Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Gem and Lob's Big Adventure
Patagonia - Glaciers and El Fin del Mundo
After the excitement of seeing whales, we decided it would be a good idea to nip across to see a petrified forest on our way south. All this is a load of logs scattered about that were turned to stone over millions of years as they were underground after being covered in ash by the formation of the Andes... or something like that anyway - The leaflet was in Spanish!! It was cool though, as the logs look exactly like normal logs - but made of stone. It's amazing (and quite sad) how long that kept us amused. Well perhaps not that amazing!
On then to El Calafate, and the Parque Nacional Los Glaciers. This town exists purely for tourists, and as a result was a bit quiet, it being off season, and very VERY expensive. On the other hand the hostel had under floor heating, and was very swish indeed, and actually very cheap!
It was a brief but adventure filled visit. The first adventure was a boat trip to see some of the more interesting glaciers, (see fabulous photos) including the biggest, Upsala, which we couldn't get too close to because of the many many massive icebergs that were floating around it. It was an incredible day, both because of the beautiful blue icebergs and glaciers, and because we saw a big chunk fall off one of them into the water, which was amazing, especially because the sound it makes is like lightning as it cracks off, and then thunder as it lands, and really very loud. Quite a humbling experience in all.
The next day we bit the bullet and when "minitreking" on the Perito
Next up was a trip to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world. And you know it to get there! We had to cross the border in to and out of Chile, which took absolutely ages, only to end up over an hour late because some kids on the bus with us got food poisoning and went off in an ambulance!! Not the best start. It was a lovely lovely place though, in a really beautiful setting surrounded by snow topped mountains, on the coast of the beagle channel, really pretty. Sadly we have to describe it to you because since we've returned to Buenos Aires, our bag has been stolen, including Gem's camera with all the photos on. How rude!
Among the photos you won't see, are some from a trip on a boat on the
Beagle Channel, where we saw really close up some Sea Lions, which was wonderful and completely made up for the ones we didn't se on the Peninsula Valdes. We're keeping the memory as clear as we can though and keep trying to remember back to it as it was just spectacular. Also not on the site are our photos of our husky ride (though we might pinch some from a friend at some point, photos that is, not actual huskies) which was great fun. The dogs were well cute, except when we heard that one of them had bitten the people before us. Even less cute was when they did their business while running along, and the trap ran through it, yuk! The photos of us driving the snowcat (like a jetski on snow) you also won't see, which is a big shame for Gem as nobody will believe she actually went on one!
We did have a great time though, and some lovely food, Patagonian lamb cooked over a fire being one example, and do visit the pictures pages for those blue icebergs because they are something else.
All that, and it wasn't even that cold!
- comments