Author: Richard

Having moved on to the Atacama, we’ve had a busy day. San Pedro is a funky little place with unmade roads, everything hidden behind low mud walls, and a very lovely hotel for us.

This morning’s trip took us to the Valley of the Moon, and this afternoon to Death Valley. That makes 3 Death Valleys I have been to in the last 2 years! Very dry , very stark, very salty landscapes. They were recommended as good starting points as they are only 2600 m above sea level, tomorrow we go up to 4000m.

Finally after dinner we have been stargazing at a local observatory, and wondering at the immensity of the universe.

Well, Torres Del Paine to Punta Arenas to Santiago actually! 

Sad to leave the National park, and the drive was long but pretty in places, and then a few hours on the plane. I take no credit for this picture, as Karen took it out of the window on her iPad. There were others I could have chosen. Probably the best views from a plane we have ever seen. 

Another day of travel tomorrow should have us in the Atacama early afternoon!

This thing about about Patagonia being windy is clearly nonsense! The lakes were like mill ponds again this morning, the sun rose as we left the hotel at 7:30 for  a 45 minute drive to the jetty at Pudeto, where we caught the catamaran to Paine Grande. The 30 minute ride was chilly but awe-inspiring. 

The walk we had chosen to the French Valley was a bit of a route march – we would have liked more time to take in the scenery, but being on a schedule to catch the return boat, our guide insisted on a high tempo. The hike itself was pretty flat for the first 2 hours, but then went steeply up to the French lookout. We took such there, under “The Horns” and opposite the majesty of Paine Grande and its own glaciers – which obliged with a few avalanches of ice.

The return was the same in reverse, but the highlight was the mini-van waiting with beer, cold meats and cheese, fresh fruit and cake.

This is our last night in Las Torres and the place has been amazing – great food, super trips, etc, and we made a few new friends as well – some from Milton Keynes! 

On advice we changed our plans for todays activities, based on the fact that much of what we would have seen was already bettered by what we saw yesterday.

Today dawned bright, sunny and as calm as you can imagine. The morning’s tour took us to Laguna Amarga, where the reflections above were to be seen. The conditions were perfect, so much so that our guide and driver both got out their cameras! General consensus is that they only get about 5 days a year with this view. After just standing admiring that for a few mins, we headed off to Laguna Azul, where we had more stunning vistas, and a stroll along the beach, spotting condors high overhead. A wonderfully relaxing morning.

The afternoon was another gentle walk across pampas populated by a number of guanaco, and the remains of several others that had become lunch for Pumas. The end goal was a few rock paintings left behind by the indigenous population that were horrifically treated by the colonists, as recently as the 1920s. The rock art was not plentiful, but poignant none the less.

It seems that it has not been possible to add any comments to the blog. I have now tracked that down and fixed the issue.

Please feel free to add you comments now!

Richard

We have moved on… catching up… since Perito Merino Glacier, we have..

Spent  a quieter day in El Calafate – visiting the lagoon to see birds, and searching for an optician to mend my sunglasses! We had a superb “Cordero Patagonico” at La Tablita – the speciality bbq lamb of the region. 

The following morning we caught the transfer to Las Torres in Chile, where we arrived around lunchtime to our upgraded “Superior” room. After a HUGE sandwich we headed out for a stroll and promptly took a wrong turn, but no damage done. Excellent food at the hotel set us up for …

La Huella del Puma – a trek only available to hotel guests, that involved an hour and half horse ride, followed by a 3 hour hike directly up a steep hill. Altitude gained – about 1100 metres! The cloud was swirling, but we ended up with glorious views of the towers, and then we turned around the cloud opened to show us the landscape. Stunning does not do it justice. We were so lucky! A super guide (and just the three of us) made it a super day all round. 

We have amended our plans for the next couple of days as a result of tips form the guide, and the success of todays walk.

An early-ish start for the drive out to Punta Banderas, where we boarded the Chonek for a 7 hour cruise on Lago Argentino. This took us to nearby the front of Upsala Glacier, where we drifted among some icebergs – not quite Antartica, but nice none the less. Then we visited the Spegazzini glacier which has a 130 m high face which we were able to get quite close to.

After disembarking, we visited the famous Perito Moreno glacier where you can walk on boardwalks just across the narrow channel (today’s picture).

Lots of ice! 

We left El Chalten and the “impossible to ignore, impossible not to photograph” Fitzroys. A remarkable wild west town that was only founded in 1985, it is full of character, but has a few shortcomings due to it’s newness. Obtaining cash in a society that mostly works only in cash is a challenge!

A quick stop at Bahia Tunel – which is NOT a Tunnel to view the lake, and on the way we saw a real Gaucho in action by the side of the road.

And then on the El Calafate where the wind was howling – it nearly took the car door off. Fortunately it did calm down quite quickly as we strolled around town sorting out tours for the next couple of days.

 We started out by visiting a couple of viewpoints near to town with great views of the mountains. Hung around for ages waiting for the last wisps of cloud to blow away. We saw a bird, but are not 100% convinced it was a condor. We then stopped at the Wafleria for a coffee and a brownie … mmmmm.

The afternoon took us out North on a drive to the Laguna del Desierto, along the way we visited a couple of super waterfalls, but also got fantastic sunny views of the back of Mount Fitzroy. At the far end of the road is just a jetty into a lake, so we turned around and managed to find a little old lady in a shack selling coffee. She was very chatty, but her lack of English and our lack of Spanish made for a very hard conversation.

On arrival back home we heard the terrible new from London – our thoughts are with everyone at home. xx

Today’s weather started out ok, but cloud descended. We were mostly in sun and dry, but higher up things were not great. The above shot was from half way into our hike, later views were definitely truncated.

Other news is that due to some navigational miscalculations, Karen is almost dead. The hike to the Laguna de Los Tres  started well, but our choice of return route was a mistake. At one point I was worried we might not make it back before dark, but they guy who confirmed our position was a bit off in his estimate of how long we had to go (fortunately). 

We’ll laugh about it one day. Just not today.