Mountains, Lakes, Glaciers ... and buses

I can hardly believe that it is almost two weeks since I set off northwards from Ushuaia. My first step was to catch a bus ... or rather 3 buses for a 15 hours journey to Puerto Natalies in Chile via Punta Arenas.(I should really find out if I can put a map with little progress tags so I can show you where I am going but that is all too technical for me at the moment)

The journey started at 5.15 in the morning with a minibus picking me up from my B&B for the first stage of journey to Rio Grande. Then just as I was boarding the next bus at 8am to go to Punta Arenas I realised I had left my ski/waterproof jacket on the previous bus... I am now resolved not to put anything in the overhead rack. But a quick explanation (!!! with gesticulating to describe my problem) to someone who looked efficient at the bus station and he was immediately on his mobile phone, said that the bus was still in town and 10 minutes later it arrived by taxi. No one too fussed about the bus leaving late and everyone so quick to help ... that has really been my experience all the time I have been travelling ... in Argentina in particular. That was a good lesson and I am now much more organised!!!

So we moved from the mountains and woods that surrounded Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego into the wide open pastureland that stretched across into Southern Patagonia...Scrubland as far as the eye can see with bi, big skies. The buses are really very comfortable (with allotted seats) and the bus conductor hands out cups of coffee and doughnuts at strategic stages. He also shepherded everyone through both the Argentinian and Chilean border posts making sure we all had our correct papers and stood in the right lines depending on whether we were locals or foreiners. All very efficient.

Finally arrived at Puerto Natales, a small town on the edge of a lake which is where the Navimag ferry sets off (taking 3 days) through the Chilean fjords which make up a large part of southern Chile. I had decided not to take that trip as I had spent so much time on a ship already but I wanted to go to Torres del Paine National Park which is famous for its great peaks and glaciers. They say that the Torres themselves are actually not part of the Andes and are quite a bit younger but it is very close to them as the other side of the glacier park is in Argentina and I believe they are definitely part of the Andes range.

Finally arrived at 10.30pm at the bus station in Puerto Natales, I took a taxi to the backpacker hostel I had booked into. I will describe my initiation into the 'backpacking culture' in another tale! Anyhow, I spent the next day sorting out a plan..... Most people come to Torres del Paine to do either the circuit (7 days hiking and camping) or the 'W' (5 days hiking and camping). I did not intend to do any camping or challenge myself with the rigours of the mountains.... I saw some people returning after walking continuously through rain and snow for 3 of the 5 days! Soakedm, muddy and exhausted. So I decided on 3 days: the first a touristy day tour which then left me in the park to catch a ferry across a lake to spend two days at a refugio from which I could hike (or not depending on the weather). The first day was rainy and overcast so no great view of the Torres (peaks) but I did see my first guanacos and rhea wandering about the foothills ... and I made friends with a lovely German girl and her mother. Then as I was queuing up to catch the ferry I met up with two other solo women travellers: an English woman called Lindsey taking 7 months off work and an Austrian woman called Marguitta who was travelling for 3 months. So, as happens a lot, we teamed up the next day and did a hike .... Lindsey carrying on to another refugio while M and I returned to base. The next day M and I hiked up to a glacier and back.

The mountains were spectacular when eventually the clouds cleared ... we were walking very close to them so you felt the cold wind whistling down the valleys. The paths are narrow going through wooded areas, up craggy areas and through streams: lots of lovely wildflowers and the occassionaly bird. At one point we came across a group of magellanic woodpeckers quite oblivious of the people hiking by. They are big with black bodies and bright red heads. We also came across a young owl (see my next set of photos).

You are always passing other people either coming up or down the path and everyone says hola! as they as each other. I found I got quite hot as a lot of it was pretty steep but as soon as you got out of the sun or out of a valley when the wind caught you we got pretty cold and were glad of down jacke, lined craghopper trousers,fleece had and scarf. However, I was very pleased with myself ... did about 7 hours on the first day and 8 hours the next... no blisters even! Many of the hikers seem just to be steaming along as fast as they could but luckily M was as keen as I to take our time to walk up to the viewpoints, take photos and just take in the whole 'big experience. Most of the lakes were the most amazing milky turqoisey blue... like porcelain. This is apparently caused by sediment brought down by the glaciers. The lakes formed from river were a completely different colour.


So I left M to go a bit further on the last day while I zipped back and caught the 6.30pm ferry back across the lake. There were a series of buses waiting for people going in different directions and as my bus wound its way out of the park I looked back over the spectacular sunset over the mountains. It had been well worth it and I met some lovely people on the path.

So my next step was to go back into Argentina to El Calefate ... a town on the other side of the glacier park where you can see a magnificent glacier called perito merino at very close quarters as it actually meets a peninsular within the lake it feeds into. So up early again and on a bus ... the change in scenery was quite marked as soon as you go back into Argentina. From green pastureland in the Torres park to wide open quite brown Patagonian steppe. The visit to the glacier was very touristy but it was still magnificent. I took an hour's trip on a boat that went quite close to the face of the glacier. From there you could see the occassionaly bit fall of (sounding like a house collapsing even though it seemed very small) but you could also hear the glacier cracking ...the sounds very much like the sound of a gun firing. Of course as you looked into the cracks in the glacier you saw the most intense blue while the face and top of glacier were white.


So I checked into my next hostel and started to prepare the next stage ....