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It's stupid o'clock in the morning and we're having to prepare ourselves for the trip out of BA. 5.45am and the bags needed to be put in back locker but there's a slight problem as we can't find the keys. Anki, Emma, Sarah and I head back out to where the truck had been stored over the last week only to discover that the keys were actually still in the truck. A slight delay but we managed to get on our way. We stopped off over night at a small beach town, all the English got quite excited about the seaside, the Ozzies and Kiwi weren't so impressed, it was more like Bognor Regis rather than Bondi.
The weather wasn't that great so we decided to skip out early the next day and have extra time further south.
Next, it was time to head down to Puerto Madryn, where we were going to head out to the Valdez Peninsula to do a spot of wildlife viewing.When we arrived, it was quite late and I was opting for the upgrade to a room, but at 70 pesos for just a bed and no bathroom, and my brain was still converting into Brazillian Reais so I thought it was 30 pounds as opposed to the 12 pounds. I decided to flag and sleep in my tent. This was apparently to my detriment, at about 2am, there was a major sand storm and because we have such high quality tents, I woke up with a mouthful of sand and discovered that my fly had been blown clean off. My only saviour was that I had all my bags in the tent to hold it down. By 5am everyone was having the same issues and we had to do a bit of tag team work getting all the tents down without them blowing away. An executive decision was made and we all piled into the truck at 9am to go on a search for some more stable accommodation. We found a lovely little pousada to rest our weary bones in. The afternoon was fairly uneventful after a lazy lunch at a pizzeria, we headed back for a well deserved rest before my group had to cook. I made a beef and honey mustard stir fry, yummo!!
It was sightseeing day, we drove down to the peninsula to have a look at some sea lions and elephant seals. The penguin colony was next up, lots of cute little Magellan Penguins hanging out. One of the girls was jogging down to the penguin sign and got blown over by a gust of wind and sprained her ankle. We had to back track on ourselves to get some ice and there was a concern that we weren't going to get down to see the bay where the seal pups were hanging out (and the Orcas that wanted to eat them for dinner). Mick did some amazing driving and although there was no feeding frenzy nor any orcas close to the shore, we did manage to get a glimpse at a small pod. All very exciting indeed.
Continuing on down the coast, we stopped over in Camerones to visit a little penguin colony, well I say little, there was about 9,000 of them all just hanging round, molting. It was the end of the breeding season and the young penguins were shedding their feathers so that they could take their first swim. We could walk right past them and some of them were not averse to taking the odd nip at your feet as you walked along. Unfortunately for me, since Louise had sprained her ankle, she needed her own tent and I ended up sharing with her tent partner. I'm glad I have ear plugs but this still didn't keep out all the noise of Diana rustling around at ungodly hours - I don't see the necessity of getting up an hour before you have to leave - twenty minutes is more than enough. Di was also put out when I refused to let her take her back pack into the tent - there's barely room for two people, let alone a bag the size of Lesotho.
The really exciting parts are coming up, we travel down to El Chalten, where we're in a cosy little town set at the bottom of the Andes. The scenery is spectacular and is similar to Wanaka, it also has that same small town feel. The Microbrewery also helps matters quite a bit. When they mean micro they really mean micro, you can either have pilsner or ale and nothing else, but the beer is wonderful.
The first day is glacier day, so an extremely excited bunch of tourist head out to the lake to wait for the ferry. Once on board, the water is fairly calm until we turn around the point of the lake, unfortunately it is way too rough for them to dock the boat near the glacier and we are sent home disappointed. Once back at El Chalten, we decided to go for a walk up to one of the lookout points of Fitz Roy Mountain. I get as far as down the main road and about 50 metres up the track. I totally blame the cute little puppy that followed us from the main road for me having to turn back. There was a big sign that stated no dogs were allowed on the walk and the puppy just refused to go home. I therefore had to carry him back to town. My reversal had nothing to do with the fact that it was an eight hour hike up hill or absolutely anything to do with the Waffleria that we'd passed on the way to the walk. After safely seeing the puppy safely back to town, Paul and I decided to do lunch at the Waffleria. I made the possibly unwise choice of getting the house waffle, which was the size of a medium dog with fruit, ice cream, chocolate ice cap and two big fat waffles. I had to bring in some help to finish it. The next stop was the microbrewery, where we whittled the day away. For dinner, several of us wandered down to a restaurant renowned for it's lamb. After eating my fill of lamb, I handed the rest of my dinner over to our walking garbage disposal - our team leader, Mick. Although I was totally stuffed, I waddled down to the ice cream parlour to have dessert. Once again I was on the edge of bursting and Mick had to finish off my food. We have a good relationship around food and wine, he finishes my food, I finish he's wine!!
It was time to attempt the glacier again. The lake was like glass and our hopes were raised. The ride was smooth and the landing was successful. After a short walk it was time to don our crampons - totally professional looking I was!! The glacier was amazing, parts of it looked like meringue.
There was some apprehension about the ice climbing that I was going to do, but after watching a few people make the climb, I bucked up some courage and got attached to the rope. After a slightly unsure start, I was up there like Hilary and Tensing up Everest. I did make the mistake of looking down once I got to the top and got slight vertigo. The descent was an easy few swings down with the sexy Nacho (fab name isn't it!!) doing the belaying. Once down, he told me I had perfect technique, which just added to my day (previously my tour leader said I'd make a good catch if I wasn't such a b!tch, which I definitely take as a compliment because I don't think there is anything wrong being one). I figured I'd leave the ice climbing at that so not to ruin my perfect start. I was coerced into going again and did it in quick smart time. I think I surprised a few people with my style. I can't believe all that time living in London St whilst all my flatties were off rock climbing and the like, I was down the pub, if only they'd been a little more persuasive, I might be a climbing champion, oh well never mind.
After the ice climbing we set off on a walk across the glacier. At one point I managed to catch one of my crampons in the other and crashed onto my knees, I felt fine at the time, but consequences were to be had later on. The Guides pulled out some glasses and topped them up with fresh glacial ice. We assumed they were just going to wait for it to melt and we'd have fresh drinking water, but the little dears pulled out a bottle of baileys - there's nothing like icy baileys when you are looking out over one of the most amazing views ever.
Back down the glacier, a long cruise back around the lake (including a quick snooze, well deserved after a big day). We had a quick stop at the microbrewery again before showering and heading back to the brewery for dinner.
It was time to move on again, we had a couple of big drive days ahead of us to get over to Chile to conquer the W Walk in the Torres Del Paine.
The scenery was nondescript, or more to the point non-existent, barren flat plains the whole way through more or less. We had a quick overnight stop in Puerto San Julian, where we had a quiz night. Not that it was necessarily down to me, but my team managed to win. For the honour of being champions, we received a lovely orange trophy/Frisbee and 40 pesos each (about seven pounds or 18 bucks). There had been a ten peso entry fee, but it was well worth the effort.
Yet another exciting day on the road, I think I managed to sleep my way through it. We made it to the border just before siesta time - the Argentineans are huge on their siesta so had we not made it in time, we would have sat there for four hours until they opened again. We had to hull out our bags for the border control to check for any meat or dairy products, they have similar restrictions to NZ and Oz. Not that the lady was that worried about the contents as she stuffed her hand into my bag half heartedly and asking if I have anything other than ropa (clothes). One of the other Drago trucks was heading through the border in the other direction and a couple of the people on that truck had been with me from Manaus to Rio, so I had a wee chat to them.
Welcome to Chile!! We carried on to Puerto Natales where we stocked up on the necessities (chips, salami and wineJ ). We finally arrived at Lake Pehoe in the late afternoon. Four of us had decided that an upgrade was well deserved so we bunked in a cutesy little cabin with a log fire - it was a lot cooler down these parts than further north. Being the outdoor adventurer that I am, I lit the fire for the others. It was a lovely evening sitting around the log fire, so much so that I was pondering getting a cabin for myself whilst the others were doing the hard part of the trek. I'd made the decision to do the first V part of the W and then the I (the last part of the W).
We had a wee lie in because the Catamaran did leave till 12pm. Hardcore Murray was going to slog it out in a tent whilst the others upgraded and slept in the Refugio. A half hour ride over to Refugio, we dropped off our things, organized the camp payment and then headed out for our walk. Not knowing what to expect, we started off gradually and in a short time the others caught up. We trekked through rocky paths up steep hills, and through wooded areas, along little lakes until we reached the major lake that led up to the glacier. There were icebergs floating down the lake, which was fairly amazing. We got to the glacier outlook. At that point I should have turned back, but in the spur of the moment and some persuasion from the others I carried on. The concern was about getting back before dark. Normally the trek takes 7 hours and you start in the morning, but because we didn't arrive till lunchtime, it was going to be a tight squeeze. I started to slow down towards the final lookout point near the glacier. My knees were playing up quite a bit for some unknown reason. Whilst the others were up the top, I started to hobble back towards home. It soon came apparent that a) I wasn't in top physical condition & b) my knees may not make the 11kms back. Everyone steamed on ahead, whilst Jill stayed with the cripple to encourage me to reach the end. The hills weren't kind to me, going down was worse than going up and we had to make quite a few stops on the way back, some of those were chocolate stops, but they were well deserved. Eventually the end was in sight and the idea of a hot meal and a warm place to sit enticed us on. I had to ask for some ice from the Refugio and apparently this isn't a common occurrence after the hiking trail. After a dinner, I did a poor job of setting up my tent and finally collapsed into it about 11pm. Between the rain, wind, pain in my knees and the call of nature I didn't sleep too well. After a quick pit stop at 2.30 in the morning and a redo of my tent pegs, I passed out for a good 7 or so hours. I'd decided not to do the second part of the V. I had a leisurely breakfast with the others, then headed back to my tent for another snooze. Finally rose at 1pm and spent the afternoon mucking round whilst I waited for the Cat to take us across the shore. After a lovely steak and red wine sauce and the rest of the wine, I had a lovely night's sleep back at the camp site. I decided againstgetting a cabin, trying to save money for something else, not that I know what that something else was.
There were only 8 of us at camp, after a lazy morning Mick and I decided to do some internetting, but the restaurant didn't have wifi, so we had to wander down to the posh hotel down the road - normally a 10 min walk, but for two cripples it was a 20 minute hobble. We spent the afternoon on the internet and drinking beer in their fine establishment. I felt slightly underdressed in trackies and thermals, but we spent a fair amount of money in there so all was good.
The majority of the others went back to the W, while Lou and I spent the day hanging around the camp and preparing dinner. We then jumped in the truck with Mick to pick up all the intrepid trekkers. Unbeknownst to us, the others weren't going to make it back at the arranged time, so we spent four hours in a car park waiting for them. We managed to eat all of our food whilst we waited and the other two had a wee snooze. We finally got back to camp around 8.30pm and Lou and I cooked meatballs and spaghetti.
On the road again, time to drive down to El Fin Del Mund (the end of the world, Ushuaia). After yet another exciting day of travelling, we stopped off in the little Chilean town of Puerto Arenas. We managed to make it in time to go on a Brewery tour at the Astral Brewery. Although not overly exciting, it did have some very nice beer, even if they were a bit stingy with it.
The next morning, we drove down to the ferry to cross the Magellan Strait. The ferry was fairly smooth and I managed to sleep for two thirds of the trip. Once off the ferry we had to cross the border at San Sebastian. Yet another exciting border, where we had to wait for all the locals to go through. Afterwards,it was another three hours till we finally arrived at the end of the world. Time to upgrade again - it's absolutely freezing. Set at 55 degrees south, Ushuaia was never going to be warm.
By this time, I was in immense pain with my knee. I thought it was just old age, but it should have been getting better after five days, not worse. I jumped in a cab and headed to the local hospital. This was one of those exciting experiences where you have to use your fantastic Spanish skills to communicate with the locals. Although it took a bit of time to get the paperwork filled out, we got there in the end. This was not the NHS. After about five minutes the doctor called for me. Luckily the doctor spoke fairly good English so unlike my knee, the experience wasn't too painful. Apparently I have torn some of my ligaments in my knee, so it wasn't just old age, more a lack of fitness and not actually keeping the knees in tip top shape. Rest was ordered, drugs were given and the hospital experience was over. All in all, it took less than an hour, including the cab rides and the picking up of the prescription. The NHS could definitely learn a thing or two.
Saturday morning I was in two minds as to whether or not to go to Tierra Del Fuego. However, the truck was going and I could sit on it whilst the others went for their wee walks. We all got our passports stamped with an end of the world stamp - very exciting indeed. The thrill of being at the end of the worlds was great, however I wasn't overly impressed with the location, we have very similar, if not better scenery in NZ.
Back into town, we jumped on a boat and motored out into the Beagle Channel. The sky was grey and the mountains were covered in cloud so although the scenery again wasn't spectacular, it was one of those, Ican't believe I'm actually here sort of moments. We did see lots of cormorants and Sea Lions playing on the rocks and in the water.
And God said thou shall rest on this day…Sunday…everyone either went walking or headed into town, I had a lazy day of ordering in pizza and playing on the internet, while I rested my knee.
The hostel is beside the local rugby club and there was going to be a game at 3pm, so I thought I might wander over and have a wee looksey, however the looksey came to me…..sitting here minding my own business, I look up and one of the rugby squads walk into the living room. Next minute 21 young men are changing into their kits and doing their warm up exercises. I just got to sit and watch - it was a hard job, but someone had to do it.
Lazy Sundays…….the best kind of day.
Tomorrow, we are heading back up north over the border back into Chile.
- comments
Chris And the mother teresa award for empathy goes to: One of the girls was jogging down to the penguin sign and got blown over by a gust of wind and sprained her ankle. We had to back track on ourselves to get some ice and there was a concern that we weren't going to get down to see the bay where the seal pups were hanging out
Michele Wow - you fit so much in. I spent 2 days walking around Tokyo for 10 houyrs a day, got blistters & marvelled at the cherry blossom. Took the bus up to Mt Fuji but couldnt see the summit as it was too cloudy so I spent the afternoon/ evening nnaked in an Onsen! See doesnt even compare!!! I am off to Hiroshima today xxxxx