Off Round South America

Things got off to a bad start for this trip. First of all we knew nothing about the place until after the 3 day trek, which led to a lot of Miagi´s ´Spur of the Moment "PLANS"´
We decided to drive the 4 hours to the border crossing and spend the night in a hick village called Rio Turbio. Only one hostel in the village and we were the only people there so we should have really copped that something was up. We headed off on what was meant to be a 2-3 hour drive to get into the park for free before 6.30am. This was not to be as the border crossing at Rio Turbio is seasonal and closed on a Sunday. We crossed the border into Puerto Natales (where we should have stayed as its in Chile so the border crossing would have been out of the way and gives talks about trekking Torres Del Paine every hour or so). We eventually arrived in TDP at 10am and managed to get trekking at 1pm.
The W trek is a 4-5 day trek which we managed to complete in 3 days, not bad since its around 75K up and down mountains on all types of terrain including mud, streams, rocks, snow, etc...

DAY 1:
Was a 7 hour trek to Glacier Grey. This was the mudest part of the 3 days, but enjoyable start with a fairly big Glacier at the top. A day that could easily be dropped if visiting Perito Moreno. Back to the tent then for night one.

DAY 2:
After the rain of day 1 and the previous 10days of rain we were sure day 2 was going to be more of the same. Luckily when we woke all the mountains were clear and the views were amazing from the camp site, above. We headed off early for Campamento Britanico at some 1000 meters, with views of the towering mountains and vast valleys.



The day remained bright and beautiful. Snow prevented us from reaching the camp but we got most of the way by mid afternoon. The views were really staggering and highlighted by such a perfect day. The decent and walk along Lago Nordenskjold to Hosteria Las Torres was arguably the best part of the 3 days.

The high mountains in full view with contrasting rock composits, pebble shore line topped off with a lush blue lake was hard to believe you were so close to the artic, that is until a gust reaching speeds of 75km/h would wisk some of the Lago´s freezing water, soak you and knock you off your feet in the process. The winds are really unexplainable, never experienced anything like them. After 12 hours walking we had no trouble sleeping in the tent that night.



DAY 3:
Not so good, we woke up to constant rain and wind, in a damp tent, with damp clothes, not our picture of a perfect day. Waking some, not to be named, was proving difficult with Johny declaring beer in BA would be so good, not something we imagined that would be said. We had a 9hr trek ahead of us to Mirador Las Torres. Even with the right gear, well 4 sets of right gear, runners and 3 plastic bags (2 for his feet), we were soaked to the skin in no time. Pretty uncomfortable if we stopped so we just kept going. The last 30 minutes was all rocks covered in snow, extremely tough and probably dangerous looking back but we had to get to the top for the photo. Not much to be seen, a really hard day but when completed we were all happy we done it.



We arrived back to the camp at 4pm, tent dripping wet, same as us and decided we had to get to our car which was a 2 hour trek and hour bus trip away. In kicked another ´Spur of the moment Plan´. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time I was chucked the keys of the car as we flagged down the next bus that was passing. Jumped in with all the Estonians, who had no problem with a soaked irish lad not smelling of roses, join them to the next bus connection. Got the bus connection to the car, drove like the clappers back, picked up the lads who were showered and ready to go and managed to make it back to El Calafate by 1am. 4 happy men to be out of them wet tents and 1 extremely happy one!

After our 18 hour trip from Puerto Madryn, with Ruta 40 still being closed, we arrived in El Calafate. This would be our base for the next 8 nights or so. We used the first day to relax, have a few beers and look around the town.

This quaint but expensive little town was also out of season somewhat with its main revenue involving snow. Our aim for the next few days was to trek in Torres Del Paine (Chile), visit El Chalten and visit the Glacier Perito Moreno. All of which were heavily dependant on weather conditions.
We hired a cracking little Corsa again, checked the weather on some English site (which proved to be completely wrong) and decided to go to Chile first.

We arrived early and got sorted with a car as it is the cheapest way to see the sites.
Penguins: We went to the largest penguin sanctuary in Puerto Tombo, with over 400 thousand Magellan Penguins. They are small little fellows but still cool. The sanctuary consisted of a 3k walk with bi-lingual notice boards which contained interesting facts and information about the area and all the wildlife. Even had some penguins walk the tourist trail.

Whales: Next day we went to Pennisula Valdes, a protected area. First stop was Puerto Pramides where we got a boat out to do some whale watching. We were brought right up to a 40tonne mother with her 5tonne calf swimming around her. There was not much excitment from them though. We managed to see a few seals and elephant seals also.

From arriving on the bus you could tell that this place was amazing. It is a lovely lakeside town surrounded by mountain with similarities to a Swiss Alp town. Its fairly quiet this time of year as it is a big winter resort.
The hostel we stayed in was in the center of the town in a penthouse apartment, 10 floors up. The views were breaktaking with views all around.
Acitivies over the 4 days were:

Cerro Otto: Just got a vip line up to the mountain peak were you get a very impressive view of the area.

Bike Tour: We headed off on a 25km cycle around the lakes on Circuito Chico. Some of us struggled to get going as the terrain was up and down, with some tour de france style hills, but we cycled through it. We had a great time and some of the views were unbelievable, including the last view point (photo included) which is supposed to be listed in the National Geographic top 10 world view points. We cycled around the Llao Llao hotel, which is apparantly the best hotel in Argy. We even had the time to stop off for a pint of some locally brewed beer which went down very easy and fast!!! There was also a hidden gem of a lake were we went for a dip, real clear fresh water.

Hike: Our first proper hike in South America, well ever really. We desided to take the 20k round trip on Cerro Catedral to Frey at 1700m. At the summit we had a bit to eat when Stagg desided to going climbing to the peak. Picture about 3foot of snow where experienced hikers with all the gear turned back, Stagg equiped with a nice pair of short and nike runners, he did make it though and earned the crazy title.

Back to Cerro Otto for some rock climbing. It consisted of 2 rock faces and also we did some rapelling again, things started a bit dodgy as there was high wind that day. The instructor only had 5 harnesses with him, a small, 3 medium and one large. Only one man for the large and Johny pulled the short straw on the small, narrow man. This miss fortune nearly cost him his manhood though and was forced to share one at the end, increadably funny faces were pulled.

So in the end we had a very enjoyable stay with all the activities, a good eye opener for whats to come....
Defo the most impressive part of the country we have seen so far.

Arrived around mid day and headed off around the city to see the sites and plan the next few days. An interesting city as it was levelled by an earthquake just over one hundred years ago and rebuilt. In the rebuilding they left spacious parks and wide avenues as safe area's in the event of a similar disaster. views were:
Parque General San Martin:
Museo Fundacional: The city musuem that shows the devastation caused by the earthquake and the planning of the rebuilding process.

Activies over the next coupla days:

White Water Rafting: only a 3 so the water was not too choppy but there was the 5 of us in the one raft and the guide made sure that we had a good time, with all of us getting dipped at least once. Nut was the first akward man to hit the water, Ken was not dipped till the very end after holding on to the raft for dear life, the only reason he went in was the guide told us to put one leg out of the raft and paddle with our hands, there was only ever going to be one outcome, brilliant!!!!

Rapelling: Absailing from 30 odd meters. This was fairly ok only thing was safety standards would hardly pass back home which probably added the extra bit that made us cake ourselfs for the first few minutes. Was good but only getting into it when it was over.

Canopying: Very lame in Mendoza, just a 20 meter zip line, not recommended.

Pool Day: We took a day out to chill by the pool and work on tanning the bodies, didn't work so well This was topped off with a cracking BBQ and a crazy night.

Wine Tour: You cant visit Mendoza without visiting a couple of wineries. We headed off on the bikes, not feeling the best, to sample argueably some of the best wines around at a fraction of the price back home. Most of us are not wine drinkers but all appricated the quality.