P A T A G O N I A !

Hey Everyone!

We last wrote on our epic 26 hour bus ride from the lakes district south to Patagonia.  Although the bus ride might have been among the worst 24 hours of our trip, Patagonia has been amazing!

We arrived in the tiny town of El Chalten (population 600) on the Argentinian side of the boarder (Patagonia is divided between Chile and Argentina) in the early evening, and were greeted by the cold evening air and the famous strong winds of Patagonia.  Like everyone else in the town (which seems to only exist for the purposes of tourism), we were there to do some hiking in the nearby Fitz Roy mountain range.  The trail heads are right in the town!  We found a nice campground in town and set up our tent for our 4 day stay.  

When we woke up the next morning, to our surprise and delight, it was a beautiful, clear, and warm day!  As such, we planned to hike to the famous Cerro Torre where clouds often make it difficult to get a good view of the peaks.  It was a relatively easy 3 hour hike to the lake at the foot of the mountain's glacier (Laguna Torre).  The views were amazing and we couldn't believe our luck with the weather! 

Shaina on the trail to Cerro Torre

The view of Cerro Torre from Laguna Torre

After a tasty picnic lunch at the foot of the mountain it was a 3 hour walk back to town.  Day 2 in El Chalten was another great weather day that we spent relaxing/recovering and wandering around the tiny town. The next day we planned to do the 8 hour round trip hike to Cerro Fitz Roy.  We woke up to a third gorgeous day in a row, thanked pacha mama (mother nature) for the weather, and hit the trail early.  The hike was more physically demanding than our first one in the area but views were equally stunning!

Cerro Fitz Roy from a viewpoint about 1 hour along the trail

A closeup of the peaks - notice the condor flying overhead in the top left of the photo

After 4 hours, we arrived at Lago Los Tres which sits up high at the base of the mountain's glacier.  Unfortunately, there were some pesky clouds that prevented us from seeing the peaks (which of course cleared as soon as we had climbed back down).  Nevertheless, it was beautiful and a great spot for another picnic lunch.  

Us at Lago Los Tres with Cerro Fitz Roy behind it

It was another 4 hours back to town and we were spent when we got back to the tent!  The next day it was back on the road for a 3 hour bus to the town of El Calafate.

El Calfate's claim to fame is its close proximity to Glacier Perito Moreno - the world's last advancing glacier (meaning it is growing and not receding)!  We again found a campground in town and the next day planned to see the glacier.  We took an hour and half bus to the glacier and upon arrival, we were overwhelmed by the size and beauty of it!  We took a boat tour that got us an up close view from the water, and then walked around the network of catwalks they set up for viewing the glacier from land.  The highlight of the day was seeing (and hearing!) huge chunks of ice falling off the glacier into the water for the biggest "cannonball" we had ever seen!

Glacier Perito Moreno from the bus on the way there

The view of the glacier from our boat.  The boat in the foreground holds over 300 passengers which gives you an idea of the size of the glacier (the ice is about 60 meters high)

Us at one of the viewing decks

Glacier Perito Moreno

The huge piece of ice falling into the lake!

After seeing the glacier we capped off a great day with an asado (barbecue) with some Argentinian friends we had made at the campsite!  It was one of the best days of our trip!

From El Calafate, we headed further south and back to the Chilean side of the border to Puerto Natales.  Puerto Natales is the closest town to Chile's most famous and popular national park - Torres Del Paine.  We took two days in town to plan and prepare for a 4 day/3 night trek in the park.  Normally, the most popular route is a "W" shaped trail that covers the most scenic sections of the park.  However, in mid-December, a large forest fire started in the park and burned over 15 thousand hectares of forest!  As such, a large section of the park was closed and we were only able to walk half of the "W" trail or the "U" trail as it was being called.  We were lucky that the park was had even re-opened!

Our first day in the park was a relatively easy 4 hour walk to our first campsite.  However, the walk was made more difficult by all of our gear and food we were carrying for 4 days of camping and trekking!  Our luck with the weather continued with another perfect day.  When we arrived at our campsite (Los Cuernos) it was packed (as it was the most westerly site still open because of the fire).  However we still managed to find a decent spot to pitch our tent, cook a delicious meal, and watch a great sunset over the lake!

Marsh with his full pack on the way to our first campsite (Los Cuernos)

On day 2, we ventured into the French Valley on a 10 hour day hike.  It was a long trek but made easier by the fact that we did not have to carry our packs.  The valley had dramatic mountains on all sides and we had our lunch at the lookout at the end of the trail with great views all around!

Looking back out of the French Valley at Lake Nordenskjold

Shaina hiking up the trail into the French Valley

Our view to the East from the viewpoint where we ate lunch

Our view to the west from the viewpoint

On day 3, we put our heavy packs back on for a 7 hour hike starting at our campsite at Los Cuernos and finishing at the tip of the other side of the "U" where we camped at Campamento Torres.

Shaina on the trail with her big bag on day 3

We arrived at our campsite at around 6pm, rather exhausted, and after a quick dinner, we were in bed before 8!  We had to get some sleep as the next morning we planned to be up at 4am in order to catch the sunrise on the famous Torres Del Paine.  We managed to drag ourselves out of our warm sleeping bags early the next morning and hiked steeply up the mountain for 45 minutes to the lookout.  It was an amazing view of the Torres (towers) which stand 2 km from the base to the peak!  When the sun finally came up, the Torres were bathed in bright red light!  We stayed huddled in our sleeping bad to watch for just over an hour until the cold and wind finally forced us to head back down to the campsite.

The Torres Del Paine (the person at the edge of the lake provides some scale)

The sunrise on the Torres!

After a quick nap we packed our tent and had a 4 hour walk down to the bus to leave the park.  After 3 beautiful days in a row, on our 4th day it finally rained.  We walked on in the wind and rain and were thankful that the weather held off for as long as it did as it no longer mattered if our stuff got wet.  After all, it wouldn't have been a real Patagonian experience without a little wind and rain!  We left the park and headed back to Puerto Natales for the night where we enjoyed the comforts of civilization (a dinner of fire roasted lamb and a warm bed)!  The next day, we were on the bus to Punta Arenas where we are now exploring Tierra Del Fuego!

For those interested, we've made a map of everywhere we've been so far! The markers are in chronological order.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=210281006395993230006.0004b4e15c36ff7e3989c&msa=0&ll=-26.115986,-62.402344&spn=75.647135,149.0625

Hopefully everyone and everything is going well at home!

Love Marsh & Shaina
xoxo