Blogs from Torres del Paine, Magallanes, Chile, South America - page 30

Happy 2008 to you all! On Boxing Day, we crossed back into Argentina, heading further south to Bariloche, another picture postcard tourist town situated in the heart of Argentina's lake district. We were treated to wonderful views of lakes, mountains, and meadows of flowers by the roadside. Crossing the Chile-Argentina border was memorable because we ended up playing table tennis in the middle of a national park whilst waiting for the rest of the group to get their passports stamped - clearly, sporting equipment is an important part of securing one's national borders. Bariloche resembles a Swiss town with its chalets and lakeside setting - it is also famous for chocolate and St. Bernard dogs, which loll around the main square waiting to be photographed with the tourist hoards. It was a good choice for our ... read more

Having passed more salt flats and ascending the andes once more over some very interesting hairpin bends (having to stop every now and then to let our steaming truck Jack cool down!), we had the joy of yet another less than speedy border crossing. Upon arrival at the Chilean border all bags had to be lugged off the truck, all lockers emptied and everything was generally prodded (they even probed our Santa on the front of the truck!). It is worth noting at this point that the Chileans are most unrepresentative of the rest of South America due to their love of rules, regulations, receipts and petty bureaucracy, or do they have particularly good relations with Argentina. Plus they have a penchant for speaking Spanish at a million miles per hour incorprating utterly different terms and ... read more

We decided to do the whole Torres del Paine circuit, which takes usually 8 days. When we found out how much food we need to carry, we decided to buy food only for app. 4-6 days. we had some nice days and also some rainy on the trek. But anyway we had very nice views - we saw 3 glaciers, valleys full of flowers, snowcaped mountains, we had to cross one windy pass and carry pretty heavy backpacks :) It was demanding, but very beautiful. We were happy to finish the circuit and enjoy this beautiful scenery. Happy not to do just the shorter W - circiut. V Puerto Natales nas hned pri autobuse odchytila teta nadhanacka a zaviezla do svojho hostela El Mirador - pekneho asi 15 minut od centra. Kupili sme si sampanske - ... read more

Nachdem wir den ganzen Tag im Bus nach Puerto Natales verbracht und die Grenze nach Chile ueberquert haben, sind wir muede in einer kleinen Pension eingefallen und haben uns nach einem (zumindest fuer mich) leckeren Steak ins Bett fallen lassen. Am Tag darauf, am 25.12., war hier Feiertag, nur wenige Laeden hatten geoeffnet. Nach einem Spaziergang fanden wir ein Reisebuero, welches uns noch ein paar Naechte im Nationalpark Torres del Paine vermitteln konnte. Nachdem wir am 26.12. nach 5h Busfahrt und Faehre im Nationalpark angekommen sind, haben wir uns erst einmal auf Wanderung begeben. 11km fuer einen Weg hoert sich ja nicht so viel an. Bergauf, bergab, bergauf, bergab.....waehrend der Hinweg noch als schoen empfunden werden konnte, achteten wir auf dem Rueckweg nur noch auf die Steine auf dem Weg. Die Beine schwer wie Blei. Doch ... read more

Patagonia. Incredible. Another intercontinental overnighter takes us from New York to Miami, then Santiago and then further south to Punta Arenas. Definitely a trip of transitions, north to south, 12 degrees warmer (relief for Annette). Miami was the cross-over point where Spanish superceded English, and Santiago, Chile, was the point where everything could be seen in a new light - literally. Flying over the incredible Andes, this huge crumple on the earth's crust of which we would be exploring the southern regions, seems to bring with it a different quality of air and even with the inevitable fumes of an international airport, the clarity if vision was something to remark. The end of our journey was the town of Puerto Natales where we stayed in a wonderful hospedaje Hostel Dickson with the lovely Flor and her ... read more