harrowing switchbacks survived during Andes crossings; several fingers and toes nearly lost to frostbite (I do have a tendency to exaggerate sometimes...); one (nearly) lost bag right at the very beginning of my time on this vast continent; and perhaps most importantly, many wonderful new friends made :-).

I have been putting off writing this installment...I'm not sure if its the lapping waves just in front of me distracting me from my task or my slight error in planning this trip that saw me heading to Peru and Bolivia before Chile and Argentina. I don't mean to take anything away from Chile and Argentina, but in terms of cultural differences, I largely felt like I could have been in European cities most of the time...whereas Peru and Bolivia were so different to anywhere I had been before, spoiling me for what was to follow. Dare I say it...I may have become a little desensitised to beauty seeing so much in such a short space of time.

So anyway...on to my summary of Chile and Argentina where I've spent the last five weeks zigzagging (literally) my way between the two countries over countless switchbacks across The Andes.

I last left you over 4000m above sea level when we crossed the border between Bolivia and Chile. We exited out of Bolivia through the tiny desert border post (literally a hut), then proceeded to drop about 2000m in altitude in about an hour, from high in the Atacama Desert down to San Pedro de Atacama...a cute little dusty town that looked like it belonged in a Western or was perhaps a set on the backlot at Universal Studios. This sounds ridiculous because I was in Chile, but something about this town really made me feel like I was in Chile... (or an extra in The Three Amigos, which is Mexican, I know...just go with it...)

Unfortunately we only had one night in this cutsey little town, just enough time to scrub off several days worth of Atacama sand and dirt and get a good night's sleep due to the lower altitude, as the following day we were bound for Argentina.

Early the next morning we boarded our bus for Salta. We got stamped out of Chile on the outskirts of San Pedro, then the next hour or so saw us climbing back up the 2000m we had come down the day before, followed by two hours of driving through no mans land before we reached the Argentinian border post. The incredible desert scenery continued on the Argentinian side of the border. We drove through sandy desert plains, high craggy mountains, salt flats, grasslands...it was ever changing and quite spectacular. Finally we started descending a series of very sharp and steep switchbacks to get down to the main road into Jujuy and then Salta, terrifying but awesome.

Salta is a large city in the north of Argentina. It was quite a contrast from where we had been and it was a nice change to feel like we were back amongst civilisation. We headed out one night to a Pena show where we enjoyed some Argentinian steak, matched nicely with some Malbec. A Pena show is a traditional Argentinian music and dance performance...and with a little audience participation made for one very entertaining evening.

The following night, the owner of our hostel prepared an Asado for us, the traditional Argentinian barbecue with every different cut of meat, again with some Malbec as an accompaniment. It was a highlight of our stay in Salta, especially as we were the only people at the hostel, it felt like our home and we were having a dinner party. Very nice when you've been on the road for so long. I have to mention the dessert that was wheeled in...a cake made of dulce de leche, covered with chocolate. Whereever you go in Argentina (and Uruguay and Chile), it is very hard to get away from the sickly sweet caramel that they serve with absolutely everything. However this cake was the largest slab of dulce de leche that I've seen yet!

After a couple of days in Salta, regrouping after our desert (and dessert) experience, getting washing done and generally relaxing, we set off south for Mendoza.

Mendoza is a lovely little town with tree-lined avenues and some lovely squares (particularly Plaza España), but what it is best known for is the surrounding wine regions. After spending a day exploring town, the next day we jumped on a local bus out to Maipu, visited Mr Hugo to rent some bikes, then we set off to a couple of wineries to do some wine tasting. After a couple of wineries and several empanadas we were too tired to visit any more so we raced back to Mr Hugo's (dodging buses and large trucks on the way), returned our bikes, and hopped on the bus back to town where we spent the next few hours before dinner in a wine-haze.

Our next stop after Mendoza was Santiago which meant crossing the border into Chile (again). Our bus wound its way up through the Andes, then right at the top we were told to hop out, stand in line in the freezing cold, amongst snow-covered mountains, before proceeding inside to get stamped out of Argentina and into Chile. Finally we were processed, then on the other side we had to descend the mountain starting with "Las Curvas" a series of very sharp switchbacks that are numbered - 30 of them. Trucks and buses were overtaking each other on these curves...the dodgiest effort I witnessed was when a large truck overtook a petrol tanker on a bend...these drivers are CRAZY.

We eventually made it down the curves safely and continued uneventfully into Santiago.

Santiago is a large metropolis, and once again, I felt I could be in any European city. It has some lovely squares and grand architecture, and a lot of fabulous restaurants and cafes. It is very cosmopolitan and feels very youthful, probably due to the numerous universities dotted around the downtown area. One thing that makes Santiago unique is its picturesque setting amongst mountain ranges...the Andes to the East and a coastal range to the west. Unfortunately due to the apparently constant smog, the view of the Andes is always somewhat marred.

Whilst in Santiago we went on a four hour free walking tour which was fantastic. Our lively guide, Antonio, was very informative and entertaining. We took in the significant buildings and sites in the centre of town, learnt more about the Pinochet dictatorship and the attack on the Moneda Palace. We stopped in a trendy little neighbourhood for a coffee and snack to help us on our way, then we headed over to the artsy Bella Vista neighbourhood on the other side of the river. There were markets and many more restaurants and bars that looked worthwhile visiting over this way.

When the tour ended, five of us squeezed into a taxi and headed up San Cristobal Hill which afforded some lovely views over the city, however, as mentioned before, the smog was quite thick so our view of the Andes was not very clear which was a shame.

I had quite a few days in Santiago, so I took the opportunity to head out to Valparaiso on the coast on two separate occasions to explore the arty, port city. The Open Air Museum is fabulous for anyone who enjoys street art. Valparaiso is made up of around 45 hills (an unofficial count) which makes for many of the steepest streets you'll ever see, together with some staircases that will definitely get your heart rate up. Thankfully there are also several old funicular cable cars that can take you up some of the hills, but unfortunately, a lot of these are no longer in use so climbing the streets and staircases is the way to go (or risk your life in a taxi). The outdoor museum covers several blocks of the town and is basically a series of murals and paintings on walls, staircases, lamp posts etc. The colour around town is so vibrant...I thoroughly enjoyed wandering around the labyrinth.

Back in Santiago, I joined up with a week long tour to get me over to Buenos Aires in a fairly comfortable fashion. Our first stop was back to Mendoza (more wine tasting, but not on bikes this time...). Next we flew down to Bariloche, a small town on the shores of Lake Nahuel Huapi, in Argentina's Lakes District.

The town of Bariloche itself was not as quaint as I had imagined. The wooden, alpine buildings unfortunately looked like they were built that way purely for tourists, and they were largely surrounded by a lot of ugly apartment and hotel developments which shot up in a hurry when the tourists started arriving in droves. What the town does well, though, is cater to every kind of adventure sport you can imagine. Unfortunately we only had a day and a half here so we didn't have time to do much, and it was shoulder season so many activities hadn't commenced yet. We caught the chairlift up Cerro Campanario for some breathtaking views over the lake, and the following day we went out on a boat trip around the lake, going ashore a couple of times to wander through the forests which was very picturesque.

The next day we flew up to Buenos Aires, a city that I love and feel like I will keep coming back to over and over again. BA is a wonderful city...huge, dirty and gritty but it has so much going for it. We didn't arrive in till late, but as it was a Saturday night we made a dinner booking for 10.30pm (still very early for Porteños!) and headed out to Milion in the Recoleta area. A wonderful last night with the group, and well worth the sore heads the next day.

After a morning getting reacquainted with the centre of BA, and browsing the wonderful San Telmo markets with Karen and Misha, I bid them farewell. Moved my gear to my next hotel, and met my new Intrepid group, with whom I was going to be spending two weeks in Patagonia.

I was very excited about getting to Patagonia, and also a little apprehensive about my hiking abilities, not to mention whether I had the right gear (it is very difficult packing one backpack for a year where you will be covering every different climate and activity...). There appeared to be some seasoned hikers in this group and everyone but me had waterproof trousers which had me worried the whole two weeks. As it turns out I didn't need any until the very last day when we went to see the penguins...and that was due to snow, not rain (I'll get to this later...).

We flew down to El Calafate, our base for the next few days. El Calafate is a little touristy town on the shores of Lago Argentino. It is the base for those heading out to see the magnificent Perito Moreno Glacier.

The next morning bright and early we hopped into the van for the 80km drive out to the Glacier. I had seen plenty of photographs of the glacier but nothing prepares you for the sight up close. It was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. Rising 60 metres out of the water, it is literally a wall of ice. Even better than seeing the wall of ice up close was actually getting to walk on the glacier. We were all kitted up with crampons and briefed extensively by Diego, our hilarious guide, about how not to die by tangling up your crampons, tripping and falling into a cravasse. Then we set off to explore, closely following Diego's footsteps.

When we neared the end of our walk on the glacier we rounded a corner of ice and found a tray of whiskey set up for us, together with an alfajor each (an alfajor is two biscuits with a thick layer of dulce de leche in the middle...a very common snack in Argentina). Diego proceeded to warn us that people got more confident after the whiskey and more accidents happened on the walk back down and people were dying like flies, so we should be extra careful on the descent!

Following our walk on the glacier, we crossed back to the mainland on a boat which first did a little tour up close to the south side of the glacier. We then walked around the balconies to see up close the north face of the glacier. The blue hues from the light on the ice is just beautiful. Definitely one of the most impressive sights I have ever seen.

El Chalten was our next stop, a funny little town which was only created in 1985 due to a border dispute with Chile over some land in the national park. El Chalten is the base from which hikers and climbers set off on trails into Los Glaciares National Park.

The next morning we raced down to the bakery to pick up our packed lunches, we met our guides, Zoe and Carolina (from Walk Patagonia...excellent, I highly recommend them) and then set off into the National Park. The next two days saw us complete a 22km hike and a 20km hike respectively, first to see Fitz Roy and Laguna de Los Tres, and then Cerro Torre on day two. We were so lucky with the weather as we saw both peaks clearly, which apparently is quite rare due to cloud and unpredictable weather. With Cerro Torre we saw the perfect reflection in the lake at its base as well...very lucky :-). Both hikes were challenging but amazing...the scenery was very varied and quite spectacular. Seeing the mountain peaks at close range was definitely something special.

Following our long, challenging days in El Chalten we headed back to Calafate for a night of rest. The next day we crossed the border back into Chile (3rd time for me...) and headed into Torres del Paine National Park to our campsite for the next three nights, and our base for three more treks.

The look on everyone's faces when we pulled up beside a field and a couple of sheds, with a bunch of tents set up in the distance with gale force winds threatening to tear a couple of flags to pieces, was actually quite funny. When Natalia hopped up and said "we're here", we continued to give each other disbelieving looks but disembarked quietly, grabbed our bags and raced over to the tents to get some shelter from the biting wind.

We assigned ourselves tents, put our things inside then raced back to the tin shed, our "refuge" (which looked like it had just been thrown together that afternoon...). Unfortunately there was no heating in the refuge...the only heat was what was coming from the stove.

Inside the refuge we met Christian and Jaime. Christian was to be our guide in the National Park for the next few days and Jaime was our cook. They made Pisco Sours for us for "cocktail hour" and made up some delicious guacamole with tomatoes and crackers, then later they served up a wonderful three course meal for dinner. Some of these meals whilst camping were the best of the trip. When dinner was over there was no more heat from the stove so, tired and freezing, we turned in pretty early.

The night was so clear and the stars were amazing, but as there were no clouds to keep any warmth in, it was absolutely freezing. When I got up in the morning, our tent and the grass were covered in frost. Brrrrr, I don't think I've ever been so cold. It was a good incentive to get up, get dressed and head into the refuge to get a hot cup of tea.

We set off early for our first hike. It was another brilliant day weatherwise. We had been so lucky so far and we were constantly waiting for our luck to change. The day warmed up quite quickly and we were peeling layers off pretty rapidly. Today's hike was about 20km up to see the Towers, as in "Torres del Paine". More incredible scenery, different again from what we saw in Los Glaciares NP.

The next day we took a tour in the NP, stopping to do a few smaller hikes, first to a waterfall for lunch, and in the afternoon, we walked across a rocky lake beach, battling howling winds. There were icebergs in the lake and we could see up in the distance another glacier. This landscape was more like a moonscape. Again, like nothing I have ever seen before.

On our last day in Torres de Paine NP we set off on a half day hike to see the guanacos (part of the llama family) up close and to see some cave paintings which were a little disappointing. It was bitterly cold and extremely windy so I wasn't enjoying this day at all. We finished the hike, then had to sit in a little open-sided shelter for over an hour waiting for our bus back to Punta Natales. What relief when the bus finally showed up. We had been hiking and living in freezing tents for three days, and the plush seats on a warm bus were very welcome! We were 12 very happy people when we arrived at our warm and cosy B&B in Punta Arenas that night - hot showers for the first time in three days and extremely comfortable beds.

After a good night of rest, the bus picked us up from the B&B in the morning and we set off for our 12 hour journey into Ushuaia - the end of the world...and the final border crossing back into Argentina (3rd time for me...).

Ushuaia is the world's southernmost city. It has a mountain range to its north (technically the end of the Andes) and the Beagle Channel to the south. We set out on a boat trip to explore the Beagle Channel, but once again it was so cold, most of us were just wanting the trip to hurry up so we could get back onto dry land. We passed a few seal colonies and hundreds of nesting cormorants. Unfortunately, I think by this stage my brain had frozen and I had ceased being able to take in any information.

That afternoon it started snowing, and pretty much didn't stop until the morning we left town. The following day we awoke to a white city. We walked down to the centre of town and as we did so the snow got heavier and heavier until we decided to head indoors and have an early lunch somewhere warm before heading out across the Beagle Channel again to see some penguins.

That afternoon, we set off on our "excursion" to see the penguins which involved getting into a van, driving for 90 minutes when we would then get a zodiac boat for 10 minutes across the Beagle Channel to the island where we would be able to walk amongst the penguins...

Well...first of all, our driver had an enormous bulbous nose like he may enjoy several of bottles of something for breakfast which didn't instill me with any confidence. Next, as we were driving through the forest, the snow was coming down so hard that we lost sight of the road and the van started to fish-tail its way along through the trees. Following the fishtailing episodes, we then skidded into a ditch...by this time everyone in the van was silent with terror. We were very happy when we arrived at our destination alive, however, it had put a bit of a dampener on the day.

We battled our way through the snow to get onto the little zodiac where we whizzed across the channel to the island. Once again, I had imagined an experience totally different to the one we were having. The penguins were roped off so we couldn't get that close to the first lot. As I was wearing a beanie and had the hood of my jacket up, and the wind was howling, I couldn't hear a word the guide was saying about the penguins. I wanted to move on quickly to keep the blood circulating but we stayed in that one spot for some time...so by the time we did move on I couldn't feel my fingers or toes which was a little worrying. We wandered around the island a little more and did get right next to a few penguins but it still wasn't the experience I was expecting.

A little dejected, and absolutely frozen solid, I made my way back, as fast as possible, to the zodiac (which was only marginally warmer), where I waited for everyone else to return so we could head back to the restaurant and a hot drink on the other side of the channel. There was a full on blizzard raging when we got off the boat so we raced up to the restaurant and had hot chocolates while waiting for 6pm and our transfer back to town.

The driver decided to fit chains for our journey back (thankfully). The process was taking some time so I asked our guide, Santiago, if needing chains was common...he said in all the years he had been working for this company they had never needed chains before. This was becoming quite clear as it took at least half an hour fitting the chains and when we finally set off there was an awful clanging/banging sound which didn't sound like it would be too good for the van or for the tyres. Anyway, we safely got out of the snowy region and back onto the main road. Needless to say, when we arrived safely back in Ushuaia we were very happy to be alive which warranted a few celebratory drinks.

The next day we flew back to Buenos Aires and some milder weather...quite a relief. We had our farewell meal in an Irish Pub, where strangely enough, I think I had the best steak yet.

With only a few of us left in town, the next day we decided to rest our feet and take the Buenos Aires bus around town to go a bit further afield without exhausting ourselves further. I wouldn't recommend it unless you have plenty of time to get on and off. Last year I did a six hour walking tour which was much more comprehensive (BA Walking Tours). A lovely last night dinner in Palermo with Kath and Heidi was a great way to end the two weeks. The girls left the next day, and then there was one...

So I'm now in Mexico enjoying some much needed R&R, thawing nicely, bikinis and bare feet are all that are required and the toughest decision I have to make is which cocktail to try next...the pear martini is my favourite so far...

Next stop Guatemala and a few weeks of Spanish School before continuing my Central American adventure where I left off in January...



(once again, for pictorials and to meet my wonderful travel companions, see my photo albums on facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151239948247629.504722.538562628&type=3

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151265102227629.508362.538562628&type=3 )

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