Blogs from Magallanes, Chile, South America - page 86

each day began with a gentle awaking to the sounds of rushing water, the rustle of birds in the trees and little critters running through dry leaves, small whispers of wind blowing through the leaves, and the muffled noises of other campers starting to surface from their tents and mobilize for the day's hike. it was normally very cold in the mornings and evenings, so the wool cap, gloves, and fleece were immediately thrown on as we crawled from the tent and into the daylight and fresh air of the Torres Del Paine national park. my morning ritual (so predictable for anyone who has spent any time with me at all) was a beeline over to the nearby bubbling fresh glacier water, a dip of the nalgene container, a transfer into our little steel cooking pot, ... read more

Southern Patagonia may well have been the perfect place for us… coupled with the beautiful scenery of endless lakes, tiny islands and snow-capped mountains we really were in penguin heaven. We couldn’t turn a corner without catching sight of more penguin paraphernalia - they even used giant cuddly penguins as mannequins in shop windows! But alas, we had to participate in some non-animal related things too (honestly we’re not hiding out in London zoo!) Patagonia is trekkers' heaven so we thought we'd better give it a go too, our first taste was in the Tierra del Fuego National Park (in Argentina), which, naturally, is abundant with lakes, islands and mountains. Our walk was round one of the lakes, through woods and past some fantastic scenery. Our plan was to reach the beaver colony (they have beavers ... read more

Here I am in Chile and it is raining. Except this detail, it is just great! I started the weekend in a bus for going from Ushuaia to Punta Arenas and consequently leaving Argentina (I'll be back!) for Chile. Saterday in a bus means no rugby, which is obviously better for the French team! Punta Arenas! There is nothing to say about this town except that it is on the Magellan straight and there is othing and nobody there...ok it was over the weekend (even the city museum is closed on Sunday) but there was a nice little market on the main square where I bought a hand knitted "bonnet" that still smell the sheep from where the wool is coming from. There is a paper here that had a title: What is beautiful is alive ... read more

Hallo allerseits, Sorry, dass wir uns so lange nicht gemeldet haben. Wir sind inzwischen in Chile und waren gerade 10 Tage in den "Torres del Paine" wandern. Jetzt aber erstmal der Reihe nach... USHUAIA Am 21. Januar sind wir von B. Aires nach Ushuaia geflogen und irgendwie scheint Boris immer Pech mit seinem Gepaeck zu haben. Dieses Mal ist der Rucksack zwar angekommen dafuer war er aber etwas feucht und dreckig... Im Klartext: Das Ding hat irgendwo unter der undichten Boardtoilette gelegen und hat etwas "Fluessigkeit" abbekommen. Zum Glueck hat der Packsack (Danke, Schwesterherz) das meiste abgehalten und in den Rucksack ist auch nichts eingedrungen, trotzdem eher eine ecklige Angelegenheit! Die Dame am Schalter der Fluggesellschaft war dann auch noch ziemlich unfreundlich. Immerhin durfte ich meinen Rucksack auf Kosten von Aerolinas waschen lassen. Sie weigerte sich ... read more

Today we must be on the bus by 8am, so that we arrive at the base of our trek by 10am, so that we can climb for 4-5hrs, have lunch, descend in 3hrs, back on the bus for 2hrs, and supper at 8.30pm. Exhausted? So was I. The weather held from yesterday, and today we can see the Torres without a hint of cloud from the hotel / Estancia in which we are staying, on the edge of the Park. We leave almost on time, and the drive to the park takes us past a rock with a huge bird sitting on it. And not just any bird, but the largest flying bird in the world - the Andean Condor. We stop and take photos from the bus, and as we open the doors to get ... read more