Patagonia is definitely on the gringo trail these days, although infrastructure isn´t exactly all in place yet. This was our view for hours and hours over two long days bussing down to El Chalten, the endless gravel road. There was the occasional guanaco or rhea thrown in for excitement, but mostly just our internal organs getting jarred out of their natural compartments.
There is nothing to do in El Chalten, which is an Argentine frontier town, except go hiking. So we hiked up to Cerro Fitz Roy and Laguna de los Tres on an unusually clear day. Darryl did this in pluggers(or flip flops), of course.
Next stop was El Calafate to see Perito Moreno glaciar.
It calved a huge iceburg while we were there that set off a giganto tidal wave. It sounded like thunder and it was surprising how noisy the glaciar actually was, crackling away as the ice moved in places we couldn´t see.
You can trek on to the glaciar (for a small fee). We discovered that crampons are surprisingly easy to walk in, once you stop stepping on your own pant legs with them(I may have been the only one to have this experience)
Relaxing Santori times at the end of the trek.
The whole point, originally, of us going to Patagonia was to trek in the Torres del Paine National Park in Chile. Which we finally did. And will never do again. It took nine days to finish, seven days for my feet to rebel, five days to tire of eating pasta and three to start smelling(badly).
It was worth it in the end though just due to the scenery. Darryl will tell you the area is a sedimentary bed pushed up by a granite intrusion uplift(really badly paraphrased), but maybe photos do it slightly more justice.
The Torres, a mountain climbers dream. We were happy to make it to the mirador(or viewpoint) twice. Once in the afternoon and once prior to sunrise. Sleeping bags were optional, but definitely worth lugging up the mountain as it was f%&ing cold.
Hot Milo and oatmeal as the sun rose.
Up and over the John Gardner pass and views of Glaciar Grey on the descent.
The Q Crew, who circuited the whole 140 kilometer trail during the same time.
On to Punta Arenas!
love, d&j(the two bums)
