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South! We went south, to Patagonia! The southernmost part of South America, dominated by extreme weather conditions and inhospital environments, this region of the world offers some of the most spectacular scenery ever seen. Patagonia is first of all empty, with only a single person per square kilometer - Secondly, its cold. Wild winds blown in from the southern Pacific ocean and Antarctica, winters turn everything to ice, and summers are barely pleasant! That said, Patagonia has plenty of activities and scenery to explore in summer months, which quite conveniently is right now - Opposite the freezing winter weather of England and Denmark!
From Santiago we caught a flight 3000kms south to Punta Arenas. Going from Santiagos 35 degrees, it was a freezing wake up call landing in Punta Arenas, where "calm" winds blow 25m per second!! We took a day trip out to a local penguin-colony at Isla Magdelena. Around 150.000 penguins nest and breed at the tiny isle, and its simply amazing (and quite noisy) to see these charming creatures up at close hand. So many penguins were there, that it sometimes was impossible to see the ground they were walking on!
A five hour bus ride north took us to Puerto Natales. A quiet town, situated on the fiord of Ultima Esperanza with snowcapped mountains in the background. Natales is the base for exploring the world famous Parque National Torres Del Paine. The name of the game here is Trekking! Torres Del Paine is jagged peaks, glaciers, lakes, wildlife and granite towers. Put it all together and you have some of the most breathtaking postcard-views ever found on earth. We did two full days of trekking, camping and cooking pasta. And a day of kayaking around the icebergs in one of the glacier-lakes of the park. We both agreed that Torres del Paine is one of the most amazing parks we have ever seen - Only waiting for us to return.
Leaving Chile, entering Argentina, in the turisty summer-village of El Calafate. It was time to have a closer look at the Patagonian icefield. The 3rd largest in the world, only smaller than Antarctica and Greenland. After sleeping for a full day, recovering from the strenuous trek in Torres, we went to Glacier Perito Moreno. This massive glacier rises vertically 60-70 metres from the Lago Argentino and stretches over 5km. Its bright blue colour almost blinds you as you take in the impressive views from nearby platforms. Its exciting witnessing massive pieces of the glacier break off and thunder loudly into the lake. The northern end of Los Glaciers national park is reached from the windy and rather unatractive village of El Chaltén. Again it was time for a bit of trekking, here only day walks though, to discover the splendid mountains and glaciers of the FitzRoy range. Again we were awarded with jawdropping sceneries, unfortunately the weather kept us indoor a bit too long!
Our last stop in Patagonia was 30 hours bus journey north! Looking towards the Atlantic Ocean, the Valdes peninsula has a large selection of marine mammals. Its a prime spot for Southern whales and Orcas, none of them were kind enough to show up, when we visited though! Instead we got to see loads of Guanacos (llamma-family) Ostrich, Armadillos, Sea lions, seals and Elephant seals. The females can get up to a ton and the males around 4000kg!!! Still cold, its alot warmer than where we came from, and alot colder than where we´re going - Buenos Aires.
Patagonia is rarely visited by the ordinary tourist, and is far away from most places of interest, still, it turned out to be one of our favourite places in the whole of South America. Next time we visit "down under" we plan to make it all the way to Antarctica, its only a few days boat ride and 5000$ away!!
BA is currently 40 degrees, just a tiny bit warmer than UK and Denmark - aw well, we´ll bring the summer back with us in Marts when we return.
Best wishes
Charlie and Anders
Hej alle i frysende danskere! Jeg kan berolige jer alle med, at i ikke er de eneste som har haft det lidt koldt paa det sidste. Vi har nemlig vaeret et smut i Patgonien, og selvom det ikke ligefrem har vaeret isvinter dernide (det er hoj sommer nu!) saa er det saa at sige, Skide koldt! Det er mest paa grond af en ond ond vind der blaeser fra det kolde Stillehav og Antarktis, og en stille brise her, er ofte ensbetydende med 20meter per sekund!!
Vi tog en flyver 3000km syd paa fra Santiago til Punta Arenas, stadig i Chile, men som sagt - Langt mod syd. Faktsik saa taet paa Antarktis som man kan komme - Der tager vi til naeste gang, men selv fra det sydligste Sydamerika, skal man hoste op med en 20.000-25.000 kr for en tur derned - Det var budgettet alligevel ikke til paa denne tur!
Paa Antartisk er der masser af Pingviner, men det har de skam osse lidt laengere nordpaa. Taet paa Punta Arenas i Chile finder man en Pingvin-koloni paa omkring 150.000 pingviner. Jeg skal da ellers lige hilse at sige, at der var mange pingviner paa den oe! Ret fantastisk at opleve de charmerende dyr!
Fem timer nordpaa i bus ligger den stille by, Puerto Natales. Meget malerisk placering og udgangspunktet for at udforske Torres Del Paine National Park. For vi tog afsted var Torres del Paine et af de steder jeg saa mest frem til, og det skuffede saa absolut ikke. Parken indeholder; fantastiske bjerge, gletshere, soer, skove osv. Helt fantastisk postkorts udsigter. Man oplever best parken ved at trekke sig igennem landskabet med telt og gaskomfur paa ryggen. Det gjorde for et par dage og saa tog vi tilmed en dag i kayak, hvor vi padlede rundt om 10.000 aar gamle isbjerge i en gletsher soe. Torres del Paine staar for mig, som et af de mest fantastiske steder jeg nogensinde har vaeret!
Efter Torres, vi tog bussen over graensen, ind i Argentina. Her finder man endnu flere gletsere, den mest imponerende er Perito Moreno. 70 meter hoj, direkte fra vandet skyder den dybblaa is over en straekning paa 5km. Den avancere samtidig hen over vandet, og man ser ofte kaempe isflager flaekke af of dunrer ned i vandet. Bag til har man fin udsigt til den patagoniske inlandsis. Det er den tredjestorste i verden, kun overgaaet af Antarktis og Gronland!
Lidt laengere nordpaa igen - Stadig i Los Glaciers National Park i Argentina, befandt vi os i den vindblaeste landsby El Chaltén. Her var det igen tid til at traekke traveskoene paa og gaa ud i naturen. Selvom det kan vaere anstregende med alt det trekking, saa er det alligevel belloenende at se alle de flotte scenerier som findes overalt i Patagonien.
Vores sidste stop - stadig i Patagonien - men 30 timer laengere nordpaa i bus, hed Valdes halvoen. Den finder man i Argentina ud til Atlanterhavet. Det er et mekka for hvaler og Spaekhuggere - Vi saa uheldigvis ingen! - samt masser af saeler og Elefant saeler! Hanerne kan veje helt op til fire ton!! Derudover er der masser af andre dyr og fugle at kigge paa, saa det var ganske behagligt at trille rundt i en lejet bil og betage det hele!
Valdes halvoen er langt varmere end det sydlige Patgonien, men langt koldere end vores naeste stop, Buenos Aires, som for tiden er 40 grader varm. Det er lidt anderledes end det danske vejr for tiden, men jeg lover at tage varmen med hjem om en maaneds tid!
Adios
Anders og Charlie
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